Robert R. Stickney

Texas A&M University | TAMU · Department of Oceanography

Intensive tilapia co-culture is the commercial production of various species of tilapia in conjunction with one or more other marketable species. Tilapia are attractive as a co-cultured fish because of their potential to improve water quality, especially in penaeid shrimp ponds, by consuming plankton and detritus and by altering pathogenic bacteria...

Feeding habits and environmental tolerances are presented for the major co-cultured tilapia, including Oreochromis niloticus, Oreochromis aureus, and Oreochromis mossambicus. In general, cultured tilapia consume plankton. Depending upon species and age, there may be a preference for zooplankton or phytoplankton. Tilapia also take readily to prepare...

Human activities invariably have impacts on the environment. Those may be positive or negative. Aquaculture is often criticized and seen as being an environmental threat. A better and more reasonable goal would be to provide responsible aquaculture, in this case with respect to tilapia production. Open ocean culture of tilapia co-culture has some p...

Old co-culture models are summarized before new models are introduced. The old models discussed are the Chinese polyculture system, polyculture in India, aquaculture development in Africa, and tilapia co-culture in the United States in geothermal water. New models for co-culture of tilapia with other species include confined culture whereby tilapia...

Definition of PolyculturePolyculture is the production of two or more cultured species in the same physical space at the same time, often with the objective of producing multiple products that have economic value. They may be a combination of animals, plants and animals, aquatic species only, or aquatic and terrestrial species.IntroductionAquacultu...

Arsenic, cadmium, copper, mercury, and zinc analyses of 91 individuals representing 35 species of North Atlantic finfish (Chondrichthys and Osteichthys) indicate that these metals occur at similar levels in both inshore and offshore species. Chondrichthys and Osteichthys have similar concentrations of all the metals, excepting arsenic which is high...

Channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus) fingerlings representing four size ranges (5.1–10.2, 10.3–15.2, 15.3–20.3 and 20.4 to 25.4 cm) were reared in 0.28 m3 cages at densities of 600 fish/m3. Five replicate cages containing each size group were stocked in a surface mine lake of approximately 1.5 ha in late June, 1984. The fish were fed six days per...

Neither feeding rate nor feeding frequency appear to affect protein digestibility in the freshwater shrimp, Macrobrachium rosenbergii. A feeding frequency of twice daily resulted in a significant increase in food consumption compared to feeding once or 3 times daily. Apparent protein digestibility from a diet containing menhaden meal as the primary...

Semipurified diets containing 2.0 to 2.5% highly purified linoleic acid as the only dietary lipid produced similar growth responses in channel catfish fingerlings fed experimental diets for 14 weeks. Poorest growth was demonstrated by fish on a fat-free diet and a diet which contained 4.0% linoleic acid, but growth on those diets was not significan...

Two experiments were conducted to determine the dietary requirement for vitamin C of young Tilapia aurea. In the first experiment, best growth and food conversion were obtained over 14 weeks on a diet which contained 50 mg/kg of vitamin C (other levels tested were 0, 100 and 200 mg/kg). In the second experiment, levels of 0, 25, 50, 65, 80, 95 and...

The feasibility of polyculturing Macrobrachium rosenbergii and Tilapia aurea was examined in 500 m ² earthen ponds in central Texas. Monoculture of each species was also undertaken to provide comparative data. Water quality was monitored to determine its influences on survival, growth and production of the culture species. Production of freshwater...

Juvenile Tilapia aurea were reared from June through early October, 1976 in ponds at densities of approximately 6,000/ha with the following treatments: 1) control, 2) 210 laying hens/ha, 3) 222 hogs/ha, 4) 74 hogs/ha, and 5) 25 hogs/ha. Poultry or swine were maintained over the ponds in suspended cages and slotted floor pens, respectively, to allow...

A study of polyculture was initiated at the Aquaculture Research Center, Texas A&M University, using Macrobrachium rosenbergii and monosex Tilapia aurea. These species were selected because of their current popularity in aquaculture and because their food preferences and patterns of behavior indicated no reason to expect serious competition. Shrimp...

Samples of halibut eggs in nature have led to theories that development occurs near the sea bed and, alternatively, well up in the water column. Resolution of the conflicting theories and information which should assist culturists in providing the proper environmental conditions for egg development and hatching were the subjects of this study. The...

Three oilseed protein concentrates (soybean, canola, and sunflower) were evaluated to determine their potential, when supplemented with deficient essential amino acids, to partially or completely replace fish meal in diets fed to rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss. Triplicate aquaria of juvenile trout (average weight of 12 g) were fed the experiment...

Eggs of Pacific halibut were incubated under various environmental conditions. Optimum hatching occurred over a temperature range from 6 C to 8 C, whereas temperatures of 3, 10, and 11 C were lethal. Development time from fertilization to 50% hatching varied from 250 h (9 C) to 320 h (6.5 C). Salinity effects on hatching were not as critical as tem...

