Performance of Litopenaeus vannamei postlarvae reared in indoor nursery tanks at high stocking density in clear-water versus biofloc system

•In both system, at 1500, 3000, 6000, and 9000 orgs/m3, survival was not affected by stocking density.•At all stocking densities, postlarvae growth was higher in the clear-water than in the BFT system.•In both systems, low alkalinity values were obtained.•The highest TSS concentration was observed in the BFT system.

The aim of this study was to compare two recirculating culture systems, clear-water (CW) vs. biofloc (BFT) system, on the performance of Litopenaeus vannamei postlarvae reared in indoor nursery tanks at four stocking densities (1500, 3000, 6000, and 9000 orgs/m3) during 42 days. In the study, the mean final growth weight fluctuated between 0.34 and 1.26 g, with a survival range of 85.0-98.4% at the four stocking densities. In both systems, survival was not affected by stocking density. The mean final weight was higher in the culture with CW (≈0.64, 0.41, 0.31, and 0.17 g/org at the stocking densities of 1500, 3000, 6000, and 9000 orgs/m3, respectively) than in the BFT system. Specific growth rate (SGR) values (CW = 9.7-11.8 and BFT system = 8.6-10.1% weight increase/day) were higher at all treatments in the CW system. Our results indicate that in CW-recirculation system it is possible to obtain good production results in shrimp postlarvae nurseries under intensive farming condition.