The tripletail, Lobotes surinamensis, is a pelagic fish commonly found in coastal waters of the southeastern United States. The species displays a fast growth rate in culture systems and is prized for the quality of its flesh making it a promising candidate for marine warmwater aquaculture. Recent studies of captive spawning showed that fertile spawns can be produced from captive broodstock using the combination of a GnRH agonist and an anti-dopaminergic compound as spawning agents. Tripletail larvae were successfully cultured under a sequence of rotifer and Artemia live feeds but survival was very low following transition from rotifers to Artemia.
In this work, larval culture trials varying the feeding frequency and the enrichment frequency to improve access of freshly enriched live feeds to larvae were evaluated. All protocols based on the base feeding sequence transitioning to Artemia between day 10 and 13 post hatch led to outcomes similar to previous larval culture attempts with survival rates below 0.1% at the weaning stage. A modified protocol that introduced Artemia at a later stage (14 or 19 dph) and in a more progressive pattern, included Taurine supplementation, and incorporated a slight salinity and temperature adjustments at the time of Artemia transition led to a much-improved survival rate through the end of the Artemia culture phase (11.4% average survival rate). Transition to prepared feeds (Otohime diet) over a 3 to 4 days period using a protocol routinely used in other marine species was largely unsuccessful even though larvae were initially observed consuming the prepared diet during the co-feeding period. Further work is needed to optimize weaning to prepared diets and stimulate feeding to prepared feeds during nursery and pre-growout.