Experimental culture of Cyclopina sp with differents microalgae’s species

copepods are the main natural prey for most marine fish and other marine crustaceans and their nauplius, thus playing a fundamental role in aquatic food webs. there is a need to investigate the potential of copepods species found in colombian coasts for the development of marine aquaculture. objective: evaluate the performance of the marine copepod cyclopina sp fed with different microalgae species. methods: experimental cultures were conducted in 10 l aquariums with an initial density of 2 copepods/ ml, constant aeration and 24 h light. treatments consisted of feeding the copepods with a combination of two microalgae species in a 70:30 ratio, at concentrations of 4x105 cells/ml, as follows: t1 = tetraselmis suecica + isochrysis galbana, t2 = i. galbana. + nannochloropsis oculata, t3 = n. oculata. + t. suecica, t4 = yeast (saccharomyces cerevisiae). temperature (oc), salinity (%), dissolved oxygen (mg/l), ph, were registered daily, and the growth and population dynamics were evaluated every 48 hours for 15 days. results: the greater density of total copepods (10± 3 copepods/ml) and number of nauplii (6 ± 2 nauplii/ ml), were registered on day 15 in t1, being significantly different (p<0.05) from any other treatments. conclusions: the best growth and reproduction were attained in copepod populations fed with the combination of microalgae t. suecica + i. galbana (t1).