Aquaculture Species

MILKFISH
Milkfish (Chanos chanos) is the only species in the Family
moderately compressed, smooth and streamlined. Body colour
olive-green or blue on back. Milkfish farming in Indonesia,
Philippines started about 4-6 centuries ago. Culture methods in
being improved upon.
Chanidae. Body fusiform, elongated,
silvery on belly and sides grading to
Taiwan Province of China and the
a variety of enclosures are constantly

They are well developed, migratory, large (up to 1.5 m and 20 kg), and mature sexually in 5 years.
Milkfish only spawn in fully saline waters. The activity is most often correlated with the new or full
moon phases, takes place mostly in the night and, in most regions, has one or two seasonal peaks. In
the natural environment, spawning takes place near coral reefs during the warm months of the year,
and populations near the equator spawn year-round. Juveniles and adults eat a wide variety of
relatively soft and small food items, from microbial mats to detritus, epiphytes and zooplankton.

Milkfish is a heterosexual fish; hermaphrodism has not been reported. In natural spawning stocks the
sex ratio is almost equal, with a slightly higher amount of females. The determination of sex is very
difficult, because there are no easily identifiable morphological differences between males and
females; however, the pheromone PGF2a (prostaglandin) has been found to be an effective way to
identify mature male milkfish.

In the Philippines, bangus can be raised anywhere. However, the top bangus producing provinces are
Bulacan, Pangasinan, Capiz, Iloilo, and Negros Occidental. The most recent report released by the
Bureau of Agricultural Statistics (BAS) show that the combined production of these five provinces alone
accounts for more than 50 percent of the country’s total production.

Life history
 Adult milkfish inhabit warm and shallow waters around islands where reefs are well developed
 They spawn in clear and shallow waters above sandy or coralline bottoms
 Eggs and larvae are pelagic and are carried by currents to coastal areas
 After 2-3 weeks, larvae appear as fry (11-14 mm) along shores and enter mangrove swamps and
estuaries which serve as nurseries
 They remain in these areas for around one month and upon reaching the juvenile stage (50 mm)
migrate into coastal lagoons or move upstream along rivers
 They return to the sea for final maturation and spawning
Reproductive biology
 Sexually mature milkfish measure around 50-120 cm and weigh between 5-7 kg
 Milkfish usually reach sexual maturity within 5 years when reared in cages
 Milkfish fry are obtained by either collecting them from the wild or from production in
hatcheries
 Adult milkfish is called SABALO
Fry collection
 Collected along sandy beaches, river mouths, tidal creeks, and mangrove swamps
 Most fry grounds are located on the western and southern coasts of islands
 Fry abundance depends on seasonality and varies across latitudes but mostly peaks during May
and October
Hatchery production
 Mature broodstock are placed in tanks or cages at a male to female ratio of 1:1 or 1:2
 Eggs are collected using a rotating sweeper (for cages) or by airlift operated nets or skimming of
surface waters (for tanks)
 Females can produce up to 2.5 M eggs per season, with around 80% being viable eggs and 80%
hatching into fry
 Milkfish larvae are reared in concrete tanks usually 1 m deep with filtered seawater and
aeration
 Larval rearing tanks (LRT) are painted yellow
 Larvae are initially fed with Chlorella and rotifers during the culture period of 21-25 days but
larvae only start to feed during the 3rd day when their mouths are open
Note: In the nursery, bangus is grown from fry (kawag-kawag) to fingerling (hatirin). In the transition
stage, the fingerlings are grown to juvenile (garungan). In the grow-out stage the juveniles are grown to
marketable sizes.

Checking fry condition

 Observe fry visually.
 Swirl the water. Healthy fry will swim against the water
 Tap the container or move your hand over it. Healthy fry will quickly react and try to avoid any
stressor
Nursery culture
 Nursery pond is prepare following standard procedure of pond preparation for growing lablab
 Fry are stocked at a rate of around 30-50 fry/sq. m
 Fry are first acclimatized by gradually replacing water in fry bags or basins with water from the
pond
 Fry are grown until they reach the fingerling stage (50-150 g) over 2-3 months
 Fingerlings are harvested by using the pasulang method

