Effect of Stocking Density on Growth, Feed Efficiency, and Survival in Peruvian Grunt Anisotremus scapularis (Tschudi, 1846): From Fingerlings to Juvenile

This study aimed to identify the effect of stocking density on growth, feed efficiency, and survival during the transition from Peruvian grunts (Anisotremus scapularis) fingerlings to juveniles. Fingerlings were reared in triplicate for 63 days until reaching the juvenile stage, at 1000 fingerling·m−3 (low-density LSD, 0.79 kg·m−3), 2000 fingerlings·m−3 (medium-density MSD, 1.58 kg·m−3), and 3000 fingerlings·m−3 (high-density HSD, 2.37 kg·m−3), and production performance parameters were evaluated. At the end of the experiment, results showed a negative correlation between stocking density and growth, individual growth, and the specific growth rate for HSD. The final biomass per treatment was 3.53 ± 0.26, 6.79 ± 0.08, and 7.70 ± 0.46 kg·m−3 for LSD, MSD, and HSD, respectively, the biomass harvest and weight gain were significantly lower for HSD. At the end of the experiment, there was no significant difference in survival (99%) among all treatments. Furthermore, the average food for each individual and the protein efficiency ratio were significantly lower for HSD, while the feeding efficiency was higher for HSD. In summary, our results indicated that initial biomass values above 1.42 kg·m−3 did not significantly improve growth and feed efficiency in the fingerlings rearing process.