Blood samples were collected from captive Pacific halibut, Hippoglossus stenolepis, at intervals of about six weeks from early December 1986 to late November 1987. Concentrations of plasma androgen and estradiol-17β were determined by radioimmunoassay. The plasma concentrations of steroid were highest during autumn and winter in halibut that mature...

Growth of Pacific halibut Hippoglossus stenolepis larvae was studied in the laboratory during 1989 and 1991. Larvae increased in length from 6.3 mm at hatching to 9.9 mm 20 d post-hatch. The average daily length increment was 0.17 mm. Dry weight of the larvae increased from an average of 210 μg at hatching to 570 μ g on day 20, providing a specific...

Key words: aquaculture, environment, USA, effluents, shrimp, Texas, sustainability

In response to a request by American Fisheries Society President Christopher Kohler, we examined the current status of open ocean aquaculture in the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of the United States, interest in open ocean aquaculture activities, the regulatory environment, and the potential for sustainable development. There is currently little i...

The stomachs of 148 elasmobranch and teleost fishes representing 35 families and 62 species were examined by viscometry for cellulase activity. Sixteen species of Georgia estuarine fish and the freshwater fish, Ictalurus punctatus (Rafinesque) showed some cellulase activity. Elasmobranchs and teleosts captured in Florida Bay, Florida, and over the...

Atlantic salmon in Maine, once abundant, are now seriously depleted. Hundreds of thousands of adults returned to Maine's rivers and streams each year in historical limes. In 2002, it is estimated that only 871 salmon returned to spawn in all Maine rivers. Atlantic salmon were listed as endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA) in No...

This book contains 17 chapters. Topics covered are: management of marine aquaculture: the sustainability challenge; marine mammals and aquaculture: conflicts and potential resolutions; recreational fishing and aquaculture: throwing a line into the pond; aquaculture: opportunity of threat to traditional capture fishermen; advances in marine stock en...

Atlantic salmon in Maine, once abundant but now seriously depleted, were listed as endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA) in November 2000. The listing covers the wild fish in eight Maine rivers as a single “distinct population segment.” The controversy inMaine that accompanied the listing led Congress to request the National Res...

Aquaculture is the rearing of aquatic organisms under controlled or semicontrolled conditions. It involves plant and animal rearing with the objectives of providing human food, recreational fishing, enhancement of commercially valuable stocks, recovery of endangered species, and the production of bait and ornamental species. Aquaculture is conducte...

A decade of research to develop techniques required for spawning and rearing Pacific halibut, Hippoglossus stenolepis, have produced a considerable amount of information on broodstock maintenance, spawning, and early life history of the species. Various problems, many of them associated with failures in the water systems employed, have frustrated a...

Changes in concentrations of dissolved Ca, Cu, Fe, K, Mg, Mn, NO3-N, Na, P, and Zn, as a function of increasing biomass of Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) fed a commercial diet in integrated aquaculture–hydroponic systems growing romaine lettuce (Lactuca sativa longifolia cv. Jericho), were monitored over three, 28-day experimental trials. The...

Tricaine, quinaldine sulfate, and metomidate were compared as anesthetics for larvae of two species of fish, red drum (Sciaenops ocellatus) and goldfish (Carassius auratus). Larvae were exposed to various concentrations of each anesthetic and the percentages of fish reaching stage 4 of anesthesia, post-exposure recovery, and survival were recorded....

The practice of stocking hatchery fish is coming under increasing criticism. Views that genetic integrity may be altered by the intermingling of wild and hatchery fish originating from different stocks and that hatchery fish have been genetically altered as a result of generations of selection are widely held. Past breeding and hatchery management...

Rainbow trout averaging 150 g were fed semipurified diets supplemented or not supplemented with pantothenic acid. After 16 wk of feeding, fish fed the deficient diet had reduced feed intake. At 28 wk, supplemented fish weighed > 600 g, whereas deficient fish weighed 425 g. Deficient fish became anorectic and listless at 25 wk and began to die at 28...

Knowledge of digestive function in fish larvae may provide insight into the problem of poor survival of first feeding larvae, but research approaches to investigate digestion in larvae are limited. To compare the functional development of the digestive system in altricial and precocious larvae, we developed a method for force-feeding radio-labeled...

Two groups of young largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides), one infected with intestinal acanthocephalans (Neoechinorhynchus cylindratus) and the other free of worms, were compared with respect to the apparent protein digestibility and the apparent amino acid availability of herring meal fed to them; analyses were by the indicator (Cr2O3) method....

Interest in the culture of Atlantic and Pacific (Hippoglossus hippoglossus and H. stenolepis) halibut developed in the 1980s. In general, information collected with respect to the culture requirements of one halibut species is applicable to the other. Maintenance of captive broodstock in circular culture tanks of sufficient size can be accomplished...

