Productivity Of Snakehead Fish (Channa striata) And Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) Cultured In Policultural Systems At Tarpaulin Ponds

Abstract

Snakehead fish ( Channa striata ) is a freshwater fish commodity with important economic value. This study was aimed to analyze the survival rate, growth, and production of snakehead and tilapia fish reared by the polyculture system in tarpaulin ponds. This study used containers in the form of tarpaulin ponds measuring 4 x 3 x 1 m in length, width, and height respectively or 12 m 3 in area of 6 pieces. Of the 6 pools, 3 pools used a partition measuring 2 x 3 x 1 m. Each pond is equipped with aeration equipment and a water management system (inlet and outlet) and the bottom of the pond is covered with soil as a bottom substrate with a thickness of 20 cm. The test animals used were 54 snakehead fish weighing 12-13 g and 324 tilapia measuring 68 g and reared for 60 days. The feed used in this study was artificial feed (commercial pellets with 26-28% protein) and natural feed (phytobenthos and plankton). The study consisted of 2 treatments and each treatment had 3 replications, namely snakehead fish polyculture with tilapia in 1 pond together and stocked separately in 1 pond. The results of the t-test showed that the survival of snakehead fish and absolute growth of tilapia did not show significant differences (p > 0.05) between those reared cultured separately, whereas survival rate of tilapia, absolute growth of snakehead fish, and production of snakehead and tilapia showed significant difference (p <0.05) between those cultured separately. The survival rate of snakehead fish, the absolute growth of tilapia, and the production of snakehead fish and tilapia that were not blocked were higher than those that were protected.