Author:

Abstract:

Two trials concerning the optimization of burbot culture where held at the Aquaculture Education and Research Facilities (Aqua-ERF) to investigate the effects of stocking density and feeding regime. In the first trial, Burbot (Average body weight = ~62.91 g) were held in triplicates at five initial stocking densities (20, 40, 60, 80 and 100 fish per tank) which is equal to 3.9, 7.7, 12, 16.2 and 20.3 kg.m-². Fish were weighted an counted every three weeks to follow up on growth, feed uptake, feed conversion and mortality. All fish were scored individually on skin damage at the end of the trial. Results showed no significant difference in production parameters, but lower stocking densities (20 and 40 fish/tank) resulted in significant higher appearances of skin lesions compared to the other stocking densities (60, 80 and 100 fish/tank). A second trial, in which 3156 burbot with average body weight of ~49.62 g were distributed over 12 tanks of 1,13m³ (263 fish per tank with stocking density ~7.8kg.m-²), was run with four different feeding regimes: continuous and night feeding in combination with daily feeding or feeding every other day. The population distribution of treatments with daily continuous feeding showed a significant higher percentage of bigger fish compared to night feeding every other day.