Nutrition and feeds of Nile tilapia broodstock and fry

Abstract

Studies on some aspects of tilapia and feed formulation conducted at BRS are reviewed in this paper.

The effect fo varying dietary crude protien on growth and spawning frequency of tilapia was determined under laboratory conditions. The weight of male fish increased as dietary crude protein increased; however, weight gain of male fish did not follow a definite due to the asynchronous nature of spawning of the tilipia. Results suggested that when diets contain high-quality protein, and feedig is at station level, the influence of increasing dietary protein on spawning frequency and growth of the females are not cxonsiderable.

In another study, tilapia broodstock in cages and tanks had the best growth and highest fry production when fed a 40% CP diet.

Ipil-ipil leaf mal as a sole or major source of dietary protein caused weight loss among tilapia breeders, drastic reduction in fry production, and eventually cessation of reproduction. The growth of breeders describers decreased significantly with the incorpotion of more than 40% ipil-ipil in the diet.

For Nile tilapia fry, growth was enhanced by availability of high phytoplankton densities in the rearing medium through the culture period. Feeding the fry with unialgal culture of Navicula and Chroococcus resulted in highest gains and survival rates. Chlorella gave poor survival and growth. Rice bran or Moina as feed for the fry was nutritionally inadequate. Their nutritional value improved when both were combined as feed.