Biological performance of African catfish Clarias gariepinus (Burchell, 1822) fingerlings fed with raw chicken entrails

Abstract

The African catfish Clarias gariepinus (Burchell, 1822) grows fast, feeds on a large variety of agriculture by-products and can be raised in high densities resulting in high net yields. It is therefore considered as a good candidate for aquaculture. Generally, the increasing aquaculture activities worldwide led to a more expensive feed costs, thus looking for alternative and cheaper feeds coupled with optimum feeding rate is a focus in aquaculture research field. This study therefore aimed to determine the most efficient feeding rate and the potential of raw chicken entrails as feeds for C. gariepinus in terms of fish weight increment (WI), specific growth rate (SGR), feed conversion ratio (FCR) and survival rate (SR). Clarias gariepinus were fed with chopped raw chicken entrails at three different feeding rates (3%, 4% and 5%) based on the average weight for 60 days. The fish weight continually increased regardless of the feeding rate, but generally, those that were fed at 4% and 5% of the body weight showed significantly higher WG (g), SGR (% day-1) and better FCR. Regardless of the feeding rate, all fish attained 100% SR. The feeding rate of 4% is recommended due to its similar WI with those fed at 5% but showed better FCR at the end of the culture.