JOURNAL OF ANIMAL AND VETERINARY ADVANCES, vol.7, no.1, pp.5-10, 2008 (SCI-Expanded)
Wild-caught juvenile pikeperch (Sander lucioperca (6.21 +/- 0.38 g and 7.80 +/- 0.24 cm) were offered different types of food and tested for their transition to dry feed. Totally 8 Groups (including Control) were fed according to the experimental feeding regime during 28 days. Group A (control) was fed with live Gambusia affinis fries alone. As initial feeding (the first 7 days of the experiment) before transition to dry feed, Groups B, C and D were offered live food, Groups E and F were offered moist feed (minced bait shrimp meat and minced fish meat, respectively). Group G and H were offered semi moist feed (a mixture of fish meat + dry feed and a mixture of bait shrimp meat + dry feed, respectively). To determine their preferences and acceptance of different feeds, some growth parameters were calculated for each group. The study showed that pikeperch in this size consumed all experimental diets and direct transition to dry feed could be achieved successfully after 7 days initial feeding with live food. The best weight gain was in Group A fed with live food alone (5.26 +/- 0.11 g) (p < 0.05), followed by Group B fed first with live and then dry feed (4.43 +/- 0.28g). Survival rates varied between 56 and 96%.