The minimum dietary requirement of the blue tilapia (Tilapia aurea) for pantothenic acid was determined. Five semipurified diets supplemented with 0, 5, 10, 20, or 40 mg calcium D-pantothenate per kilogram of diet were evaluated. Fish fed unsupplemented diets showed significantly poorer (P < 0.05) weight gain, feed conversion efficiency (fish weigh...

Adult Pacific halibut (Hippoglossus stenolepis) taken from the wild were held in captivity beginning in 1986. The first successful captive spawning with subsequent development of Pacific halibut larvae in the USA was conducted during February and March 1988. One of the eight larvae produced survived for 6 d, by which time eye pigment was visible.

The vitamin E requirement of the blue tilapia, Oreochromis aureus (Steindachner), was evaluated in semipurified diets containing two lipid levels (3% and 6% corn oil) and five levels (0, 10, 20, 40, and 80 mg/kg) of dl-α-tocopheryl acetate. Vitamin E-deficient fish exhibited significantly lower weight gains and feed conversion efficiencies compared...

Aquaculture, or underwater agriculture, is an art that has been practiced for some 4000 years. Largely within the past three decades, it has developed into a science. Aquacultured plants, molluscs, crustaceans, and fishes contribute significantly to man's food supply, though total production from wild harvest continues to greatly exceed the contrib...

Fingerling blue tilapias (Tilapia aurea) were offered vitamin-complete semipurified diets supplemented with different levels of either pantothenic acid or choline during three studies. A vitamin-free control diet was included in one study. Fish were kept in aquaria and supplied with recirculated water from a downflow gravel filter. No differences i...

Some fish, such as rainbow trout and certain marine species, require n−3 fatty acids, while other species have a requirement for n−6 fatty acids and may also require at least low levels of n−3 fatty acids for proper nutrition. Channel catfish appear to require fatty acids from both the n−3 and n−6 families, though the proper ratio between the two,...

Post-larval freshwater shrimp (Macrobrachium rosenbergii) were reared for 14 weeks on a commercial shrimp feed, a fat-free casein diet and casein diets containing 1% purified 16:0 (palmitate), 18:2n−6 (linoleate), 18:3n−3 (linolenate) or a 15:1 mixture of as the only source of dietary lipid. Gas chromatographic analysis of tissue lipid extracts fro...

Experiments were conducted to determine some of the chemical aspects of water quality required by cultured red drum in fresh or salt water. Two studies were conducted in fresh and two in salt water differing in concentrations of calcium and magnesium. Red drum weighing 1–3 g each were stocked at 15 fish per 114-l tank. Treatments were replicated th...

A technique was developed to enable channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus) to spawn in lakes where sufficient spawning habitat is not available. Forty-five-liter spawning cans were suspended from styrofoam floats at a depth of 1.25 m below the water surface, in water that was 2-5 m deep. Brood fish successfully utilized the containers for spawning,...

Members of the family Cichlidae that are generally referred to as tilapias (Tilapia spp.) characteristically demonstrate some degree of euryhalinity. A survey of existing literature indicates that Tilapia zilli and Tilapia mossambica are among the most salinity-tolerant species, although neither is among the most desirable for culture. A tolerance...

Blue tilapia (Tilapia aurea) fingerlings were fed a series of nine semipurified diets containing 0, 2.5, 5.0, 7.5 or 10% lipid in the form of menhaden oil or catfish oil over a 10-week experimental period. The study, conducted in flow-through aquaria, demonstrated that best growth and food conversions were obtained from fish fed the 10% menhaden oi...

A simple pond environment model linking stocking rate, feeding rate and initial size distribution to environmental factors was developed. A population growth model was also developed from the individual fish model in a previous paper by including social interactions. The pond environment model was linked with the population growth model to develop...

A dynamic model of fish bioenergetics and growth at the organismal level under controlled environments was developed as a tool to study, evaluate, and improve the management of fishpond grow-out system. The model incorporated five key variables, namely body size temperature, dissolved oxygen, unioinized ammonia and amount of food, and 17 growth par...

In a previous paper, predictions of the individual effects of size, temperature, dissolved oxygen, unionized ammonia and food on fish growth from an organismal model of fish bioenergetics and growth agreed well with available data. Model predictions of the combined effects of size and temperature, size and food, temperature and food, and dissolved...

Production type diets were developed to support tank reared channel catfish, Ictalurus punctatus, until they were large enough to accept conventional pelleted feeds. Alternative ingredients to fishmeal were evaluated through a series of feeding trials using diets formulated by computer. Several animal and vegetable protein concentrates partially re...

Wurts, W.A. and Stickney, R.R., 1984. An hypothesis on the light requirements for spawning penaeid shrimp, with emphasis on Penaeus setiferus. Aquaculture, 41: 93-98. Using standard equations, we have concluded that the light intensities which have been used by investigators attempting to induce maturation and spawning are up to 4000 times higher t...

