Effects of two diets on growth and condition factor of Chitala lopis

Abstract

The giant featherback Chitala lopis is fully protected fish species according to Indonesia's official list. The conservation of aquatic resources is achieved through implementing fish farming practices and optimizing feed utilization. This study aims to investigate the impact of different feeding rate on the growth patterns, performance, and condition factors of the first generation of giant featherback. The first generation of the fish were collected from the natural reproduction of broodstock in the earthen ponds. Fish were randomly divided at three different groups replicated three times and reared in the nine net cages installed in the earthen pond. The stocking density of the fish in each group was three fish per cage. The feed treatment involved fish bycatch as control (T0) (5% of the total weight) and freshwater shrimp, Caridina sp. with two different feeding rates including 5% (T1) and 7% (T2) of the total weight, respectively. The mean initial weight of the fish was 41 ± 3.85 g. The survival and absolute growth rate of T1 were highest (29.9±6.38 g, 78± 11%), but it is not significantly different (p0.05). The average relative growth rate of T1 is also highest (76.28±18.61%) and significantly different (p0.05). The growth pattern of the fish at the beginning of the study was negative allometric (0.54), which was low correlated (0.03), and at the end became positive allometric (4.17), which was moderately correlated (0.66). The highest condition factor was T2 (0.78±0.03) and had a significant effect (p0.05). Caridina sp. has a good impact on the first generation of giant featherback weight growth compared to other treatments in this study.Keywords:CultivationFeeding rateGiant featherbackCaridina sp.Rasbora sp.