EFFECT OF LIVE FISH FEED: Artemia sp. ON EARLY GROWTH STAGES OF GRASS CARP (Ctenopharyngodon idella) IN AQUARIUM CULTURE

Abstract

Brine shrimp (Artemia sp.) has been a popular live fish feed in many countries for a long time. However, use of Artemia nauplii in earlier stage growth of fish in Nepal had not been properly carried out. So, growth of Grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella) larvae 7 DAH was tested on three diets; control diet D1 (Artemia nauplii plus hen’s egg yolk), D2 (egg yolk) and D3 (Artemia nauplii), with three replicates each from 5/10/2021 to 6/21/2021. Diet was provided once a day at 4 pm at 5% their body weight. The physicochemical parameters (pH, DO, TDS, Conductivity, Salinity, and atmospheric pressure) were measured every day and the tanks were set at a temperature of 25 ˚C with aquarium heater. The weight of larvae was measured every 7 days. At the end of the study on 42nd day, larvae were dissected and their hepatosomatic index (HSI) was measured. A significant difference (p<0.05) among the groups in experiment was seen in feed conversion ratio (FCR), % weight gain, survival percentage, and protein intake. Highest growth, hepatosomatic index (HSI), protein efficiency ratio (PER) and survival was recorded in the group fed diet D2 (egg yolk) and least was observed in the group fed diet D3 (Artemia).