Transition and growout

 Extensive Culture
 Fingerlings are stocked at a rate of 3000-5000 pcs/ha
 Fed using natural food throughout the culture period
 Lablab
In the past, traditional feeding practices for milkfish grow-out production have
consisted of natural food ('lab-lab') or a combination of phytoplankton and
macroalgae (Enteromorpha intestinales, Cladophoraspp. or Chaetomorpha
linnum) encouraged by fertilization. In the 1980s however, special commercial
feeds for milkfish were developed and became almost exclusively used. As
cage and pen culture technology proliferated in the 1990s, both in marine and
inland waters, extruded milkfish feeds were further developed into floating and
semi-floating forms, while sinking forms were used for pond and tank-based
grow-out. Feed supplies are now manufactured commercially in the form of
starters, growers and finishers, which are administered according to the
production stage of the milkfish.
  Lumot
 Plankton
 Culture period could last from 4-6 months
 Semi-intensive Culture
The semi-intensive system is an improvement of the traditional system where
fingerlings are stocked at a higher density. With natural and artificial feeds, bangus
fingerlings are stocked at densities of 6,000 to 12,000 per hectare. With dependence on
natural food in the traditional system, low stocking densities of 1,000 to 3,000
fingerlings per hectare are applied. In this method, the culture period is longer thus
allowing only one or two croppings a year. The modular pond system, on the other
hand, allows a continuous operation and makes possible four to six croppings per year.

 Fingerlings are stocked at a rate of 5000-10000 pcs/ha

 Fed using natural food during the first month of culture and supplemented with feeds
until the end of the culture period
 Culture period could last from 3-4 months
 Intensive Culture
In intensive ponds with aeration, growers can produce 8,000-10,000 kilograms of
bangus fish in a hectare. Stocking density to grow 500-gram fish is about 20,000
juveniles per hectare. In fish pens in Laguna Lake, juveniles of 30 to 50 grams are
stocked at 50,000 per hectare. There is no feeding needed as the lake provides the
algae that the bangus feed on.
In marine sea cages, juveniles of 30 to 50 grams are stocked at a rate of 20-50 per
square meter depending on the site and the business plan of the grower. Harvest can
reach up to 30-40 kilograms per cubic meter of 500-gram bangus in six to eight months.
At least 50 percent of the costs in intensive pond systems goes to feeds. The other costs
that figure are electricity, water, labor and pond maintenance costs. In marine cage
systems, feeds are 80 percent of the costs. In extensive systems, lablab production is
still 40 percent of the costs.
 Fingerlings are stocked at a rate of >10000 pcs/ha
 Fed using commercial feeds at 2-5% of the fish biomass given 2-3 times daily
 Culture period could last from 3-4 months
 Aeration is supplied (paddlewheel) and partial water change is carried out regularly
 Modular System Culture
 Series of pond modules with an area ratio of 1:2:4 are utilized
 Culture period in each module lasts 30-45 days after which stocks are transferred to a
larger module.
 Vacated module is then prepared for regrowing natural food
 Stocking density is based on 3000-4000 pcs/ha in the last module
 6-8 harvests can be done per year
Harvesting
 Fish are harvested using the pasulang method – fish swim against current
  Immediately placed in chilled water (4° C) to immediately kill the fish, preserve quality, and
prevent scale loss due to handling

Types of harvest
• Partial harvest. Selective harvest of uniformly grown milkfish from grow-out facilities (i.e. cages,
pens, ponds, tanks) using seine or gillnets, retaining the undersize fish and harvesting only the
commercial sized stocks, with an average body weight of 250 g or larger.
• Total harvest. Complete harvest in one crop period from grow-out facilities (i.e. total draining of
ponds by gravity or pump, hauling of the entire net cage structure, seining or the use of gillnets
in pens). The harvest size at this stage may vary from 250-500 g.
• Forced harvest. Emergency harvesting, regardless of fish size or grow-out stage, which is carried
out during 'fish kills' due to oxygen depletions that are attributed to algal blooms, red tide
occurrence, pollution or other environmental causes.

Handling and processing of milkfish

200-400 g milkfish are harvested and marketed mostly fresh or chilled, whole or deboned, frozen, or
processed (e.g. fresh frozen deboned, fresh frozen deboned descaled, and smoked fish deboned). In
general, all marketed milkfish are produced in farms, only a few being caught from natural waters. In
some countries (e.g. the Philippines) fishing for adult milkfish is officially banned in order to protect the
natural broodstocks.
There are two known post-harvest processing techniques for milkfish, which are the traditional (i.e.
drying, fermentation and smoking) or non-traditional methods (i.e. bottling, canning and freezing) and
value-added products such as 'surimi' and deboned products as practiced in Taiwan Province of China
and in the Philippines.
Regulations and standard protocols for manufacturing milkfish products exist for both domestic
consumption and export, as follows:
• Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs). Plant construction.
• Personnel hygiene and sanitation.
• Standard Sanitary Operating Procedures (SSOPs).
• HACCP compliance.

Sleek and silvery, beloved because of its mild, sweet flesh, and its melt-in the-mouth belly fat,
bangus is a favorite Filipino fish. In Metro Manila, the national fish is rated first-class. Its popularity of
bangus can be gleaned in such recipes as bangus en tocho (fried bangus served with a sauce of any of
the following: tahure, tokwa, or tausi), bulanglang na bangus (with eggplants, ampalaya, sitao,
malunggay, onion, tomatoes, rice washing and bagoong), rellenong bangus (formerly a party dish; now
available even in school cafeterias), and bangus lumpia.

