“The Effect of Type of Food on Tilapia’s Growth”

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Tilapia raised in inland tanks or channels are considered safe for the environment, since their waste and disease is contained and not spread to the wild. However, tilapiines have acquired notoriety as being among the most serious invasive species in many subtropical and tropical parts of the world. For example, Oreochromis aureus, O. mossambicus, Sarotherodon melanotheron melanotheron, Tilapia mariae, and T. zilli have all become established in the southern United States, particularly in Florida and Texas.

Commercially grown tilapia are almost exclusively male. Being prolific breeders, female tilapia in the ponds or tanks will result in large populations of small fish. Whole tilapia can be processed into skinless, boneless (PBO) fillets: the yield is from 30% to 37%, depending on fillet size and final trim. Famed as the food of pharaohs in ancient times, tilapia is the world’s second most farmed fish (after carp)—and the fourth most consumed type of seafood in the U.S. (after shrimp, tuna, and salmon). The term tilapia actually refers to several related fish species that originated in the Middle East and Africa but are now farmed all over the world. Though its production is growing in the U.S., most of the tilapia we eat here is imported from Asia and Latin America.

If you eat fish, you have probably already had tilapia (sometimes called St. Peter’s fish) even if you didn’t know it. That’s because tilapia—like other inexpensive fish—is often fraudulently sold in markets and restaurants as red snapper, grouper, tuna, or other expensive species. In contrast, there’s far less chance of bait-and-switch if you order tilapia itself.

Nicknamed “aquatic chicken,” this fast-growing fish is both lauded as an excellent source of protein that’s “vital for building muscle” and denounced as a food that’s “worse than bacon" (see inset at bottom of article). Advocates assert that tilapia farming can help relieve pressure on the world’s diminishing wild fish populations, while opponents cite health and environmental issues. Who’s right? The answer is not so black and white.

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Problem

Which type of food affect the most on the tilapia's growth?

Objectives

General:

- Test the effect of different type of fish food

Specific:

- Enriching our knowledge towards the type of food the Tilapia acquires

- Analyze why the fish food is important for the Tilapia’s growth

Hypothesis

If we feed the tilapia with fish concentrate, then they will grow larger.

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Variables

Independent variable: The kind of food we gave the tilapia fish.

Dependent variable: The fish’s length

Constant variable: The same amount of water on each fish bowl, the same water temperature and the same amount of food for each

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Materials

- 3 tilapia fish 7cm each

- 3 fish bowl 18cmx18cm

- water

- Food (fish concentrate, lettuce, and normal fish food).

- Notebook

- Pen

- Air pump

Procedure

- First grab 3 tilapia fish.

- Then, measure each tilapia.

- Record the measurement of each tilapia.

- Replete the three fish bowl with the same amount of water (10L).

- Afterwards, put each tilapia fish on 3 different fish bowls (a,b and c).

- Subsequently, put an air pump to oxygenated water.

- Feed tilapia A with fish concentrate (1.5g.) per/day tilapia B with lettuce and tilapia C with normal fish food (1.5g. per/day).

- Feed once a day the tilapia with the same amount of food for 2 weeks.

- Finally, after 2 weeks grab the tilapia of each fish bowl,(a,b and c) measure them and compare which tilapia has grown more.

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Data Tables

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[pic 2]

[pic 3]

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[pic 4]

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Observations

As we conducted our experiment we notice the following:

- Tilapias didn’t eat all the food we gave them immediately.

- Tilapias didn’t always ate in our presence.

- Tilspis B sometimes seem without energy.

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Results

- Our final result was that Tilapia “A” feed with fish concentrate growth bigger than the other two tilapias.

- This results support our hypothesis because we believe that feeding Tilapia with concentrate will make it grow bigger.

- These results may help anyone in the future who wants to start a Tilapia Hatchery.

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