Larviculture of the Greasy Grouper Epinephelus tauvina F. and the Brown-Marbled Grouper E. fuscoguttatus F. in Singapore

This paper reports the larviculture of two grouper species, the greasy grouper Epinephelus tauvina and the brown-marbled grouper E. fuscoguttatus , and examines the technical feasibility of breeding the fish. Fertilized eggs for larviculture were obtained by induced spawning through multiple hormonal injections of the female brooders, followed by artificial fertilization for the greasy grouper and by natural spawning in netcages for the brown-marbled grouper.
For both species, larviculture was divided into three operational stages, i.e., stage 1 (day 0–12), stage 2 (from day 12 to day 24 for the greasy grouper and to day 30 for the brown-marbled grouper) and stage 3 (day 24 or 30 to metamorphosis). Larvae were transferred to clean tanks after each stage. Total mortality around day 5–8 was common for the greasy grouper. Several modifications, including the feeding with super-small strain rotifers, intensive feeding of rotifers with Nannochloropsis and the use of an oil-skimmer, have been made to improve the situation. Two other major problems in larviculture were the high mortality observed after day 25 in the greasy grouper and the high cannibalism from day 35 onwards for the greasy grouper and from day 30 onwards for the brown-marbled grouper. The shock syndrome exhibited by both species during the periods made culling of the fish impossible.
Based on the spawning and larval characteristics, brown-marbled grouper is considered a better potential species for large scale fry production than the greasy grouper.