GROWTH AND SURVIVAL OF ANGELFISH (Pterophyllum scalare) REARED AT DIFFERENT STOCKING DENSITIES

A 60-day culture to determine the effects of different stocking densities on the growth and survival Angelfish (Pterophyllum scalare) was conducted at the College of Fisheries and Research Station, Bawing, General Santos City. Nine experimental glass tanks measuring 12x24x12 inches filled with 50L were used as experimental units. A Complete Randomized Design was used in the study with three treatments replicated thrice. The treatments assigned were as follows: Treatment I (10inds/tank), Treatment II (15inds/tank) and Treatment III (20inds/tank) with an initial weight of 0.612 and were fed twice daily with 36% CP. The data were analyzed using one-way ANOVA. After 60 days of culture, fish in Treatment I showed the highest result of mean body weight and mean weight gain of (2.302) (1.69), followed by Treatment II (2.25z) (1.64), and lowest in Treatment IIT (2.18g) (1.58g). For the mean daily growth, Treatment I was the highest with 0.047g/day, followed by Treatment II with 0.042g/day, and lastly, Treatment III having a growth of 0.041 g/day. However, statistical analysis revealed no significant differences (P > 0.05) among treatments. Feed conversion ratio (FCR) was found to be lowest in Treatment I with 1.79 followed by 1.82, and 1.86 for Treatments II, and III. Statistical analysis for FCR was not significantly different (P > 0.05). The water parameters ranges recorded were, 24.9-25.2°C for temperature, 5.7- 6.9ppm for dissolved oxygen, 6.2-7.4 for pH, and 0-0.5ppm for ammonia. No mortalities was observed due to the maintained optimum culture condition that was performed during the study. The study revealed that angelfish can be reared up to 20inds/tank without negatively affecting the growth, FCR, and survival. In addition, further research using higher stocking densities is encouraged as well as assessment of varying feeding rates and frequencies for angelfish mass production.