Diseases in milkfish
In some cases antibiotics and other pharmaceuticals have been used in treatment but their inclusion
in this table does not imply an FAO recommendation.

Research and development

Successful induced spawning and larval rearing of milkfish were first accomplished at
SEAFDEC/AQD in 1976-1978. The first generation cycle of milkfish in captivity was completed at AQD
when the offspring of a wild female induced to spawn in 1978 in turn spawned in 1983. Since then,
milkfish have matured and spawned in floating cages, ponds, and concrete tanks in the Philippines,
Taiwan Province of China, Hawaii, and Indonesia. Since the successful completion of larval rearing
technology in 1984, fry production has increased significantly, which has not only provided milkfish
farmers in Taiwan Province of China with ample supply but also opened an export market to
neighbouring countries.
To date no substantial technical and scientific research has been documented from major
milkfish producing countries other than the policy and management related research being conducted
by the WorldFish Center, the SEAFDEC Aquaculture Department and the Bureau of Agricultural Research
and BFAR of the Philippine Department of Agriculture.
 Taiwan Province of China, however, has recently developed an improved strain of milkfish
through selective breeding process resulting in a golden coloured F1 pioneered by a private farmer; this
would accordingly command a better price than the original silvery coloured strain, once introduced in
the market.
___________________________________________________________________________________
TILAPIA CULTURE

Tilapia are warm water fishes that originated from Africa. The major tilapia species that are
commercially farmed in over 40 countries of the world includes Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus),
Mozambique tilapia (O. Mossambicus), and blue tilapia (O. aureus), and their hybrids. A mutual form of
tilapia known popularly as the red tilapia is also widely being cultured nowadays.

Tilapias are desirable fishes for farming because they easily bred in captivity, grow fast and are
economically feasible to culture. As foodfishes, tilapias are well accepted in many regions of the world
particularly in Asia, Africa, and the Americas. The leading tilapia producing countries are China,
Indonesia, Thailand, and the Philippines.

Tilapias feed low in the food chain, they usually consume plankton (microscopic plants or animals) and
can also be trained to consume artificial diets. The fishes are particularly adapted to digesting blue-
green algae cells with highly acidic condition in their stomachs. During breeding of tilapia, the male
usually build a nest at substratum to attract female. The male can breed with more than one female.
The female tilapia mouthbroods the fertilized eggs, which hatch into sac, and becomes fry inside the
buccal cavity. The female then will release the fry after 7 to 10 days from hatching.

Tilapias grow to maturity in less than four months in the tropics. Thus breeding of tilapia can occur
throughout the year. Male tilapia grow faster than female and are known to grow up to 3kilos and more.
Culture of tilapias is done I pond, tanks, and net cages in freshwater, brackishwater or seawater. The
Nile tilapia is the most important species for freshwater culture whole Mozambique tilapia is the most
salt-tolerant.

 Family Chichlidae – native to Africa

 First tilapia introduced in the Philippines was Tilapia mossambica in the 1950’s
 Tilapia niloticus introduced in the 1970’s
 Also known as “aquatic chicken” because of fast growth rates
 Various species of tilapia cultured in the Philippines includes the following:
 O. nilotica – salt tolerant
 O. mossabica -
 O. aurea – Blue tilapia
 O. zilli – red belly tilapia
 O. hornorum
 O. andersonii - 3 Spotted Tilapia
 Tilapia is good for aquaculture because
  They are at the lowest food chain
 Matures early
 Breeds often
 Resistant to diseases
 Tolerates crowding/ high stocking density
 Easily adapts to various habitats
 Omnivorous
 Sexually mature within 2-3 months at 15-40 g
All male culture or monosex culture
With male monosex culture, fry are usually reared to fingerling size in a nursery phase, and then
male fingerlings are separated from females for final growout. All-male fingerlings can be obtained by
three methods: hybridization, sex-reversal and manual sexing. None of these methods is consistently
100 percent effective, and thus a combination of methods is suggested. Hybridization maybe used to
produce a high percentage of male fish. The hybrids may then be manually sexed or subjected to a sex-
reversal treatment. All three methods are sometimes used. Hybridization and sex-reversal reduce the
number of female fingerlings that must be discarded during manual sexing. This saves time, space and
feed. Problems nevertheless still exist with hybridization and sex-reversal. Producing sufficient numbers
of hybrid fry maybe difficult because of spawning incompatibilities between the parent species. Sex-
reversal is more technically complicated and requires obtaining recently hatched fry and rearing them in
tanks with high quality water. Both hybridization and sex reversal may produce less than 100 percent
males.

