The microalgae Chaetoceros gracilis was cultivated to feed the rotifer Brachionus plicatilis. Microalgae and rotifers were grown separately, each for 10 days in a growing system volume of 62,5mL to 20L (1st phase). This was followed by 10 days in 250L (2nd phase), after 10 days in 1 500L (3rd phase). The growth rate exponential population at intervals of 24h for C. gracilis was 0,72, 0,30, and 0,28cells/mL to three phases of cultivation. Within 24h the arithmetic growth rate for the population of B. plicatilis was 330, 1 858 and 13 912rotifers/day in three phases of cultivation. Twenty-four hour intervals counts from the increasing number of organisms in the cultivation of microalgae, allows the prediction of a rotifer production necessary to feed a certain number organisms.KEY WORDSRotifer culture, population growth, fecundity, Chaetoceros culture
A Growth Rate and Feed Habit Analysis of the Ciliate Euplotes sp. Contaminating a Mass Culture of the Rotifer Brachionus plicatilis.
