Food dispenser for larvae and fish farming of pacu and matrinxã

• Grant number: 99/07043-8
• Support Opportunities: Research Grants - Research Partnership for Technological Innovation - PITE
• Start date: March 01, 2000
• End date: May 31, 2001
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Fishery Resources and Fishery Engineering - Aquaculture
• Principal Investigator: Gilson Luiz Volpato
• Grantee: Gilson Luiz Volpato
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IBB). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Botucatu. Botucatu , SP, Brazil
• Company: Fish-Braz Comércio, Importação e Exportação Ltda
• City: Botucatu

Abstract

This project sought to solve an important problem in fish farming: how to distribute the ration in the feeding of larvae adequately. Current methods are precarious, allowing for high mortality rates, high competition for food (which leads to large growth differentials in individual fish), low growth rates and ration waste. The proposal entailed the introduction of a device that would carry out a more adequate dispersion of the ration in the fish breeding tanks. It requires no electricity, being operated manually, with the dispersion taking place by the hydraulic force deriving from the movement itself, nor is experience required for its operation. The project aimed to test the efficiency of this equipment, the prototype of which we had already constructed, on two species of fish: pacu or raw tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) and matrinxã (Brycon cephalus). Both are unquestionably of commercial value in the Brazilian fish farming industry. The former species has a gregarious habit, forming shoals. The latter is more aggressive, with a high rate of cannibalism, though these species represent the two main social characteristics among fish. The larvae were introduced into their respective tanks and their size assessed after 30 and 45 days, whilst between the two dates food quantity and feeding time were fixed. At the end of the experiment, the survival rate was assessed. (AU)