CRITERIA OF AQUACULTURE SPECIES

SQ12103 PRINCIPLES AQUACULTURE

Lecture by:
PM. Dr Julian Ransangan
Aquaculture species
• On a worldwide basis, aquaculture
production has increased rapidly over
the last two decades.

• World production is made up of finfish,

seaweed, molluscs and crustaceans.

What is the best species

for aquaculture?
Criteria of good aquaculture species
1 High growth performance

2 Marketability/Consumer acceptance

3 Hardiness

4 Established production techniques/Systems

5 Efficient food conversion/ Cost

6 Non or less cannibalism

7 Appropriate dietary requirement

Criteria of good aquaculture species
1 High growth performance

2 Marketability/Consumer acceptance
Growth performance
3 Hardiness

4 Established production techniques/Systems

Survival Growth
5 Efficient food conversion/ Cost
Aquaculture is business, quality and quantity matter the most

6 Non
Survival reflector less cannibalism
quantity, while growth reflect quality

7 Appropriate dietary requirement

Survival
• Survival is a parameter used to reflect the account for the
number of fish left in a cohort.

• Survival is largely depending on:

• Species
Monitoring water quality
• Environment quality
• System Good feeding practice
• Feed
Appropriate system
• Handling
Survival
• Fish exhibit different
survival strategies hence
different survival rate.

• Larvae stage is the most

fragile and highly
susceptible to mortality

• Larval survival depends on

biological development
and environment.
Mucous all over body

Small and fragile

Undeveloped larvae
Well developed larvae with
sufficient feeds
High mortality

High survival
High mortality

Good
aquaculture
species by value

High survival
8-12 months ( hybrid grouper) 3-4 years (mouse grouper)
Slow Growth Marble Goby-
Are They Still Relevant as
Aquaculture Species?
45
40 Total length (mm)
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 120 140 160
Age (day)

100-300g, 4 years
 African catfish,5
months
Slow Growth Marble
Goby- Are They Still
Relevant as Aquaculture
Species? Marble goby, 4 years

Aquaculture species- fast

growth fish, shorter production
period
Aquaculture business- viable and Hybrid grouper, 8 months
profitable

Not to overwhelmed but should be

realistic
Criteria of good aquaculture species
1 High growth performance

2 Marketability/Consumer acceptance
Growth performance
3 Hardiness

4 Established production techniques/Systems

Survival Growth
5 Efficient food conversion/ Cost
There are two overarching goals of aquaculture:
maximizing growth rate and minimizing production costs.
6 Non or less cannibalism
A rapid growth rate minimizes the time to achieve a marketable size and
7 Appropriate
decreases risk. dietary requirement
Criteria of good aquaculture species
1 High growth performance

2 Marketability/Consumer acceptance

Hardiness
Choose3marketable fish only

Marketability is a measure of
4 Established whether fish techniques/Systems
production will appeal to buyers and sell at a
certain price range to generate a profit.

5 Efficient food conversion/ Cost

6 Non or less cannibalism

7 Appropriate dietary requirement

Criteria of good aquaculture species
1 High growth performance

2 Marketability/Consumer acceptance

Hardiness
Choose3marketable fish only

Marketability is a measure of
4 Established whether fish techniques/Systems
production will appeal to buyers and sell at a
certain price range to generate a profit.

5 Efficient
Consumer acceptancefood conversion/
is paramount Cost
in aquaculture

6 Non or less cannibalism

7 Appropriate dietary requirement

Geographically, not all fish are
accepted by locals.

Nearby coastal area, might prefer to

consume only marine fish

Some area are not familiar with

certain fish.
Criteria of good aquaculture species
1 High growth performance

2 Marketability/Consumer acceptance

Hardiness
Choose3marketable fish only

Marketability is a measure of
4 Established whether fish techniques/Systems
production will appeal to buyers and sell at a
certain price range to generate a profit.

