BIOFLOC TECHNOLOGY USED IN HOUSEHOLD SCALE ARTIFICIAL FEED TO SUPPORT THE FISH CULTURE
Limited space for aquaculture and the high feed conversion ratio (FCR) are considered as bottleneck in developing aquaculture. Since catfish becomes one of the potential species to develop along with fulfilling domestic market demand. Result of metabolisms contain by nitrogen can be the protein source to lower the FCR. The aim of this activity is to get the information about catfish culture by using biofloc technology. And the objectives are to lower the FCR and higher survival rate for the sustainable business.
The activity is conducted in MFADC from January to December 2015 by using fiber glass, household scale artificial feed, and probiotic produced by MFADC, commercial fish feed is also used as control. The procedure is as follow; dipping the catfish fingerlings by salt solution; vaccination using Aeromonas vaccine also by dipping, disinfect the media with salt, adding the heterotroph bacteria 20ml/m3 by density once in a week, adding tapioca or molasses as the source of biofloc 1g/m3 daily for whole one week. There are two repetition and treatment as follow;
1. Feeding by commercial fish feed (Control), (P1)
2. Feeding by household scale probiotic fermented artificial feed for one day, (P2)
3. Feeding by household scale probiotic fermented artificial feed for three days, (P3)
The density for each treatment is = 750 fish/m3 and B = 500 fish/m3.
Parameters observed are relative growth, survival rate, FCR, disease, water quality, business analysis. Result show that there is no significant difference in survival rate and FCR either using commercial feed and household scale artificial feed. But in a business point of view can be conclude that using household scale artificial feed is more profitable. The difference density between 500 fish/m3 and 750 fish/m3 is also slightly happened. The better result on 500 fish/m3 happened to the survival rate might caused by less competition in getting feed or any other nutrition source. The floc resulted is between 20 - 43 mg/liter. The fluctuation of temperature and water quality affect on survival rate. Temperature between 27 - 29 oC is maintain to avoid the disease caused by uneaten floc. To stabilize the temperature, fiber glass should be covered transparently. If the effectiveness in feeding regime is fulfilled, the household scale artificial feed is a promising business for aquaculture. Economic Conversion Ration also show lower than commercial feed. To be conclude is that using this system can reduce production cost.