Growth and Amino Acid Composition of Artemia Salina (L., 1758) Fed Algae Grown in Different Media (Anostraca)

The brine shrimp, A. salina (L., 1758), is important in many aquaculture operations (Sorgeloos, 1980) where it serves as a feed for larval fish and crustaceans. Artemia have been traditionally used as such because of the ease with which they are hatched from the cysts to nauplii and grown to adults, and because they seem to be nutritious to a broad spectrum of consumers. One of the major costs associated with the culture of the nauplii to the adults is the production of the algae on which the brine shrimp feed; this generally involves the purchase of expensive inorganic nutrients, in particular nitrate and phosphates. Several workers have used animal manuers as media bases in which to grow algae (Cheung & Wong, 1981; Wu & Pond, 1981). In this report the authors have asked if the growth and composition of the Artemia reared on algae grown in manuer based media and an inorganically based medium will differ.