A nesting ability of male siamese fighting fish (Betta sple ndens) under different level of turbidity derived from palm oil mill effluent

Abstract

Contamination of Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME) into water bodies potentially disrupting the visualization and affects behaviourial changes such nesting ability of male Siamese Fighting Fish (Betta splendens). The study examined the effects of turbidity due to POME contamination toward nest area as one of the indicators for the reproductive behavior of the betta splendens. The research used Completely randomized Design with different level of turbidity: <1 NTU (control), 20 NTU (treatmen A), 40 NTU (tretment B), 60 NTU (Treatment C). Preference tests were carried out in a 6-L aquarium (20x20x20 cm3). Nest area was measured each hour for 8 hours. Nest area was captured using camera and measured with imageJ. Result showed there was no significant difference in nest area of Betta splendens in different level of turbidity. The range of nest area in sequence until the end of exposure were 0-0.8 cm2, 0.7-2.5 cm2, 4.6-6.7 cm2, 4.5-7.2 cm2, 7.6-8.7 cm2, 9.4-11.11 cm2, 9.7-12.5 cm2, dan 11.6-14.14 cm2. Turbidity due to POME collected from the last pond with low pollutant contamination has no impact on nesting ability of betta fish. Nest building behavior is often correlated with hormone concentrations due to pollutant contamination with a certain consentration of pollutant.