Abstract:
Studies on the growth and survival of Tachypleus gigas larvae to copepod diet were
conducted in the laboratory Aquatrop UMT. Seeds collected from the beach Balok,
Kuantan where the egg is almost hatched at the '4 th of Embryonic moulting 'is taken
from the natural environment. The study was conducted for 25 days to take care of
trilobite larvae from the age of 5 days in 6 separate beakers to monitor the growth rate
and survival rate oflarvae of Tachypleus gigas. 3 of the beaker fed with copepod diet
and another 3 beaker fed with Artemia as a control for this study. Results from this
study showed the rate of growth and survival rates of copepod larvae with a diet lower
than that of larvae with Artemia diet. 85% of the larvae fed copepod survive at the
end of the study compared with 91 % of the Artemia fed larvae. From this study, other
than live food nutritional factors, the live food ability to avoid predator is also a factor
to be considered in the early stage Tachyp/eus gigas feeding.
