Effect of Feeding on Fresh(wet)Housefly Maggots(Musca domestica)with or without Artificial Diet on Water Quality and Growth Rates of African Catfish(Clarias gariepinus Burchell,1822)Fry under Laboratory Conditions

No or little information on the use fresh(wet)housefly maggots(Musca domestica)in African catfish(Clarias gariepinus)fry feeding.Therefore,this study was conducted to investigate the effect of feeding on fresh(wet)housefly maggots with or without artificial diet on water quality,growth performance,survival percentage and feed utilization of African catfish fry under laboratory conditions.Housefly maggots produced from a mixture of poultry droppings and foods wastes,it was used to replace artificial feed at 0,50 and 100% levels.Catfish were fed artificial diet alone(Feed 1),fresh(wet)housefly maggots alone(Feed 2),and 50% fresh housefly maggots with 50% artificial diet(Feed 3)were prepared and tested on triplicate groups of African catfish fry(initial weight of 0.25±0.02 g)for 60 days.Results showed that final weight(g/fish)was significantly(P≤0.05)higher in fish fed on feed 3(6.03±0.08),followed by fish fed feed 2(4.62±0.27),followed by fish fed feed 1(3.15±0.68).Specific growth rate(%/day)was also significantly higher in fish fed on feed 3(5.31±0.10),followed by fish fed feed 2(4.86±0.03),followed by fish fed feed 1(4.18±0.24).The same trend was observed with total weight gain,percentage weight gain,daily growth rate and relative growth rate.Feed intake and protein intake were significantly(P≤0.05)higher in fish fed on feed 3 and fish fed on feed 2,followed by fish fed feed 1.While,feed conversion ratio(FCR)and protein efficiency ratio were not significantly(P>0.05),but the improvement in FCR recorded in catfish fry fed feed 3 and feed 2 under the experimental conditions.Survival percentage was within the range 55-75%,with insignificant differences(P>0.05)among treatments.The water quality parameters such as temperature,pH,dissolved oxygen,total ammonia,nitrite and nitrate were not significantly(P>0.05)between the treatments and were tolerable for Catfish culture.Accordingly,use of the 50% fresh(wet)housefly maggots with 50% artificial diet in African catfish fry feeding had positive effect on growth performance and reduce of the feed cost.

Review on Using of Housefly Maggots(Musca domestica)in Fish Diets

The main animal protein ingredient in fish diets is most often fishmeal because of its nutritional quality.However,the limited availability and increasingly cost of fishmeal has lead to investigations of either lowering or replacing the fishmeal content with more economic protein sources of animal and/or plant origin.The research for appropriate and cheap cost alternative sources of protein to use in commercial fish diets will be the most important factor in intensive fish culture development.Insect meals are healthy and nutritious alternatives to fish meal due to their rich nutritional values,particularly protein,fat and minerals.Housefly maggots(Musca domestica)meal is also rich in B complex vitamins,trace elements and phosphorus.From the results of previous studies,Housefly maggots meal can be used successfully to replace the fish meal portion partially or completely in the fish diets.Also,the results observed that not physiological stressful was introduced in the fish by feeding Housefly maggots meal diets.This indicates that Housefly maggots meal were well utilized by the fish thus resulting in good growth of fish.In other study,observed a best growth performance with fish feeding on diets containing maggot’s meal compared with fish feeding on fishmeal diet.This indicates the high nutritional quality and fish acceptance of maggot’s meal.