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Abstract
We measured growth and oxygen consumption of age-1 yellow perch Perca flavescens subjected to ad libitum (control) or variable feeding cycles of 2 (i.e., 2 d of feed, 2 d of deprivation), 6, or 12 d for a 72-d period. Individual, female yellow perch (initial weight = 51.9 ± 0.9 g [mean ± SE]) were stocked in 110-L aquaria to provide six replicates per treatment and fed measured rations of live fathead minnow Pimephales promelas. Consumption, absolute growth rate, growth efficiency, and oxygen consumption were similar among feeding regimens. However, growth trajectories for fish on the 2-d cycle were significantly lower than other feed–fast cycles. Hyperphagia occurred in all treatments. Bioenergetics model simulations indicated that consumption was significantly underestimated (t = 5.4, df = 4, P = 0.006), while growth was overestimated (t = −5.5, df = 4, P = 0.005) for fish on the 12-d cycle. However, model errors detected between observed and predicted values were low, ranging from −10.1% to +7.8%. We found that juvenile yellow perch exhibited compensatory growth (CG), but none of the feed–fast treatments resulted in growth overcompensation. Likewise, we found no evidence that respiration rates varied with CG, implying that yellow perch bioenergetics models could be used to predict the effects of feeding history and CG response on food consumption and fish growth.
Received October 27, 2011; accepted June 11, 2012
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors thankfully acknowledge Steven Ranney for assistance and equipment, and the South Dakota Department of Game, Fish and Parks for providing yellow perch. We also thank Robert Klumb, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service fisheries biologist, for the use of equipment during respirometry trials. The authors also thank the Agricultural Experiment Station, South Dakota State University, Brookings, and the South Dakota State University Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences for financial support and use of equipment and facilities. This study was conducted under and Federal Aid in Sport Fish Restoration, administered through SD GFP study 1504. Any use of trade names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.