Operation of Small-Scale Red Tilapia Hatchery as a Farming Dissemination Aid

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Department of Hatchery Production, Fish Farming and Technology Institute, Suez Canal University, Ismailia, Egypt

2 Department of aquaculture, Faculty of Fish Resources, Suez University, Suez, Egypt

3 Department of Agricultural Engineering, Faculty of Agriculture, Suez Canal University, Ismailia, Egypt

Abstract

Fifty red tilapia broodstock were introduced (35 females and 15 males) with an initial mean female weight 84±0.8 g, and 164±13.4 g for males. Three reproduction cycles were conducted successively. The hatchery design involved two rectangular concrete tanks (2m ×3m) as water storage tanks, five circular fiberglass tanks (0.785m3 ) as mating tanks, two circular fiberglass tanks (0.785m3 ) for broodstock resting, and four circular fiberglass tanks (3. 05m3 ) for fry rearing. Each reproduction cycle was evaluated regarding the fry production and the fry performance for 30 days after hatching, total hatchery performance was also evaluated. Broodstock showed a significant growth while the female's condition index decreased through the study period. Fry production per female ranged from 314 in the first cycle to 362 in the third one. Fry number per gram female weight was 3.71, 3.71, and 3.66, respectively. The average final fry weight in the third cycle (0.55 g) was significantly greater than the average of those of other both cycles (0.53 and 0.52, respectively). Fry weight gain (WG) in the third cycle (0.44) was greater than of other both cycles (0.42 and 0.41, respectively). The specific growth rate (SGR%) was estimated at (5.25±0.19, 5.16±0.19, and 5.34±0.19, respectively). Red tilapia fry survival rate ranged from 71 to 72%. Feed conversion ratio (FCR) ranged from 1.03 in the last cycle to 1.12 in the first cycle. The total evaluation showed that the total produced fry was 18500 units with an estimated operation and depreciation costs of 5098 LE and with an estimated total profit of 4152 LE (81.44%).

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