Abstract

• The success of larval rearing depends mainly on the availability of optimal diets during their growth stages. Live feed is considered to be critically important for larviculture of aquatic animals. Different live feed will affect the growth and survival rate of fish larvae. The objectives of present study are to assess the growth and survival rate of Tilapia fingerlings feeding on the different live feed and to analyze the nutrient composition (moisture, protein, lipid, and ash) of Tilapia treated with three kinds of live feed. The research was carried out in the Wet Lab and Live food Laboratories, Fisheries and Aquaculture, Department of Zoology, University of Yangon. Three kinds of live feed, freshwater rotifer, water fleas (Moina), and Haematococcus sp. were used in the present study. Firstly, three kinds of live feeds were inoculated to obtain the sufficient amount of feed for the experiment. Rotifer species were fed on Chlorella sp. during the culturing period. Similarly, Moina species was cultured by using shrimp powder and rice bran (1:1) as feed in this species. Haematococcus sp. by using nutrient media. Tilapia fingerlings were introduced with different livefood after completing the mass production of live foods. Three experimental designs were set up for Tilapia culture. Experiment I was fed with Rotifer, experiment II with Moina while Experiment III was treated with Haematococcus sp. Each experiment was set up in triplicate. A total of 25 fingerlings were introduced in each tank for rearing period 35 days. Sampling was carried out at seven days interval. The highest length-specific growth rate was observed in the group fed with Moina (1.546%), followed by the Haematococcus-fed group (1.343%), and, in turn, the Rotifer-fed group (0.864%). The maximum weight-specific growth rate was observed in the Moina-fed group (5.254%), followed by the Rotifer-fed group (4.769%), and then the Haematococcus-fed group (4.508%). There was no significant difference on both specific growth rate (length and weight) and the survival rate of Tilapia fingerlings among the various treatments. The nutritional composition (moisture, protein, lipids, and ash) of Tilapia fingerlings varied with different live feed. According to the result, Moina is considered as the most appropriate live food when they were tested.