Abstract

To avoid the wastage of Spirulina diet, an experiment was conducted to identify the time and duration of feeding Spirulina diet on growth, coloration and reproduction in X.helleri for a period of 175 days as a function of age groups. Three age groups such as one month, two months, and three months old X.helleri were selected from the laboratory bred brooders. Feeding, growth and gonad weight of X.helleri were increased with increase in Spirulina levels. The feeding and growth parameters were high at pre-breeding as compared to post-breeding. Fish fed on 15% Spirulina diet had heavier gonad weight in all tested age groups and attained maturity earlier than fish fed on other diets. Two months old female X.helleri fed with Spirulina diet released maximum number of fry (570) followed by three months (478) and one month (368) old age groups. Similar trend was obtained in coloration also. However, carotenoid content of fry was maximum in one month old age group followed by two and three months old age groups; but they did not show any significant (t = 0.92; p > 0.05) difference between them. It suggests that, ideal supplementation of Spirulina diet to X.helleri at the age of two months to enhance growth, coloration and reproductive performances. As protein is the costliest component used in artificial feeds, it is necessary to reduce the cost of feeds and to stimulate growth, coloration and reproduction in ornamental fish culture.

Keywords

Age groups, Growth, Coloration, Reproduction, Spirulina, Xiphophorus helleri.

Received on 17/06/2017, Accepted on 07/07/2017, Published on 25/08/2017