Growth Performance of Oreochromis Niloticus (Linnaeus,1758), Cyprinus Carpio (Linnaeus,1758) and Tor Pitutora (F.Hamilton,1822) in Recirculating Aquaculture System

Abstract

This study presents the introduction of Recirculating Aquaculture System (RAS) in Nepal and experimentation on comparison of growth performance of three different species of fish commonly found in Nepal. With the limited study on RAS in Nepal, this study aims in providing and uplifting agricultural technologies. The three studied species are Nile Tilapia, Common Carp and Golden Mahseer. All three species were grown in grow tanks T1, T2 and T3 respectively with three simultaneous replications. Each tanks were 1.5m in diameter and 1.2m in height at the circumference and 1.5m at the central. The tanks were made up of composite Fiber Reinforced Plastic (FRP) for durability and longevity. In each tanks, 200 fingerlings were introduced. Maintaining the similar optimum water parameters, the experiment was performed. Fishes were reared for six months feeding 35% crude protein locally available feed. Common Carp showed highest growth performance with mean weight gain of 1234.63±9.1g and specific growth rate of 2.53. on the other hand, Golden Mahseer showed the lowest growth performance of 45.29±0.7g and specific growth rate of 3.4. It depicts that Common Carp is more suitable fish for RAS than Tilapia and Mahseer.