Appropriate Timing of Supplemental Feeding for Production of Nile Tilapia, Silver Carp, and Common Carp in Fertilized Polyculture Ponds

Abstract

In an attempt to identify appropriate times for initial application of supplemental feed in polyculture fertilized fish production earthen ponds, a study was conducted for 19 wk to establish the growth performance, yield, survival, and body composition of Nile tilapia, common carp, and silver carp as influenced by four different feeding regimens (treatments). The four treatments were: 1) supplemental feeding beginning at onset of the experiment (T‐I) (control treatment); 2) 6‐wk delay of feeding after fish stocking (T‐II); 3) 13‐wk delay of feeding after fish stocking (T‐III), and 4) no supplemental feed application (T‐IV). Two ponds were assigned to each treatment and each pond was stocked with a similar number and weight of each fish species. A commercial pelleted fish feed (25% protein) was used to feed fish in T‐I, T‐II, and T‐III at 3% of their body weight, twice a day. At the end of the experiment, fish species (except for silver carp) in T‐II showed weight gain, growth rates, and yields significantly higher than fish in T‐III or T‐IV. Also, the total fish production and net profit in T‐II were significantly higher than in T‐III or T‐IV. Fish species in T‐II showed weight gain, growth rates, survival rates, and yields similar to those of T‐I (control treatment) with no significant differences. The amount of feed consumed by fish in T‐II was reduced by approximately 7.3% compared to that consumed by fish at T‐I. Moreover, there was increase in th net profit in T‐II by 4.8% over that achieved in T‐I. Therefore, T‐II appears to be the most appropriate among the tested feeding treatments and recommended for use in order to achieve the best growth, production, and net profit.

Growth, yield, water and effluent quality in ponds with different management during tambaqui juvenile production

“…The observed mean fish survival (around 48.39%) was inferior to the ones described during juvenile production for: Nile tilapia, silver carp, and common carp (Abdelghany et al, 2002), and sunshine bass (Morone saxatilis Walbaum x M. chrysops) (D'Abramo et al, 2002(D'Abramo et al, , 2004.…”

“…There are several established fish production systems, in which pond management is an important phase, for example with tilapia Nilotica Oreochromis niloticus, silver carp Hypophthalmichthys molitrix, common carp Cyprinus carpio (Abdelghany et al, 2002), and tambaqui Colossoma macropomum (Melo et al, 2001). Pond management performed for this species involves bottom exposure to sun, liming and fertilization.…”

Effect of some water sources on growth performance of Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) and Grey mullet (Mugil cephalus)

“…Tefei et al (2000) demonstrated that O. niloticus was found to be essentially phytoplanktivorous in Lake Chamo; the blue green algae contributed over 60% of the total food ingested, of these, and more than 50% was due to Anabaena. From these data, it can be concluded that fish do not need to be fed immediately after stocking but can be supported by the natural food in the pond ecosystem (Abdelghany et al, 2002;Kamal and Agouz 2006). Nutrient enrichment can enhance primary productivity in aquatic ecosystem (Geiger, 1983).…”

Oxygen Dynamics and Growth Performances of the Nile Tilapia Under Different Areal Feed Inputs

“…In fertilized ponds, supplementary feeding led to considerably higher growth rates and better yields than fertilization alone (Green 1992& Diana et al, 1994. Fish grown solely on fertilizer-based system reached a slower growth and production, whereas supplemental feeding resulted in fast growth and higher output (Abdelghany et al, 2002).…”