Developing the harpacticoid copepod Tisbe biminiensis culture: testing for salinity tolerance, ration levels, presence of sediment and density dependent analyses

Copepods have a number of advantages for use as live food in cultures of fish and crustacean larvae. This study aimed to develop culture techniques of Tisbe biminiensis Volkmann‐Rocco 1973 in volumes of 500 mL. The first experiment tested the effect of salinity on survival and fecundity. The other experiments studied the population growth comparing two levels of daily ration and the effect of sand sediment in cultures. The cultures were carried out on plastic boxes at 29°C, salinity of 34 g L^?1 and 12 h light/12 h dark photoperiod with aerated filtered seawater, total renewal every other day. Adult females tolerated the decrease of salinity from 34 to 27 g L^?1 but the offspring production decreased significantly. The salinity of 20 g L^?1 was not tolerated at all. Tisbe biminiensis attained one of the highest rates of increase in cultures among harpacticoids (0.33 day^?1) and a high density of 205 individual ind. mL^?1. The carrying capacity of the population was estimated as 67 200 ind. in 500 mL recipients. In conclusion, T. biminiensis grow fast and attain high densities in cultures of 500 mL volume without sediment, feeding a daily ration of 50–100% of copepodite biomass.