Effects of Acid Fermented Milk in Diet of Hybrid Clarias Catfish (Clarias macrocephalus x Clarias gariepinus) in Cage Culture

Abstract

This research aimed to study the effects of acid fermented milk in diet of Hybrid Clarias Catfish (Clarias macrocephalus x Clarias gariepinus) in cage culture. The experimental design used completely randomized design (CRD) with 4 treatments each with 4 replications. The study was conducted by rearing for Hybrid Clarias Catfish fingerlings with acid fermented milk in four different levels: 0, 10, 20 and 30 percentages of the diet. The diets were  formulated containing the optimum level 30%protein. . Two hundred Hybrid Clarias Catfish per cage first average weight of 5.01+0.00 gram and average length of 9.10+0.01-9.22+0.02 centimeter were reared in each replication for 4 months. The results revealed significant differences in growth rate and survival rate (p < 0.05). The diet mix as 10 percentage of acid fermented milk had the best growth with highly average weight gain 255.25+3.63 gram. and the best survival rate of 75.5 percentage.  However, feed conversion ratio was not significantly different(p > 0.05). The fish fed on the 10% acid fermented milk showed  the best  feed conversion ratio at 1.79. The parameters of water qualityare as follows: temperature 27.9-29.1 degrees Celsius ; dissolved oxygen 5.62-6.87 mg/l;     pH 6.83-7.54; alkalinity 165.00-167.75 mg/l; hardness 130.38-142.12 mg/l; NH₃ 0.23-0.34 mg/l and NO₂ 0.01-0.03 mg/l.