Md. Abdullah-Al- Mamun¹, Md. Sarower-E- Mahfuj^2,, Maruf Hossain Minar¹, Dhiman Gain³, Md. Mukhlesur Rahman Khan¹

The present study was conducted under two experiments to evaluate the effects of different feeds on larval (experiment-1) and fry rearing (experiment-2) of Labeo bata fish. Experiment-1 was conducted in 9 bowls under three treatments each with 3 replications (T₁, T₂, and T₃). Fish larvae in T₁ were fed with plankton, T₂ with commercial feed and T₃ with laboratory prepared feed. On the other hand, six ponds were divided into three treatments (T₁, T₂ and T₃) each with two replications in experiment-2. Fish meal was used in T₁, wheat bran in T₂ and laboratory prepared feed in T₃. Results in experiment-1 revealed maximum length gain in T₁ (1.56±0.69) (cm) which was significantly (P<0.05) higher than that of T₂ (0.64±0.34) cm and T₃ (0.98±0.29) cm. Furthermore, highest specific growth rates (SGR) were found as (2.85±0.27)%, (1.55±0.11)% and (1.99±0.15)% in T₁, T₂ and T₃, respectively. On the basis of growth performance, live food (plankton) showed the highest growth performance in case of larval rearing of bata. On contrary, experiment-2 revealed the mean maximum length gain of bata fry in T₁ (3.76±0.05) cm significantly (P<0.05) higher than that of T₂ (2.85±0.02) cm and T₃ (2.56±0.01) cm. In this case, SGR was found in T₁ (0.91±0.01)% followed by T₂ (0.72±0.13)% and T₃ (0.65±0.15)%. Use of fish meal showed best growth performance during bata fry rearing in terms of growth performance. However, the survival rates were low in both the experiments; therefore further detail and intensive research are highly suggested.

Labeo bata, larvae, fry, fish feed, growth performance, survival, fry, larvae