Effects of stocking size, density, and feeding frequency on growth performance of Centropristis striata in a recirculating aquaculture system

Centropristis striata is a valuable marine fish native to the Atlantic coast of the United States and Mexico. In recent years, it has become an excellent species for promotion and breeding in the eastern and southeastern coastal areas of China. In order to explore the effects of different stocking size, stocking density and feeding frequency on the growth performance of C. striata , and to screen the optimal combination of culture parameters, and to provide a theoretical basis for aquaculture production practice, L 9 (3 3 ) experimental design was used to set up three factors and three levels of stocking size (200 g tail -1 , 400 g tail -1 , 600 g tail -1 ), stocking density (30 kg m -3 , 40 kg m -3 , 50 kg m -3 ) and feeding frequency (1,2,3 times day -1 ). A total of 9 experimental groups were set up, with 3 replicates per group. The test period was 8 weeks. The specific growth rate (SGR) and survival rate of each group were measured, and the results were analyzed using range and variance analyses. The results showed that the effects of the three factors on the survival rate were not significant, and the survival rate in each group was higher than 95%. Culture size and stocking density had a significant effect on the specific growth rate. As stocking size increased, the specific growth rate gradually decreased. With the increase of stocking density, the specific growth rate increased gradually, and the specific growth rate was the highest (0.45%) in the combination of 200 g tail -1 , 50 kg m -3 and 3 times day -1 . The range analysis showed that the primary and secondary order affecting the specific growth rate was: stocking size (R = 0.29) > breeding density (R = 0.10) > feeding frequency (R = 0.05). Based on the comprehensive growth performance, the optimal combination with the goal of rapid weight gain was 200 g tail -1 , 50 kg m -3 , feeding 3 times day -1 ; the optimal combination with high survival rate was 400 g tail -1 , 30 kg m -3 , feeding twice a day. This study can serve as a reference for parameter optimization in the industrial breeding of C. striata .