Grow-out Stage

Focusing on healthy growth through nutrition and care

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Main target in this stage
Growth and survival
The PL’s have been transferred to their grow-out ponds and are called juveniles. During the grow-out stage, juveniles grow, molt, and develop reproductive organs but remain sexually immature. Their behavior and feeding habits resemble those of adults. The key goal is to raise juveniles to the desired market size while minimizing mortality. Focus on optimal water quality, nutrition, and disease prevention to ensure healthy growth and high survival rates.

Does your management reflect your stocking densities?

Stocking density (# of shrimp/ m2) depends on the production system intensity (extensive to hyper intensive) and can range from <50 shrimp/m2, 50-100 shrimp/m2, 100-200 shrimp/m2 or >500 shrimp/m2. Investment and risk are higher with intensive and hyper-intensive production. Therefore, the higher the stocking density, the more intense and accurate farm management like feeding levels is required.

How to select the best grow-out feed?

Optimal feed gives the best returns on the investment. In general, higher protein and balanced nutrients will give the best performance. Plus, pellets must be sinking and water stable. Slight leaching is needed to ensure shrimp are attracted to the pellets and all feed gets consumed. The feeding program also depends on the production system, for example higher protein is recommended with super intensive models.

How to check shrimp feed consumption?

Shrimp should be fed to ad libitum as frequently as possible to ensure the fastest growth. However, avoid overfeeding. Check if the shrimp are still consuming the feed during feeding by lowering a fine sieve with feed into the pond, wait for 15 to 30 minutes and check if there is still feed on the sieve or not. In Intensive farming, autofeeders are recommended to control feed consumption.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Key questions in the grow-out stage

Shrimp are harvested based on market size demand or when pond carrying capacity is reached, prompting partial harvests to allow remaining shrimp to grow larger. This improves price and pond efficiency. Feed should match stocking density, shrimp age, and size. Using cost-effective feed is crucial for maintaining profitability, especially when market prices are low.

Check the carrying capacity of your pond together with your sales advisor

Water quality parameters should be managed to stay within the desired ranges for shrimp. It is important that the water is sufficiently aerated and that the faeces of the shrimp is filtered out of the water. Probiotics can be used to help with managing the TAN load in the water, as well as help with disease management. Please ensure use of probiotics as per guidelines of the product. Also adding probiotics into shrimp feed can help to improve digestibility and nutrient absorption.

Check out our probiotics

In hyper-intensive shrimp farming, you’re not just feeding shrimp but also the biofloc—beneficial microbes that improve water quality and provide live feed. Properly supporting this system is essential for stability and shrimp health. Maintain a balanced environment with good aeration, controlled feeding, and carbon inputs to keep the biofloc active and effective. This ensures better growth, water quality, and overall farm efficiency.

Contact our technical advisor for specific on-farm support