Histological observations on the rearing of milkfish, Chanos chanos, fry using different diets

Abstract

Six different diets, commonly used in the Philippines for rearing milkfish, Chanos chanos, fry, were tested by means of growth, survival and histology. These diets included: a) live food (Artemia nauplii); b) two different dry feeds c) natural feed supplements (rice bran, egg yolk); d) a mixture of live and dry feeds. The mixed diet was found to give the best results, closely followed by live food. The dietary value of one of both artificial feeds improved with increasing age of the fish, whereas the other was clearly inadequate. The same was true for the natural compounds. Results obtained from statistical and histological analyses were congruent; the latter provided additional insights not obtained with statistic data alone.