 Manual Sexing
Manual sexing is commonly used by producers. Manual sexing (hand sexing) is the process of
separating males from females by visual inspection of the external urogenital pores, often with
the aid of dye applied to the papillae. Secondary sex characteristics may also be used to help
distinguish sex. Reliability of sexing depends on the skill of the workers, the species to be sorted
and its size. Experienced workers can reliably sex 15-gram fingerling T. hornorum and T.
mossambica, 30-gram T. nilotica, and 50-gram T. aurea.

 Examination of urogential papilla located behind the anus

 Females have broad and round papilla with 2 openings
 Males have tapering papilla with only one opening at the tip
 Can be done with fish 10cm or longer
 Time consuming, labor intensive, 80-90% accurate
 Sex Reversal
 Male sex hormones are added to feeds for fry to change genetically female tilapias into
functional males (no changes in chromosomes)
 Methyltestoterone is mixed with feed at a rate of 60 mg per kg of feed
 Given to newly hatched fry for 3-4 weeks
 Feeding rate is 30% of fry biomass in the 1st week, 25 % in the 2nd week, and 20% in the
3rd week given six times a day
  Success rate is 90-100%
 Hybridization
 Cross-breeding different species of tilapia to produce all-male or predominantly male
offspring
 T. mossambica female x T. aurea male
 T. nilotica female x T. aurea male
 T. mossambica female x T. hornorum male
 T. nilotica female x T. hornorum male
 Requires pure strains of tilapia species
 YY males (supermales)
 Males with a YY genotype are produced in order to yield all male offspring when crossed
with normal females
 Four generations are required to produce YY males
Advantage of Monosex culture
• Superior growth rates since male grows faster than female
• Tolerance to environmental fluctuation
• Greater uniformity of size and harvest
• Better flesh quality and appearance
• Resistance to stress and diseases
• Higher energy conservation compared to female since male tilapia do not consume their energy
in egg production.
• High feed utilization efficiency
• Reduced aggressiveness of tilapia since it won’t exhibit mating behavior
• High stocking densities reduce individual growth rates, but yields per unit area are greater.
• Expected survival for all-male culture is 90 percent or greater.

Mixed sex culture

In mixed-sex culture, tilapia are usually stocked at low rates to reduce competition for food and
promote rapid growth. One month-old, l-gram fry are stocked at 2,000 to 6,000 per acre into growout
ponds for a 4- to 5-month culture period. Newly-hatched fry should be used because older, stunted fish,
such as those held over winter, will reach sexual maturity at a smaller, unmarketable size. Supplemental
feeds with 25 to 32 percent protein are generally used. At harvest, average weight is approximately 0.5
pound (220 grams), and total production is near 1,400 pounds/acre for a stocking rate of 4,000/acre.
Expected survival is roughly 70 percent.
Species such as Tilapia zilli, T. hornorum, or T. mossambica are not suitable for mixed-sex culture
because they reproduce at an age of 2 to 3 months and at an unmarketable size of 30 grams or less.
Tilapia suitable for mixed-sex culture are T. aurea, T. nilotica and their hybrids, all of which reproduce at
an age of 5 to 6 months. Two to three crops of fish can be produced annually in the tropics compared to
only one crop in temperate regions. In temperate regions, mixed-sex culture is referred to as young-of-
the-year culture because fry produced in the spring are grown to marketable size by autumn. Early
spawning is needed to maximize the growout period. The growout season is shortened by about 2
months to account for spawning and rearing of l-gram fry for stocking growout ponds.

