Artificial diets for milkfish, Chanos chanos (Forsskal), fry reared in seawater

Abstract

Milkfish fry obtained from the wild (0.009 g body weight, 10 mm total length) were stocked at 200 individuals in each of 18 fiberglass tanks containing 30 l of filtered aerated seawater. Mean salinity and temperature were 33 ppt and 28.3°C, respectively. The fry were fed with six artificial dry diets containing a mean crude protein of 40.8%. The diets were fed at the rate of 20% of the biomass/day for the first 14 days and 15% of the biomass/day for the last 14 days.

Results indicated that there were no significant differences among the treatment means (P>0.05). Milkfish fry had mean body weights of 0.173–0.202 g, mean total lengths of 29–31 mm, mean feed efficiency values of 0.94–1.16, and mean survival rates of 92–98%. The remarkably similar response of milkfish fry to the six diets demonstrated that the diets contain the essential nutrients necessary for a fast-growing fish. Soybean meal can replace corn gluten meal and meat and bone meal can substitute shrimp head meal for up to 8% of the crude protein.