Growth Performance of Spotted Seat (Scatophagus argus) Fingerlings at Varying Feeding Rates in a Brackish Water Pond

A 60-day study on the growth performance of spotted seat (Scatophagus argus) fingerlings at varying feeding rates in a brackish water pond was conducted at the College of Fisheries Laboratory and Research Station, Mindanao State University, Barangay Bawing, General Santos City from November 07 to January 08, 2019. Nine units of B-net cages with 1x1x1.5m dimension were installed in an experimental pond as enclosures. Twenty spotted scat fingerlings were stocked in each cages with an average initial weight of 19.3g and fed with commercial feeds at 5%, 7.5% and 10% of their body weight as Treatments I, II and III respectively. The mean daily growth of spotted scat was highest in Treatment II (0.572g) followed by Treatment I (0.549g) and Treatment III (0.524g) Statistical analysis showed no significant difference (P>0.05) between treatment means. After 60 days of culture, the spotted scat in Treatment II got the highest mean body weight of 53.6g, followed by Treatment I with 52.2g and Treatment III with the lowest value of 50.8g. Statistical analysis showed no significant difference (P>0.05) between treatment means.100% survival rate was recorded in all treatments. The result on Feed Conversion Ratio was found significantly different, where Treatment I gained better FCR (3.06) followed by Treatment II (4.34) and Treatment III (6.31) which was significantly higher than Treatment I and Treatment II. Results of the study showed that 5% feeding rate is enough for spotted scat fingerlings.