Seed production in pond

 Use ponds 300-500 sq. m at 0.5-1 m depth
 Breeder 80-100 g are stocked at a density of 2-4 fish/ sq. m
 Male to female ratio = 1:3
 Feed with feeds containing 20-30% crude protein at 3% body weight
 Fry are collected daily starting on the 10th-12th day using dip nets or fry dozers
 2-5 fry/sq. m/ day can be produced
Seed production in tanks
 Use tanks 4-100 sq. m at 0.5-1 m depth
 Breeders 100-200 g are stocked at a density of 400 g fish fish biomass/ sq. m
 Male to female ratio = 1:3
 Feed with feeds containing 20-30% crude protein at 3% body weight
 Fry are collected daily starting on the 10th-12th day using dip nets or fry dozers with the
production cycle lasting 21 days
 18-20 fry/sq. m/ day can be produced
Grow-out
 Stock at 2-6 fish per square meter depending on the intensity of the culture system
 Feed with 20% crude protein at 2-5% body weight, 2-3 times a day
 Culture period lasts 4-5 months to reach marketable size of 100-200 grams per fish
Harvesting
 Stop feeding 48 hours before harvest
 Partially drain the pond (reduce water by half)
 Tilapia can then be harvested using a seine and immediately placed in chilled water
Polyculture of Tilapia
Polyculture Tilapia are frequently cultured with other species to take advantage of many natural
foods available in ponds and to produce a secondary crop, or to control tilapia recruitment. Polyculture
uses a combination of species that have different feeding niches to increase overall production without
a corresponding increase in the quantity of supplemental feed. Polyculture can improve water quality by
creating a better balance among the microbial communities of the pond, resulting in enhanced
production. The disadvantage of polyculture is the special equipment (sorting devices, conveyors, etc.)
and extra labor needed to sort the different species at harvest. The role of natural pond foods is less
important in the intensive culture of all male populations and may not justify the expense of sorting the
various species at harvest. Tilapia can be cultured with channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus) with only a
minor reduction in catfish yields. Catfish production does not decline when cultured in combination with
tilapia, silver carp (Hypophthalmichthys molitrix) and grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idellus). With no
additional feed, total net production is higher than catfish cultured alone. The incidence of offflavor
catfish may be less in catfish/tilapia polyculture than catfish monoculture.
Another promising polyculture system consists of tilapia and prawns (Macrobrachium
rosenbergii). In polyculture, survival and growth of tilapia and prawns are independent. Feed is given to
meet the requirements of the fish. Prawns, which are unable to compete for the feed, utilize wasted
feed and natural foods that result from the breakdown of fish waste.
Another type of poylculture involves the use of a predatory fish, such as largemouth bass
(Micropterus salmoides), to reduce tilapia recruitment. Stocking predators with mixed sex tilapia
populations controls recruitment and allows the original stock to attain a larger market size. Predators
must be stocked at a small size to prevent them from eating the original stock. Predators may be
stocked when tilapia begin breeding. The number of predators required to control tilapia recruitment in
culture ponds depends primarily on the maximum attainable size of the predator species, the ability of
the predator to reproduce, and the number of mature female tilapia. In general, as predators grow they
eat larger sized tilapia recruits. Eventually this may result in an increasing biomass of small tilapia that
are not consumed. However, this problem should not develop in ponds that are completely harvested
one or more times a year.
Use of predators has been effective on an experimental scale, but they have not been used
widely in commercial operations because of the difficulty in finding reliable sources of fingerlings. Some
of the best predators, such as guapote tigre (Cichlasoma managuense) and peacock bass (Cichla
ocellaris), are exotic species and may be illegal to use.
_____________________________________________________________________________________

Shrimp culture

Many factors must be considered when a farmer is deciding which species of shrimp he should culture.
Due to its large size and high price, P. monodon is generally considered the most desirable. However, if
fry are not available, or are too expensive, it might be worthwhile to grow another species. In an area
subject to flooding from typhoons, it might be advantageous to minimize risk by culturing a species with
a short growing period. It may be desirable to consider growing different species during different
seasons depending on the variations of the environment or availability of wild fry.

Of the species of shrimp occurring within the region, the following are the ones most commonly
cultured:

Penaeus monodon Metapenaeus ensis

P. merguiensis M. monoceros
P. indicus M. brevicornis

While not cultured in large numbers now, the following are thought to have commercial potential. That
is, they grow to a suitable size and have a good market value.

P. semisulcatus M. affinis
P. latisulcatus M. elegans
P. japonicus M. burkenroadii - M. mastersii
P. orientalis M. tenuipes
P. penicillatus M. conjunctus
M. intermedius
 M. joyneri

 Eggs hatch after 12-15 hours

 Nauplius stage (NI-NVI) – 2-3 days
 Zoea stage (ZI-ZIII) – 5-6 days
 Mysis stage (MI-MIII) – 4-5 days
 Post larval stage (PL) – those used for growout ar PL15-25
 Reach sexual maturity after 10 months

