Evaluation on growth, survival and feed efficiency in three generations of domesticated Asian redtail catfish Hemibagrus nemurus (Valenciennes, 1840)

Abstract

Domestication is one of the important steps in culturing wild fish into a captive system. This study aimed to evaluate the growth, survival rate, and feed efficiency of three generations (G-1, G-2, and G-3) of domesticated Asian redtail catfish. This study was conducted in the wet laboratory of Research Institute for Freshwater Aquaculture and Fisheries Extension (RIFAFE) Bogor from October to December 2017. The Completely Randomized Experimental Design with three treatments and three replications were utilized in this study. Experimental fish were obtained from mass spawning on three generations of Asian redtail catfish Cirata population. The size of experimental fish ranged between 2-3 cm of length with average weight was 0.32 ± 0.01 g. Fish were maintained in the aquarium (dimension = 70 cm x 50 cm x 40 cm) equipped with recirculation system. The circulation system was equipped with filters (rocks and sands). Each aquarium was stocked with a density of 30 individual 100 L−1. During 40 days of rearing, fish were fed with 10% day−1 of tubifex worms from the total fish biomass. Feeding was carried out three times a day at 07.00 AM, 12.00 PM, and 17.00 PM. The result showed that Asian redtail catfish seedlings from second and third-generation (G-2 and G-3) had significantly different growth performance (P<0.05) compared to first-generation (G-1), with the length gain of 5.57 cm and 5.57 cm, weight gain of 7.98 g and 7.99 g, specific growth rate on length of 2.97 % day−1 and 3.02 % day−1, specific growth rate on weight of 8.18 % day−1 and 8.22% day−1, and survival rate of 82.11% and 84.22%. The biomass value of three generations on Asian redtail catfish did not show any significant differences (P>0.05), while the best FCR and feed efficiency value (P<0.05) were found on Asian redtail catfish from third-generation (G-3) with a value of 73.00 ± 2.24% and 1.37 ± 0.04.