Seven isocaloric and isonitrogenous practical diets in which either glanded or glandless cottonseed products were substituted for soybean and/or peanut meals, and three purified diets containing graded levels of gossypol were fed to fingerling Tilapia aurea for a period of 10 weeks. Growth, feed conversion and survival data indicated that glanded a...

Protein and energy specifications were developed for starter diets to support tank reared channel catfish Ictalurus punctatus through a series of feeding trials with diets formulated by computer and using ingredients commonly available in feed mill inventories. A high level of crude protein, about 58% of diet dry matter, and a high protein: energy...

Seven isocaloric and isonitrogenous diets in which either glanded or glandless cottonseed products were substituted for soybean and/or peanut meals, were fed to age-0 channel catfish Ictalurus punctatus for a period of 10 weeks. All diets were supplemented with lysine HCl. Based on growth, feed conversion and survival data defatted, glandless cotto...

Tilapia aurea fingerlings offered isonitrogenous (32% protein), isocaloric (3600 kcal/kg) semipurified diets for 12 weeks grew significantly larger (P < 0.05) on a 12% beef tallow diet than on a fat-free diet. No significant growth differences were found between the above diets and others which contained 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 or 14% beef tallow. Feed conv...

Differences in channel catfish fingerling growth rate were evaluated in triplicate aquaria fed at either 3% or 4% of body weight daily with feeding rate adjustments being made on the basis of (1) weight of the fish in each tank within a treatment, (2) mean weight of all replicates within a treatment, (3) weight of the slowest growing fish within a...

Nine-gram channel catfish Ictalurus punctatus fed 10 weeks on diets containing ethyl esters of stearic, oleic, linoleic, and linolenic acids did not demonstrate a strong requirement for linolenic-family fatty acids. Growth was inhibited when diets contained 1% or 2% linolenic acid (by weight) but no oleic or linoleic acids. If channel catfish requi...

Age-0 channel catfish Ictalurus punctatus demonstrated no significant growth differences over 20 weeks during fall and winter when fed, in indoor tanks, semipurified diets containing 6, 8, 10, 12, or 14% lipid in the form of beef tallow, soybean oil, or fish oil. Fish on the 10% lipid diets showed a tendency toward best growth within each dietary l...

All-male blue tilapia (Tilapia aurea) were stocked at 50 fish per pool in 7-m² plastic wading pools which received direct input of laying hen manure at the rates of 0, 35, 70, or 140 kg dry weight per hectare per day during 1978 and 70, 140, 210, or 280 kg dry weight per hectare per day during 1979. On the basis of growth and survival of blue tilap...

The optimum dietary protein to energy (P:E) ratio for rapid and efficient gain of juvenile Tilapia aurea was shown to fall with increasing size of fish. The optimum concentration of protein and energy also fell with growth. A diet providing roughly 56% protein at 4,600 kcal/kg digestible energy (gross energy adjusted for indigestible fiber) with a...

Two wild and two domestic strains of channel catfish Ictalurus punctatus demonstrated different spawning periods among strains. This character may be under genetic control. Egg hatchability was variable and did not differ significantly among strains or strain crosses. Deformed fry occurred in all spawns, but (with one exception) their frequency did...

An ammonia electrode and the nesslerization procedure of a water quality test kit were compared in measurements of total ammonia nitrogen (TAN) in standard solutions, well water, and water from various aquaculture systems. The electrode generally was satisfactory, the test kit less so—especially in water fertilized with animal manure. Distillation...

Tilapia aurea fry were stocked in five 0.05 ha ponds at 8000 fish/ha during June 1977. Four ponds received the wastes from 500, 1000, 2000 and 4000 laying hens/ha, respectively, while the fifth pond received no poultry wastes.After a 150-day growing period, final mean fish weights and average daily production paralleled the rates of organic fertili...

Tilapia mossambica maintained at high densities in an intensive-culture tank system displayed hypersensitivity to a component present in mucus and culture water. The component induced cutaneous anaphylactic reactions in T. mossambica and three other Tilapia species, but did not affect Ictalurus punctatus. Gel filtration studies revealed the compone...

Fingerling channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus) were reared in floating cages on practical diets supplemented with fish oil (diet FO), soybean oil (diet SO), or beef tallow (diets BT and C). Each diet contained 5% lipid, with the exception of diet C, which contained 2.5% beef tallow. Fingerlings reared on the FO diet apparently had the lowest food...

Channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus) fry were reared in flow-through troughs and circular tanks on practical diets supplemented with fish oil, soybean oil, or beef tallow. A control diet was also utilized which contained beef tallow at a reduced level. Fry reared on the fish oil diet increased in weight significantly more than fish fed the soybean...