Author(s): Castro-Mejía G, Castro-Mejía J, Castro-Castellón AE, Martínez-Meingüer AM and Rivera-Ramírez AO

Abstract: Convict cichlid fish, Amatitlania nigrofasciata, is specie with a mean size of 13 cm of length that belongs to the family Cichlidae. They are omnivorous organisms, because its alimentation ranges from vegetable and organic matter, to small fish and crustaceans. This investigation aimed to analyze the performance obtained in the growth of juvenile individuals of A. nigrofasciata with an initial mean length between 2.22-2.68 cm and mean weight of 0.51-0.63 g. Every seven days the organisms were measured with a digital Vernier Truper® ± 0.001 mm and weighted with a digital balance Nimbus® ± 0.01 g. The weight of the organisms served to consider the 10% of the total biomass to give the experimental diets, the dry ones were: a) shrimp pellet of 0.8mm; b) TetraColor®; and the wet ones were: c) carrot and d) beetroot. Also, the 0.1% of the total biomass was given as the external carbon source, it was used moringa flour, to produce the Biofloc system. The organisms with the shrimp diet took 70 days to reach its maximum size (11.82±1.77 cm). The fish fed with TetraColor took 35 days to reach its maximum size (12.00 ± 1.29 cm), while the wet diets took 42 days (12.69±1.54 cm and 12.20±1.51 cm respectively). The multiple mean analysis showed significant differences (p>0.05) between them. It is mentioned that an excess in the quantity of supplied protein in the diet increases the ammonium levels in water, which can affect the growth and wellbeing of fishes. There is few information in the protein requirements for a good culture of cichlid convict, therefore this work contributes to finding optimal diets for this ornamental fish.

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