Recent results obtained in our laboratory have demonstrated that diet that included
Artemia nauplii, artificial food, and algae enhanced growth and soluble-protein content
in the early postlarvae of L. vannamei, whereas artificial diet or Artemia nauplii alone
produced low growth and low soluble-protein content (Brito, unpublished results).
Artemia nauplii have been widely used as a live food for rearing penaeid larvae
(Sorgeloos et al., 1998), and there have been earlier attempts to rear shrimp larvae fed
artificial diets (Jones, 1984; Chu, 1991). The present results showed that when we
combined food, and allowed postlarvae to access a wide variety of nutrients, they
adjusted better to their nutritional requirements. Jones et al. (1997) reported that wild
postlarvae fed on a wide variety of organisms had a greater opportunity to obtain
essential nutrients to meet postlarval requirements. In the present study, the combined
food may have better simulated food used by postlarvae in the wild, better meeting
nutritional requirements. This did not occur when we tested artificial diet or Artemia
nauplii alone.