The Effect of the Paste Feed for Glass Eel as the Early Stage Feed of White Sturgeon

The Miyazaki Prefectural Fisheries Research Institute in Japan succeeded in raising white
sturgeon, Acipenser transmontanus, for the first time in 2004, and has begun evaluating methods
to culture white sturgeon.  Artemia nauplii and dry feed were used in early trials for raising white
sturgeon larvae. But Artemia culture and feeding is labor-intensive, so a new paste feed was
examined to substitute for the Artemia.
A sixteen day feeding test was conducted in 2011 using 4,000 white sturgeon larvae (11 days
post-hatch). Two groups of larvae were evaluated, one group fed both Artemia nauplii and dry
feed and the other, only paste feed. At the end of the feeding trial, the survival rate of the white
sturgeon fed Artemia nauplii and dry feed was 59.6%, but was 66.6% on paste feed only. The
survival rate of the larvae fed only the paste feed was significantly higher than the larvae fed
Artemia nauplii and dry feed (?2 test, p<0.01). The results suggest that the paste feed was
effective as feed for white sturgeon larvae. The cost of the white sturgeon fed Artemia nauplii
and dry feed was around $67.50 for feed plus the electricity to maintain Artemia, whereas the
cost for paste feed was around $125 for feed alone. However, the cost of paste feed will likely
decrease as the supply of paste feed improves, making the cost of paste feed comparable with dry
feed.  Reasonable cost and better larval survival rates make paste feed a superior choice for
culturing white sturgeon larvae.