EFFECT OF STOCKING DENSITY ON THE GROWTH PERFORMANCE OF RED TILAPIA IN ZEOLITE SUPPLEMENTED CLOSED SYSTEM

Abstract

Food demand is expected to surge due to the increase of world population. Malaysia is one of the top fish consumption countries in Asia, but the reduction of capture fishery has led to the increase for aquaculture for tilapia to overcome the demand. Thus, the objective of this study was to compare the growth performance of red tilapia at different stocking densities of zeolite supplemented closed system. Red tilapia fry was stocked into aquarium. Five treatments (containing zeolite and without zeolite) with two replicates were used. Food was given twice a day with 2% of total biomass of the fish. Weight and length of red tilapia were measured every two weeks. The zeolite treatments which recorded the highest final mean weight was T1 with the lowest stocking density (5 fish) while in T5 (highest stocking density), lowest mean weight was recorded. Specific growth rate and length gain in T1 was significantly higher than other treatments. On the other hand, there was no significant difference in growth parameters between the treatments with and without zeolite. The results revealed that red tilapia stocked in the T1 of the lowest stocking density (5 fish) had the highest growth performance than the fish in other treatments. Compared to other treatments, T1 recorded the highest final length and weight, weight and length gain, Specific Growth Rate % (SGR) among the treatments. The findings will be useful for the practitioners to understand the best practice for stocking density in zeolite supplemented closed system.