Experimental culture of Cyclopina sp with differents microalgae’s species

Copepods are the main natural prey for most marine fish and other marine crustaceans and their nauplius, thus playing a fundamental role in aquatic food webs. There is a need to investigate the potential of copepods species found in Colombian coasts for the development of marine aquaculture. Objective: evaluate the performance of the marine copepod Cyclopina sp fed with different microalgae species. Methods: experimental cultures were conducted in 10 L aquariums with an initial density of 2 copepods/ mL, constant aeration and 24 h light. Treatments consisted of feeding the copepods with a combination of two microalgae species in a 70:30 ratio, at concentrations of 4x10(5) cells/mL, as follows: T1 = Tetraselmis suecica + Isochrysis galbana, T2 = I. galbana. + Nannochloropsis oculata, T3 = N. oculata. + T. suecica, T4 = Yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae). Temperature (ºC), salinity (%), dissolved oxygen (mg/L), pH, were registered daily, and the growth and population dynamics were evaluated every 48 hours for 15 days. Results: the greater density of total copepods (10± 3 copepods/ml) and number of nauplii (6 ± 2 nauplii/ mL), were registered on day 15 in T1, being significantly different (p