Appropriate stocking and feeding of lake shrimp (caridina niloticus) diet to enhance nile tilapia fry’s growth in an intensive aquaculture system

Abstract

Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus L.) pond culture in Kenya is currently gaining popularity through the governments’ economic stimulus programme intervention. However, lack of sufficient fry seeds to stock the ever increasing dug-out ponds is curtailing its expansion. The study therefore aimed to determine the ideal optimal stocking and feeding regimes that would enhance the growth (in <60 days) of fry’s fed a locally prepared Lake Shrimp (Caridina niloticus) diet in an intensive aquaculture pond system. Experimental fry’s with mean weights 0.06±0.02 g and lengths 13.9±0.7 mm were obtained from the same source and stocked into 1m2 pond submerged net cages locally known as (hapas) labeled A, B, C and D, respectively. Hapa A with 100 fry’s fed five times acted as control whereas Hapa B, with also 100 fry’s was only fed twice within the day. Hapas C and D with 50 and 600 fry’s, respectively, were both fed five times within the day as used in the farm. All feedings were done at 3% of total mean fry body weights for the entire experimental period. Daily pond water quality parameter values were also recorded and calculated weekly to determine the ideal water culture conditions. Weekly length (mm) and weight sampling values were also used to determine length and weight growths in addition to the fry’s Food Conversion Ratios (FCRs). Results indicated that intensively stocked fry’s at 100 individuals in 1 m2 pond area and fed twice daily using the locally prepared Caridina diet had slight significant growths (p = 0.04) with no significant FCRs (p = 0.06) in these intensive stagnant aquaculture ponds.