Effects of different starter diets on growth indices of Caspian Kutum, Rutilus frisii kutum larvae

  Six different diets including two rainbow trout starters, Gammarus dry powder, shrimp dry powder, egg yolk dry powder and newly hatched Artemia were used in feeding of Caspian Kutum larvae. During a 4-week trial, larvae with a mean weight of 17.5 ± 4.7 mg were fed with three replicates and growth parameters were measured at the end of the experiment. Thirty fish in each experimental unit with 3 L volume were fed 6 times daily according to their satiation. Results showed that there were significant differences in the final weight, final length, body weight increase, voluntary feed intake and specific growth rate for weight and length among the treatments (P < 0.05), but not in the condition factor (P>0.05). The best performance was observed in fish fed Artemia nauplii. The survival rate was significantly different among the treatment (P < 0.05) which the highest (75.6 ± 3.8%) and lowest (22.2 ± 11.7%) were observed in fish fed Artemia nauplii and Coppens, respectively. According to obtained results, it appears that except Artemia, the most suitable and inexpensive diet is egg yolk powder, which can results in high growth performance and survival rates. The results of this study suggested that using dry non-live diets with good composition could be replaced with Artemia that had suitable growth and survival rate in Caspian Kutum during larval 0