Abstract
One of the important limitations in aquaculture of filter-feeding mollusks, shrimp and fish in their early stages of development is the availability of high-quality microalgae in sufficient quantities. Since the 1960s, technologies have been developed to mass-produce them monospecifically and without pathogenic bacteria for the organism to be fed, and it is not yet possible to replace them with inert foods. In most cases, the production of this live food in hatcheries is one of the phases with the highest cost and represents a risk for crops if a safe and financially viable technology is not available. This proposal presents an alternative developed at CIBNOR for the massive and continuous production of microalgae, with moderate investment and low production costs. This system has been tested and evaluated in a commercial mollusk hatchery, using pasteurized water and LED lighting as an alternative to lower production costs. Typical species used in aquaculture were produced in this system including: Tisochrysis luthea, Pavolova lutheri, Chaetoceros gracilis, C. calcitrans and Thalassiosira pseudonana. The technical and financial results will be presented in the runway of innovative technological developments at the World Aquaculture 2021 conference, as well as some business alternatives that investors could consider to cover the demand for live feed in mollusk, shrimp and fish hatcheries.