Davis, D. A., Saoud, I. P., McGraw, W. J., Rouse, D. B., 2002. Considerations for Litopenaeus vannamei reared in inland low salinity waters. In: Cruz-Suárez, L. E., Ricque-Marie, D., Tapia-Salazar, M., Gaxiola-Cortés, M. G., Simoes, N. (Eds.). Avances en Nutrición Acuícola VI. Memorias del VI Simposium Internacional de Nutrición Acuícola. 3 al 6 de Septiembre del 2002. Cancún, Quintana Roo, México. Considerations for Litopenaeus vannamei Reared in Inland Low Salinity Waters D. Allen Davis 1 , Imad. P. Saoud, William J. McGraw, and David. B. Rouse 1 Department of Fisheries and Allied Aquacultures Swingle Hall 203, Auburn University Auburn, AL 36849-5419. Tel. (334) 8449312/8449306. Fax. (334) 8449208. Email ddavis@acesag.auburn.edu ABSTRACT Shrimp culture in inland low-salinity well water is a growing industry in many regions of the world, including the southern United States of America. Although shrimp culture techniques in waters of marine origin are well established, they are not necessarily applicable to shrimp culture in low salinity well water. Inland well waters tend to vary among each other in salinity and ion profiles. If shrimp culture using inland well water is to develop further, we must systematically deal with production problems which include 1) identification of suitable water sources 2) development of acclimation and stocking procedures 3) identify specific nutritional requirements for low salinity environments. This paper summarizes work that we have done to a) assist in the development of acclimation procedures for Litopenaeus vannamei postlarvae (PL), b) evaluate a variety of well water sources for their culture potential and identify mineral imbalances that may be correlated to poor survival and growth c) provide baseline data for the identification of nutritional manipulations that may mitigate the variable survival that has plagued low salinity production systems. Results suggest that PL survival in native seawater is affected by an interaction between PL age and water salinity. In native seawater, ten day old PL exhibited greater survival at salinities greater than 4 ppt than at salinities of 2 ppt and lower. Fifteen and twenty-day old PL survived in salinities as low as 1 ppt. Survival of PL in well water varied among water sources, and was affected by the concentration of various ions such as potassium (K + ), magnesium (Mg 2+ ), and sulphate (SO 4 2- ), as well as PL age. Based on current data, the supplementation of potassium to well water sources “low” in potassium will result in increased growth and survival. Based on our limited knowledge of the interaction of salinity and nutritional requirements the supplementation of potassium, magnesium and sodium chloride as well as selected amino acids and potentially lipids could mediate some of the problems encountered when rearing marine shrimp in low salinity production situations. Current data suggests that nutritional and/or environmental manipulations are technically feasible and probably are the most economically viable solutions to facilitate better production in many of the low salinity farms.