Adrian Bischoff

The aquaculture production of pikeperch has reached commercial scale in a number of European countries, but the high mortality of early life cycle stages and minor understanding of nutritional requirements are still major bottlenecks. To investigate the fate of fatty acids during early development, weaning and rearing, pikeperch larvae and juveniles from a commercial recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) were sampled over 2 months for morphometric data, as well as fatty acid composition, with a total of 6 sampling days, with four to five replicates per sampling day and between 1 and 25 pikeperch larvae per individual sample, depending on larval biomass. The biomass of sampled pikeperch larvae varied from 0.1 to 420 mg (dry mass DM), depending on the age of the larvae, and the initial length of the pikeperch larvae was about 4.5 mm. Our data confirm that, accompanied by an exponential increase in dry mass, total fatty acids (TFAs) in larval tissues increased with the beginning of exogenous feed uptake and were depleted between days 13 and 25 post hatch, most likely associated with the weaning and metamorphosis of the larvae. We conclude that all fatty acid classes may serve as metabolic fuel during metamorphosis, but the ultimate fatty acid composition is strongly impacted by the available feed. The chosen diet probably caused a lack of alpha-linolenic (18:3n-3; ALA) and docosahexaenoic acid (22:6n-3; DHA) during larval development and a shortage of vaccenic (18:1n-7), alpha-linolenic (18:3n-3; ALA) and arachidonic acid (20:4n-6; ARA) in juvenile pikeperch. This led to low DHA/EPA ratios 13 days post hatch, a high EPA/ARA ratio at days 41 and 56 post hatch and a fluctuating ratio of alpha-linolenic acid to linoleic acid (18:2n-6; LA). A temporary lack of essential fatty acids can cause dysfunctions and eventually mortalities in pikeperch larvae and juveniles. Despite high larval growth rates, the biochemical composition of the first fed Artemia and microdiets was most likely not sufficient and in need of improvement. We suggest that deficiencies must be compensated, e.g., through the substitution of the offered Artemia with more suitable live feed organisms, such as freshwater rotifers, and the enrichment of current microdiets in order to prevent high mortalities during pikeperch rearing and weaning.

Vermifiltration is a low-energy and low-cost option to reduce the environmental impact of aquaculture. A comparative study was performed for two different stocking densities of the epigeic worm Dendrobaena veneta (Michaelsen, 1890, Annelida: Oligochaeta), which were fed with sediment sludge from African catfish, Clarias gariepinus (Burchell, 1822), recirculation aquaculture systems (RAS). The intensive (I) and extensive (E) systems were stocked with 15 and 10 g of worm/L filter substrate, respectively, and were compared with a control (C) for four weeks. The total weight gain was 9.4–13.5% for (I) and 13.8–19.5% for (E), with low mortality rates of 3.46–5.84% (I) and 3.57–5.19% (E). The temperature inside the vermifilters was slightly higher than that in the control, indicating a favorable milieu for microbial activity. The worms supported the pH buffering capacity in the systems, with the effluent reaching 7.10 ± 0.02 (I) and 7.26 ± 0.04 (E) at the end of the experiment while the pH in the (C) was significantly higher (7.51 ± 0.05). The removal rates were 68.02–98.84% (I), 71.85–98.67% (E), and 72.80–98.68% (C) for the total nitrogen bound (TNb); 82.77–96.64% (I), 81.65–94.84% (E), and 77.79–94.74% (C) for the total organic carbon (TOC); and 50.43–97.51% (I), 50.89–96.84% (E), and 48.23–96.34% (C) for the chemical oxygen demand (COD). By utilizing the sludge as feed, the worms and associated microbiota significantly altered the African catfish sediments, removing organic loads, upgrading the composition, and reducing the possible environmental impacts.