Effects of Stocking Density on Nursery Production and Economics of the Freshwater Prawn, Macrobrachium rosenbergii Shawn Coyle Siddhartha Dasgupta James H. Tidwell Aaron VanArnum Leigh Anne Bright ABSTRACT. In temperate regions, post-larvae freshwater prawn, Macro- brachium rosenbergii, are grown to more advanced sizes in tanks prior to pond stocking. This intermediate stage of culture is referred to as the nursery period. Little research has been conducted on different manage- ment practices on juvenile prawn growth and survival during this 30-60 day period. Survival during the nursery stage has been highly variable and may be related to the cannibalistic behavior of juvenile freshwater prawn when cultured at high densities in the nursery. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of stocking density, relative to the provision of artificial substrate (number of prawns/m 2 of substrate), on growth, survival, and economic variables for freshwater prawn juveniles during nursery production. Post-larvae (0.01±0.00 g, n = 300) were stocked into nine 1900 L tanks, each provided with 20.5 m 2 of artificial substrate in the form of horizontal layers of black plastic mesh (10 mm) spaced 5 cm apart. Tanks were randomly assigned one of three prawn densities (215, 430, or 860 post-larvae/m 2 of substrate), which equated Shawn Coyle, Siddhartha Dasgupta, James H. Tidwell, Aaron VanArnum and Leigh Anne Bright, Aquaculture Research Center, Kentucky State University, Frank- fort, KY 40601. Journal of Applied Aquaculture, Vol. 14(1/2) 2003 http://www.haworthpress.com/store/product.asp?sku=J028  2003 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved. 10.1300/J028v14n01_10 137