Seed production
 Spawners are usually sourced from the wild but spawners grown under controlled conditions
are now preferred for biosecurity reasons
 Specific Pathogen Free (SPF)
 Females are 70-150 g while males are 45-120 g at a ratio of 1-2 females per male stocked at 3-5
shrimp/sq. m
 To hasten ovarian maturation, ablation is done
 Gonad inhibiting hormone (GIH) is located in the eyestalk
 Feed spawners with commercial pellets (with 6% lipid) and natural food like mussels and squid
 Reduce light intensity to 100 lux
 Spawning tanks are painted black or grey with white sand substrate
 Use a flow through system that will enable 100-400% daily water exchange
Larval rearing
 LRT size could range from 2-20 tons
 Stock with nauplii at a rate of 50-100 nauplii per liter
 Feeding scheme
 Algae (Skeletonema or Chaetoceros)
  ZI-PL5
 Artemia nauplii
 MI-PL5
 Formulated larval feed
 Beyond PL5
Grow-out
 Extensive
 10000-50,000 pcs/ha
 40-50 cm water depth
 Occasional water change along with the tides
 Use of natural food with occasional feeding
 Semi-intensive
 50,000-100,000 pcs/ha
 100-120 cm water depth
 Regular water change along with the tides and with the use of a pump
 Use of natural food, supplemental feeds, and commercial feeds
 Intensive
 100,000-400,000 pcs/ha
 120-150 cm water depth
 Constant water change using pumps with supplemental aeration
 Sole use of commercial feeds
 Super-Intensive
 400,000-800,000 pcs/ha
 150-200 cm water depth
 Constant water change using pumps with supplemental aeration using long arm paddle
wheels
 Sole use of commercial feeds
 Probiotics are sometimes used
Harvesting
 Bagnets mounted on wooden frames are place in grooves of the gate
 Water is drained and shrimps are collected in the bagnet
 Remaining shrimps in the ponds are hand-picked
 Immersed in chilled water for 5-10 minutes, sorted, and packed in crushed ice
Mitigating environmental impact
 Use of semi-intensive method
 Practice of zero water exchange
 Biofloc system
 Treatment of waste water in reservoirs stocked with fish, while mussels, oysters, and
seaweeds can act as biofilters
 Chlorination eliminates pathogens
 Aerated to remove toxic gases
 Treated water is reused for grow out
Biofloc
 is the retention of waste for conversion of small protein molecules inthe form of floating mass,
which consists of a wide variety of beneficial
nitrifying bacteria, fungi, protozoans, rotifers, brown and green microalgae, grazing micro
invertebrates and detritus.
 They are continuously mixed and suspended, treating and bioconverting via autotrophic,
heterotrophic and filter feeding or grazing both dissolvedand particulate wastes into microbial
biomass.
 It is possible to convert particulate wastesand dissolved wastes into beneficial form of
microbiofloc through bioconversion process.

Penaeus monodon

Advantages

a. It attains a large size. Shrimp with a size of 10 to 12 pieces/kg are common, and sizes of 5 to 7
pieces/kg have been grown in ponds.
b. It is the fastest growing of all shrimp tested for culture. In ponds, fry of 3 cm in length have been
grown to a size of 75 to 100 g in only five to six months. Forster (1974) was able to grow them to
25 g in 16 weeks in a tank stocked at 15/m2; Liao (1977) was able to grow them to 35 g in three
months in a tank stocked at 15/m2.
c. Due to its large size, it brings a high price to the farmer. Over US$ 7 per kg of shrimp weighing
15/kg has been reported in Indonesia.
d. It can tolerate a wide range of salinity, 0.2 to 70 ppt. Salinity within the range of 10 to 25 ppt has
no appreciable effect on growth when food is sufficient. Growth is reported to be slower at very
low salinities.
e. It can tolerate temperatures up to at least 37.5°C. Mortalities occur at temperatures below
12°C.
f. It grows rapidly when fed either with animal or vegetable protein.
g. Food conversion ratios are favorable. Values as low as 1.8:1 have been reported from Taiwan
(Liao, personal communication).
h. It is hardy and not greatly disturbed by handling.

Disadvantages

a. There is a sparse supply of wild seed for stocking.

b. Wild fry are usually expensive.
c. Gravid females are difficult to obtain from the wild in sufficient numbers to support a large
hatchery.
d. Females are more difficult to mature in captivity than many other species. Excellent progress is
being made in this area, however, and reliable techniques for maturation are being developed.
e. It takes a long growing period to reach the large size which commands the best price. This
increases risk of heavy losses from typhoons and other natural disasters.
f. It is difficult to harvest because it does not have a pond with discharged water as readily as
other species.
g. It is not suited for polyculture with milkfish in the progress on method of culture because of the
difficulty in transferring it from pond to pond and its long growing period.
h. The head to tail ratio is not as good as that of some other species. This could have an adverse
effect on sales to the export market where only tails are desired.
i. The exoskeleton is rather thick and processors find it harder to remove than that of most other
species.

In some cases antibiotics and other pharmaceuticals have been used in treatment but their inclusion
in this table does not imply an FAO recommendation.
Market and trade
Products

Frozen head-on, head-off, and peeled shrimp used to be the major products for export to the
main markets, which are USA, EU and Japan. Later, value-added products, such as microwavable or
ready-to-cook tempura, sushi, shaomei, hargao, straightened, skewered, battered and breaded, spring
roll and balls mainly processed in Thailand, have become increasingly popular. This has been because
tight economic conditions in many developed countries limit frequent dinner in restaurants, and the
time for cooking at home is scarce. Chilled product, which is sold in domestic markets, is generally non-
exportable grade and shares less than 10 percent of all markets. Live product, which is mainly for
domestic Chinese restaurants with some exports to Hong Kong and China, also shares less than 2
percent.

