Aquaculture of fry and fingerling of pike-perch (Stizostedion lucioperca L.) - a short review

This review presents a short survey of pertinent literature on rearing methods of pike‐perch fry and fingerlings in ponds, net cages and tanks. The traditional pond culture results in variable numbers of fingerlings, which are sometimes small and are therefore of limited value for stocking. Fingerling production can be increased by manipulating the succession of zooplankton and by stocking adequate quantities of fry in the pond. Culture in illuminated net cages in lakes seems to be a possibility to produce advanced fry. The rearing of larvae in tanks following controlled propagation is initially based on feeding natural plankton. The artificial diet can only be used successfully several weeks later at fingerling size (4–5 cm). High mortality rates of fry and symptoms of food deficiency in liver cells indicate unsatisfactory quality of larval diets tested until now. Lack of an adequate artificial feed considerably hampers further development of intensive rearing of fry. Growth of fry and fingerlings is strongly temperature dependent. Growth is rather poor at 16–18°C and best between 26–30°C. Although there is a short stage of positive phototropism in fry, older pike‐perch generally prefer dim light. There is no food uptake at high light intensity and mortalities will occur under such conditions. More research is needed on adequate diets which consider the ontogenetic development of the digestive organs of young fish.