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NATURAL FEED:

Adult prawns are omnivorous in habitat (chopra), larvae feed on mostly micro organisms and decaying organic materials

Penaeus indicus mainly feeds upon decaying organic

materials and plant materials like algal cells, weeds, diatoms like casinodiscus, pleurosigma, Rhizosolema, crustaceans like copepods, ostracods, amphipods, micro decapods and larval forms of molluscan, trematodes and other organisms.

They also feed on shell pieces.

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Even in artificial ponds, they feed upon algae, plankton, meat pieces, polychaetes etc.

Large sized fully grown prawns though predatory and cannibalistic in natural environment, feed only upon dead and weak prawns in artificial ponds.

Metapenaeus affinis feeds on nematodes, foraminiferans, molluscans, ostracods, copepods and nauplid larvae of crustaceans.

Some prawns at higher stocking density feed upon surface plants and animals.

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Brackish water prawns like penaeus indicus, Metapenaeus monoceros, M.affinis, M.dobsoni and penaeus monodon of cochin coast depend upon embryonic stages of crustaceans, polychaetes, amphipods, bivalves, gastropods, foraminiferans, nematodes, sand particles and organic debris.

Prawns show seasonal adaptation with regard to their feeding habits.

They can survive on algae during monsoons, molluscans during winter and crustaceans & filamentous algae before the onset of rainy season.

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SUPPLEMENTARY FEED

Deficiency in the availability of natural feed is supplemented by artificial feed.
This may be of wet or dry types.

1.WET FEED

Thrown out fishes, prawn heads, snail meat, small worms, insects, groundnut cake, cotton seed cake etc. can be used as wet feed.
A mixture of Tapioca powder and pig excreta can be given as feed in the form of capsules.
Chicken waste is thrown into the culture ponds where it gets decayed. Such decayed organic detritus is taken as food by prawns.

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2.DRY FEED

Balanced nutritious diet can be given as supplementary feed in the capsular form to the growing prawns.
In the absence or deficiency of feed, prawns depend upon cannibalistic mode.

A mixture of husk, broken rice, groundnut cake, Tapioca powder, fish meat, tubipex worms, snail meat etc.. can form the balanced nutritious diet for the prawns.

This diet results in high productivity

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Feed is supplied once in 3-4days @5-10% of the body weight.
Prawns feed should contain 30-40%of proteins of plant and animal origin.

FEED FOR PRAWN SEED:

Different stages in the life history of prawn have different types of feeding habits and depend upon various types of available feed.
Larval feed by filter feeding method in early stages and adopt mixotrophic nutrition subsequently.
Adults are carnivorous.

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Larval stages of Macrobrachium rosenbergii feed upon the nauplid of Artemia, Tubipex worms and fish meal.

They can also feed upon the algal cells of green water.

Plankton, minced fish meat and egg yellow can be given as feed for the larval forms of M. malcomsonii.

Nauplid larvae release 16-17hrs after fertilization of the eggs do not feed at all and hence they do not possess digestive system.

Protozoan feeds upon micro organisms, unicellular algae, diatoms, plankton and other protozoans of the pond

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Zoea larvae and Mysis stages are active and voracious eaters and feed upon phytoplankton by filter feeding method.

Maxillae are transformed into spinuous cilia needed or sieve, micro plankton of 3m-10m size can enter the mouth of mysis.

Zoea and Mysis mostly depend upon diatoms like skeletonema Thalaciocera, Nitzician, Rhizoromia and chaetoceros.

Nutrient medium with 20,000-1,00,000/mm diatom cells can accelerate the growth of the larvae.

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Post mysis stages change to carnivorous habit.

Mysis and post mysis stages can also feed upon the nauplid larvae or Artemia (copepod), Brachionus (Rotifer), panagrelus(nematode) and Moina (cladoceran).

They feed upon phytoplankton with the help of setae and zooplankton, meat pieces and organic materials with the help of chelate legs.

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They can also feed upon artificial feed like soya bean cake and oyster meat in their final stages of development.

Zoea larvae of palaeomon can feed on microplanktom of 0.4mm size. Main food of these larvae consists of phytoplankton like chloroplast, phytodactylum, tricarnatum, nauplid larvae of artemia and tubipex (annelid) worms.

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Marine prawns and their post larvae feed upon zooplankton like the larvae of Artemia, Daphnia, Tubipex, Cheirocephalus, Brachionus and copepods like Tigriopus and Tisbe.

Young stages of prawn can be given artificial food like prawn waste, egg, frog meat, oyster pieces, liver of the catla, fish meat, powered soyabean, Tapioca and a mixture of groundnut cake and coconut cake in the ratio of 1 :1.

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