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Influence of costocking on growth of young-of-year brook trout and rainbow trout

January 1, 2000

We examined the effects of costocking on growth of hatchery-produced young-of-year brook trout Salvelinus fontinalis and rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss in the laboratory. Fry of both species (brook trout = 0.16 ± 0.01 g; rainbow trout = 0.18 ± 0.01 g; mean weight ± standard deviation) were stocked into 400-L recirculation raceways at a rate of 100 fish/raceway and were held at 12°C. Raceways received either rainbow trout only (n = 3), brook trout only (n = 3), or half brook trout and half rainbow trout (n = 3). Trout were fed a commercial trout feed three times per day at an initial rate of 10% body weight/d, which was reduced to 3% body weight/d by the 6th week of the study as a result of a buildup of excess feed. After 8 weeks of similar treatment, brook trout were significantly larger than rainbow trout (in terms of length and weight) when they were stocked alone. However, rainbow trout were significantly larger than brook trout (in terms of length and weight) in the costocked treatment. A second phase of the study was conducted to evaluate the effect of ration level on growth of costocked brook and rainbow trout using low (2% body weight/d), medium (4% body weight/d), and high (6% body weight/d) ration levels. After 8 weeks, rainbow trout were significantly larger than brook trout (in terms of length and weight) in all costocked feeding treatments. This suggests that behavioral interaction might have resulted in decreased growth of brook trout when they were costocked with rainbow trout.

Publication Year 2000
Title Influence of costocking on growth of young-of-year brook trout and rainbow trout
DOI 10.1577/1548-8659(2000)129<0613:IOCOGO>2.0.CO;2
Authors J. Jeffery Isely, Chris Kempton
Publication Type Article
Publication Subtype Journal Article
Series Title Transactions of the American Fisheries Society
Index ID 70022894
Record Source USGS Publications Warehouse