Effects of different live feed on growth and survival rate of clown loach, Cromobotia macracantus

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the effect of different types of live feed on the growth and survival of clown loach, Cromobotia macracanthus. We used a completely randomized design with four treatments and five replications. The treatments were A; commercial diet feeding as control, B; silkworm, C; golden snail, D; sea worm. The feeding rate was 5% of body weight and feeding frequency was twice per day fed for thirty days. Tested parameters were weight gain (WG), length gain (LG), specific growth rate (SGR), feed conversion ratio (FCR) and survival rate (SR). The result showed that the administration of different live feed had a significant effect on growth performances (p <0.05) of clown loach fingerlings, but did not significantly affect its survival rate. The optimum weight gain (WG), length gain (LG), specific growth rate (SGR), feed conversion ratio (FCR) were found at treatment B, silkworm feeding with 0.78 - 0.02 g, 4.33-0.01 cm, 0.47 - 0.01%/day and 2.44 - 0.08 respectively. Therefore, we concluded that the silkworm was highly recommended for clown loach, Cromobotia macrancantus fingerlings feeding.