At the beginning of this year, we planned to make some improvements in our aquaculture facility. One of these was to enhance the nutritional intake of the fish, to encourage optimal health of the marine species for our breeding program. Marine Aquarium fish are valued and admired based on their colours and patterns and improved health helps to make fish look more beautiful. We aim to have a breeding program with broodstocks that produce an optimal number of viable eggs and healthy offsprings. Currently, our cultured clownfish have a “bleache” light pale orange colour, which makes them less attractive than their wild-caught counterparts. In addition, many broodstocks have a low frequency in the numbers of eggs laid, or the eggs turn out to be unviable and dod not hatch. These problems may be caused by a lack of essential nutritents, (such as phosphate and vitamins) in the feed we give to our clownfish. In early August, we started trials, where we varied the different kinds of feed given to the baby clownfish. Our intern, Wayan helped us by testing the effect of giving enriched Artemia shrimps (given additional food and supplements) on the growth rates of the young clownfish, and the sharpness and brightness of their colours and patterns. He designed a mini research project to enrich the shrimp (Artemia) with Spirulina, cod oil and a combination of Spirulina – cod oil. The objective of the experiment was to identify which enriched diet produced the growth rates and colouration. In aquaculture industry, the food can cost up to 60% of operational budget, therefore, the effectiveness of the feed in producing healthy organisms is central to the success of the business, both in terms of finance and quality products.
Wayan helping in the aquarium making process (left) and Wayan working on the feed trials (photos: Made Partiana)
We would like to continue the research, which aims to discover the most effective combination of nutrients that produce the best enrichment of Artemia shrimp for feeding to the baby fish. We would like to encourage Indonesian students who are interested in taking part in this research for their thesis in their final year at University. Would anyone who would like to join in this work please send an email to info@lini.or.id we will then provide further details regarding the research schedule and requirements.
