Development of a small-scale system for first feeding experiments in larvae

The basic logic behind experimental design is to plan the experimental set-up in a way that will allow testing the effect of the parameter in question, using treatments and replicates, in a way that will allow a valid, or significant answer. First feeding of halibut larvae is so far successfully done in relatively big tanks of around 1 m3 and bigger tanks, which requires many larvae, a lot of expensive resources like live food, and the variation between apparently similar tanks is quite large. Therefore so far the studies have to be limited in number of treatments and replicates per treatm ent, due to a very high cost of running such experiments. These limitations are reducing the scope and the accuracy of the studies on halibut larvae. The aim of this study is therefore to develop a type of experimental set-up and a method that will allow Norwegian research institutes to run much cheaper and scientific sound studies with the first-feeding stage of halibut larvae. The work will be based on our recent successful experience with a system that allows smallscale (20 liters) experiments from day 10 after first feeding of halibut larvae. The method is expected to be applicable to other fish species larvae as well.