5 Efficient
Consumer acceptancefood conversion/
is paramount Cost
in aquaculture

6 Non
Preliminary or on
study less cannibalism
consumer acceptance need to be done prior to
marketability study.
7 Appropriate dietary requirement
 The respondents had higher acceptance level towards
grouper fed with commercial feed (3.55±0.00)
compared to those fed with prey fish (3.32±0.16).

The results of organoleptic assessment odour of grouper

fed with commercial feed again were higher (3.15±0.24)
but slightly lower in terms appearance (3.32±0.24) and
texture (3.32±0.16)

However, no significant differences between group were

detected in the overall organoleptic analysis.

Grouper fed with 2 different feeds

Criteria of good aquaculture species
1 High growth performance

2 Marketability/Consumer acceptance

3 Hardiness

4 Established production techniques/Systems

Hardiness:
Able to tolerate wide range of environmental change
High resistance
5 Efficient to disease
food conversion/ Cost

6 Non or less cannibalism

7 Appropriate dietary requirement

Species with high tolerance
to handling stress

High recovery rate

Short recovery stage

Need little attention while

being reared
Hardiness varied in stages

Adult

Egg

Juvenile
Larvae
 0 h AH

Farmers prefer to rear juvenile

as fish are able to adapt to
15 h AH fluctuation of rearing
environment and sudden
change of rearing practice
compared to larvae

45 h AH
Criteria of good aquaculture species
1 High growth performance

2 Marketability/Consumer acceptance

3 Hardiness

4 Established production techniques/Systems

5 Efficient food conversion/ Cost

6 Non or less cannibalism

7 Appropriate dietary requirement

Criteria of good aquaculture species
1 High growth performance

2 Marketability/Consumer acceptance

3 Hardiness

4 Established production techniques/Systems

Because Efficient
5 not food
all fish are ableconversion/
to be producedCost
in the captivity, and some
require years to spawn.
6 Non or less cannibalism
Choose species where production protocol is well established to maximize
production.
7 Appropriate dietary requirement
Select new fish will require techniques, cost and time
Represent less than 10% of
fish in the world.
Water quality
Well established techniques for full cycle production
System

Feeding
management
1
Disease
management

Behavior

Female tiger Male giant

grouper grouper
5 2
Sex Fully
differentiat matured
ed after after
7 years 10 years

4 3
Criteria of good aquaculture species
1 High growth performance

2 Marketability/Consumer acceptance

3 Hardiness

4 Established production techniques/Systems

5 Efficient food conversion/ Cost

6 Non or less cannibalism

Fish feed is a major expenditure for fish farmers.
7 Appropriate dietary
Accounting requirement
for 50-70% of overall production cost
 Low Feed Conversion Ratio

The amount of feed it takes to grow a

kilogram of fish

The lower the better

Most groupers are 4-6

UMS hybrid fish: 0.8- 1

Criteria of good aquaculture species
1 High growth performance

2 Marketability/Consumer acceptance

3 Hardiness

4 Established production techniques/Systems

5 Efficient food conversion/ Cost

6 Non or less cannibalism

7 Appropriate
an animaldietary requirement
consuming a member of its own species.
 Major factor contributing
to mass mortality in fish
production

✓ Natural occurrence in some species

✓ Competition of space and feed

✓ Uneven size of population

✓ Hierarchy growth
Criteria of good aquaculture species
1 High growth performance

2 Marketability/Consumer acceptance

3 Hardiness

4 Established production techniques/Systems

5 Efficient food conversion/ Cost

6 Non or less cannibalism

7 Appropriate dietary requirement

 • Well- • Relatively
balanced practical
diet and
economical
Nutrition Price &
Availability

Hygiene
Environmental
&
effect
Storage
• Less • Less/ no
contamination negative
impacts
Appropriate dietary requirement
• There are thought to be over 25000 different species of
fish in the world and the vast majority have their own
specific nutritional needs.

• Feeding mode varied in species. Some are herbivore,

some are carnivorous and omnivorous.

• Some required certain level of nutrients, or less unable to

survive.

• Select fish with readily available and cost effective feed

Blubberlips snapper

Require smaller
feed

Unable to survive