Asian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Research

Fish oil in appropriate variation in the diet of Clarias gariepinus has not been fully exploited. This study evaluated growth performance of Clarias gariepinus fed fish oil-based diets for 10 weeks (70 days). Four diets containing 40% crude protein were formulated to contain 0% fish oil (0%FO) control, 3% fish oil (3%FO), 6% fish oil (6%FO) and 9% fish oil (9%FO) respectively. Feeding of the fish was done twice in a day at 5% body weight. The feeding ration was adjusted bi-weekly based on the weight gain. The growth parameters, such as, total weight gain (g), mean weight gain (g), specific growth rate (%), were considered and calculated using standard methods. Data obtained were subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA) (P<0.05) using Duncan multiple range test. The results showed that there were significant differences (P <0.05) in the growth parameters of fish fed fish oil-based diets in comparison to the 0%FO fed group. It was recorded that fish fed 3%FO had the highest (325.00±1.15g) final weight gain; followed closely by the 0%FO fed group (310.00±1.15g) and the lowest mean value (237.00±0.001g) was observed in fish fed 9%FO. Water quality parameters recorded no significant (P >0.05) differences in the treatments. The addition of fish oil in fish feed formulation as an alternative for vegetable oil at 3% inclusion, increased the growth performance of C. gariepinus. Therefore, these findings suggested that fish oil, often considered waste during fish smoking processing, is a valuable resource in fish feed formulation due to its nutritional quality and the sustainable utilization of this product should be encouraged.