We are trying out wild plankton feeding but a large proportion of the food items are thecate Ceratium spp. If these are not ingested by the fish, I would like to increase the copepod proportion.
I found articles suggesting that they do not. But is there any study suggesting that they could?
No to my knowledge there is not, but I would be surprised if they were not feeding on them at all. Meeren & Næss 1993 found that tintinnids were part of the diet until age 20 days. However, these are likely more active that Ceratium which may make them more attractive or easier to spot.
Overton et al, 2010 and my self found cod larvae to ingest Gyrodinium spirale, Strombidium sp. and Oxyrrhis marina in high numbers when reared on them, but they seemed to prefer Acartia tonsa nauplii when these were also offered to the larvae. The results also suggested that the nutritional value of may not cover the added metabolic costs of the increased cod activity of ingesting these small prey in sufficient quantity. Therefore in my opinion they may only be considered a supplement and improvement of the very first feeding capabilities for the cod.
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