The potential used of Amphipod-Crustacea as live food for blue swimmer crab, Portunus pelagicus crablet

Abstract The mortality rate at crablet stage of blue swimmer crab, Portunus pelagicus during weaning is still high. Insufficient in food availability can be a trigger to high cannibalism. On the other hands, the used of artificial feed often causes a decrease in water quality. Information on the use of live feed during the crablet weaning is not yet available. This study aims to look at the opportunity to use Amphipod-crustacea, Grandidierella megnae (Giles, 1888) as a live food at crablet-4 (C4) stage of swimmer crabs. The consumption rate of C4 against amphipod was tested at various density levels using glass containers with 1L volume. Each container was filled with 0.5 L of sterilized sea water with 30 ppt salinity and included one crab of C4. Five levels of amphipod density applied were 5, 10, 15, 20, and 25 ind.L−1 with 10 replications each. The amount of amphipod consumed by a crablet during 10 hours of exposure is recorded and presented in tabular and graphical form. The results showed that the consumption rate of C4 against amphipod increases significantly (P<0.05) as the density of amphipod increase and reach the maximum value at 10 ind.crab−1. Based on the consumption rate of C4 against amphipod, can be concluded that the G. megnae (Giles, 1888) is suitable as a live food during weaning of swimming crab. However, more detail about the effect of amphipod on growth rate of swimming crab is still need more detail study.