Daily Food Intake, Feeding Activity and Growth of Marble Goby, Oxyeleotris marmoratus Juveniles Reared under Different Salinity Levels

Abstract

Marble goby, Oxyeleotris marmoratus is the most expensive freshwater fish and distributed throughout Southeast Asian regions. However, the stable mass seed production technique has not yet been established due to the high mortality during early juvenile stage after 40 days after hatch (d AH). In this study, the effects of different salinities of 0, 10 and 30 ppt on the daily food intake, feeding activity and growth of juveniles 40-100 d AH were evaluated. The mean daily food intake and specific growth rate (SGR) of juveniles under the treatments varied from 142.6-1096.9 inds. Artemia/day and 3.4-6.6%, respectively, those being significantly higher (P<0.05) at 10 ppt salinity when compared to the others. The mean feed conversion ratio of juveniles under the treatments varied from 9.5-19.1 those, being better at 10 ppt salinity than others. In the feeding activity, maximum feed intake was detected between 08:00-11:00, followed by 17:00-20:00 at all salinities, indicating that feeding twice a day seems to be adequate for juvenile mass production in hatchery scale.