Price and market statistics

In financial value, Penaeus monodon is the most important traded aquaculture commodity in
Asia. C&F prices in Japan, whose market mainly requires large headless (16/20 size) shrimp from
extensive and semi-intensive farms in Indonesia, India and Viet Nam, varied from USD 9-14/kg during
2001-2004. The US market purchased mainly small headless (21/25 size) shrimp (both peeled and shell-
on) from intensive farms in Thailand and India at C&F prices ranging from USD 7-13/kg during the same
period. The EU market, which mainly requires small head-on shrimp (31/40 size) from South East Asian
intensive farms, paid C&F prices between USD 4.7 and 9.0/kg during 2001-2004.
Market regulations

Sanitary standards, standards for the uses of drugs and chemicals, and common food safety
regulations for seafood (particularly shrimp) are already high in all major import countries. However, the
EU market has more strict regulations (zero tolerance) on residues of chemicals and antibiotics, as well
as the trade privilege or Generalized System of Preference (GSP) on import tax and HACCP. The US
market enforces more strictly on a sanitary standard such as HACCP or Sensory Assessment. There are
also additional regulations in the US regarding anti-dumping of imported shrimp, and the application of
Turtle Excluder Devices (TEDs) on wild shrimp fishing fleets in exporting countries.

Penaeus merguiensis and P. indicus

P. indicus and P. merguiensis supposedly can be differentiated by five separate characteristics, but based
on actual field surveys there are many individuals which do not have any clear distinction on these five
points. Consequently, they were put into one group as indicus-merguiensis complex by Fujinaga and
Kurata (1967). As these shrimp are difficult to distinguish, they have been grouped together in this paper
unless one of the species is specifically identified.

In spite of the taxonomic confusion, there are indications of behavioral differences between the two
species. In the Philippines, for instance, “P. indicus” is difficult to harvest by draining ponds, but in
Thailand, “P. merguiensis” moves out of ponds readily when water is drained. In addition, P.
indicus prefers sandy substrates and P. merguiensis is found most frequently on mud bottoms.

Penaeus indicus is found at depths of 2 to 90 m, inhabiting bottom mud or sand. It is most abundant in
shallow waters of less than 30 m depth, on sand or mud (FAO, 1984a). The adults are marine and breed
offshore, while postlarvae and juveniles are estuarine (FAO, 1980). They are euryhaline and live in
brackish, estuarine and marine environments with temperature ranges between 18 and 34.5 oC and
salinities of from 5 to 50 ppt (Kutty, Murugapoopathy and Krishnan, 1971; Branford, 1981; CIBA, 1992b;
Khan, Aravindan and Kalavati, 2001; Macia, 2004). The optimal salinity for juvenile P. indicus is 10 to 15
ppt.

On the other hand, P. merguirnsis can be found at Indo-West Pacific: from the Persian Gulf to Thailand,
Hong Kong, the Philippines. Indonesia, New Guinea, New Caledonia and N. Australia. In the Gulf of
Papua it is trawled for; the catch is frozen. It plays a role in pond culture in Thailand (Shigueno,
1975:120) and in Indonesia. The total catch reported for this species to FAO for 1999 was 78 743 t. The
countries with the largest catches were Indonesia (65 230 t) and Thailand (9 200 t).

Advantages

a. This shrimp grows to a fairly large size and brings a good price.
b. It is fairly fast growing, especially when young. Cultured in tanks at a density of 15/m2, it
reached a size of 14 g in 16 weeks (Forster, 1974). In polyculture with milkfish in earthen ponds,
females grew to about 28 g and males to about 12 g in 160 days (Gundermann and Popper,
1975).
c. Survival is high during the first three months of growth or up to a size of about 10 cm.
d. Wild fry are usually abundant in estuaries near areas where the adults are present.
 e. Gravid females are relatively easy to obtain from the wild in numbers sufficient to operate a
hatchery.
f. Females can be matured in captivity with relative ease.
g. This shrimp moves out of a pond with water discharge, making harvesting easy.
h. Good growth has been obtained in intensive culture with a feed having 40 percent protein,
which is lower than that required for some other species.
i. The exoskeleton is relatively thin, giving greater portion of edible meat to total weight.

Disadvantages

a. Relatively high salinity (20–30 ppt) is required for best growth. It has a wide tolerance to short-
term exposure to salinity extremes, but dies with long exposure at salinities below 5 ppt and
above 40 ppt.
b. Mortalities occur at temperatures above 34°C.
c. There is a significant size difference between sexes.
d. It cannot stand rough handling as either a juvenile or an adult. Fry are weaker than those of P.
monodon during transport.
e. Wild fry are more difficult to identify than most other species of Penaeus or Metapenaeus.
f. With present technology, great difficulty has been encountered in culturing this shrimp for
longer than three months without heavy mortalities.

