The use of recirculation system on production of rotifer (Brachionus plicatilis) in Fisheries Research Institute Tg. Demong

Shaharah Mohd Idris1, Aluwi Sulaiman1,1 Nik Haiha Nik Yusoff1, Zainuddin Jambari2. and Siti Zahrah, Ahmad.3
 
¹ Fisheries Research Institute, TanjungDemong, Besut, Terengganu.
2Fisheries Research Institute, Batu Maung, Penang
3National Fish Health and Research Centre (Nafish), Fisheries Research Institute (FRI), Penang, Malaysia.

Studies on high density production of rotifer using recirculating aquaculture system were conducted in FRI Tg. Demong with collaboration from Nafish for RMK 11. The continuous culture system consists of 500L of culture tank, 1ton of settlement tank, a protein skimmer and 500L of aeration tank.  Preliminary trial run of the system indicated that there a few problems that need to overcome in order to run the system,  and preliminary results have shown that the rotifer counts increased from 500 ind/mL to 3000 cells/mL but decrease due to clogging of filter. In addition water qualities were also improved by using probiotic in biological filter which reduces the concentration of ammonia from 1 mg/L to 0.02 mg/L. In general terms it can be stated that the use of a recirculation system has proved to reduce labour and maintenance cost while ensuring stable physic-chemical rearing condition resulting in more reliable and healthy rotifer.