Trials are continuing here in Belize. We are making a direct comparison of early post larval shrimp growth (1,200 per tank @ 25/m2) and survival when fed on AquaMats that are colonized by normal growth vs. allowed to trap suspended sediment in the control structures. The picture above shows the AquaMats in the control structure (front) and being colonized in still water (rear). The mats in the control structure fill with algae in a few minutes. If the shrimp will eat that material and a low cost harvest technique can be found, they can remove a significant proportion of the algae leaving the pond (which is also a significant proportion of the nutrients leaving the pond). The Uni High prototype could be installed in a similar manner. We'll project findings from this experiment onto the Uni High findings to estimate yeild and potential viability of strained food sources as feed. AquaMats are already a known viable food source.
Feeding trial results are here. Conventional feeds out-performed aquamats kept in static water and aquamats laid in flowing water to collect algae and organic matter (89% survival vs 41 and 49% survival respectively).
ReplyDeleteHowever, food densities were not controlled in this experiment. The potentially significant finding is that survival and production of post larval shrimp was slightly better in systems with aquamats containing algae strained from water flowing over the control structure. Thus algae removed from a control structure provided a similar food advantage to conventional aquamats allowed to colonize in non-flowing water.
A nutrient removal device mounted to collect matter from flowing water could work as a shrimp feed.