CULTURE OF TROPICAL ZOOPLANKTON SPECIES, Moina micrura WITH DIFFERENT TYPES OF DIETS

In aquaculture industry, zooplankton is widely used as live feeds as it is rich in nutrient contents to promote better growth, and high survival for fish larvae and other aquatic animals. A study was conducted to investigate the effects of different feed types on the growth of a tropical cladoceran, Moina micrura consisting of two non-algal diets: Baker's yeast and Spirulina powder, and two mono-algal diets: Chlorella sorokiniana and Chlorella vulgaris. Moina Micrura samples were collected from a small pond in the Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM). Live Moina Micrura samples were kept and brought to the laboratory for species identification, isolation, and mass culture. Experiments were performed with three replicates for each diet by providing ad libitum feeding to Moina micrura (about 1.0 × 10⁶ cells ml^-1 density for algae diets and 0.01mg ml^-1 for non-algae diets). The experiments were terminated when the populations stabilized or began to decline. The Moina micrura population density was estimated every three days by removing 25 ml of the well-mixed culture and counted under dissecting microscope. The highest population density (4143.71 ± 694.90 individual l^-1) was produced in the culture fed with Chlorella vulgaris while Baker's yeast produced the lowest population density (1126.95±200.26 individual l^-1) compared to other treatment (p<0.05). Correspondingly, the highest specific growth rate (p<0.05; 0.25 ± 0.27µ) was achieved also in Moina micrura cultured with Chlorella vulgaris. Spirulina powder gave the lowest specific growth rate (0.078±0.07µ). The body length of Moina micrura culture with Chlorella vulgaris produced the best results (783.97±22.59µm). The results of the present study illustrated that Chlorella vulgaris was the most suitable food for the growth of Moina micrura.