Penaeus japonicus

Advantages

a. Spawners are readily obtained from the wild.

b. Fry can be supplied in large quantities from artificial propagation.
c. It can tolerate cold weather.
d. It is hardy and can withstand handling. Survival rate for long distance transport of live adult
shrimp is high.
e. The price of live edible size shrimp is high in Japan.

Disadvantages

a. It has less tolerance to low salinity than some other species, 15–30 ppt is optimum.
b. It is not very tolerant to high temperature.
c. High protein (about 60%) feed is required for best growth.
d. In grow-out ponds a clean sand bottom is required for best growth.

_____________________________________________________________________________________
Seaweed culture
Seaweed farming in the Philippines started in the late 1960’s. Various experiment for growing seaweeds
were conducted in Sulu, then were disseminated later at other areas in the Philippines at late 70’s.
Today, Philippines is one of the world’s biggest producer of farmed Kappaphycus and Eucheuma
seaweeds supplying about 60% of the world raw materials requirements for carrageenan production.
In terms of production, seaweeds is the number 1 aquaculture commodity in the Philippines which said
to produce 1.5 million metric tons equivalent t0 70% of total aquaculture production in 2006.
Sulu, Tawi-Tawi, Zamboanga, Palawan and Bohol are the major areas in the Philippines that produces
seaweeds. While Batangas, Masbate, Surigao, Nergros, Bantayan, Lanao, Samar, and more areas were
being develop for seaweeds culture.

 Seaweeds are also referred to as macroalgae or macrophytes

 Classified by pigmentation
 Green algae – Chlorophyta
 Brown algae – Phaeophyta
 Red algae – Rhodophyta
 Blue-green algae - Cyanophyta
Economic importance
 Used as food
 Over 60 species are eaten in the Philippines
 Used as medicinal herbs
 Prevents goiter and internal disorders
 Treats wounds, burns, and rashes
 Used as a laxative
 Digenea simplex is used as a vermifuge (pang-purga)
 Source of phycocollooids
 Polysaccharides that form colloids or gel systems in water
 Carageenan
 Used in dairy products as a stabilizer and as a gelling agent in cosmetics, paints,
and pharmaceuticals
 5 types: kappa, iota, lambda, mu, and gamma
 Kappaphycus alvarezii (previously known as Eucheuma alvarezii, Eucheuma
cottonii)– kappa carageenan
 Eucheuma denticulatum (previously known as Eucheuma spinosum) – iota
carrageenan
  Agar
 Used as medium for microbial specimens, clarifying agent in wine, beer, and
coffee production, stabilizer in bakery products
 Extracted from Gracilaria, Gelidium, Gelidiella, and Pterocladia
 Alginic Acid
 Used as emulsifier and stabilizer in food, paper, paint, and textiles
 Extracted from Sargassum, Laminaria, and Turbinaria
Culture
 Most common species cultured in the Philippines are Kappaphycus alvarezii (Eucheuma cotonii)
and Eucheuma denticulatum (Eucheuma spinosum)
 Site selection
 Sheltered from strong waves and currents
 Moderate water movement
 Sandy or coralline bottom
  Far from freshwater sources (stenohaline)
 At least 1 m depth during low tide
Farming method
 Fixed off-bottom method
 For shallow areas
 Pointed wooden stakes are driven into the substratum
 10 m long monofilament lines are tied between stakes with 1 m interval between lines
 Distance to the ground is adjusted to ensure that seaweeds are not exposed to the air or
sun during low tide
 Lines are positioned parallel to the water current
 Farming methods - For both methods
 Seedstocks weighing 100-150 g are tied to support lines spaced 20-30 cm apart
 Maintenance is done by replacing lost seedstock, weeding, and removing grazers
 Other unwanted seaweeds are also removed since they compete for space and
nutrients
 Harvested after 10-12 weeks
 Gracilaria (gulaman)
 Grown in ponds
 Suitable sites
 Located near seawater and freshwater supplies
 Optimal salinity is 14-24 ppt
 Protected from strong winds
 Pond bottom should be near zero tide level
 Gracilaria (gulaman)
 Rice planting method
 0.5-5 ha pond size
 Sandy, muddy pond bottom is preferred
 Seedstocks 15-20 g are staked on the ponds bottom
 Distance between plants is 10-15 cm
 Harvested after 45-60 days
Diseases in seaweeds
_____________________________________________________________________________________

GROUPER CULTURE
 Considered a high value fish especially when sold live
 Over 40 species distributed in tropical waters
 Species cultured in the Philippines
 Epinephelus coioides (Green grouper)
 Epinephelus malabaricus (Malabar grouper)
Breeding
 Considered as protogynous hermaphrodytes
 Mature as females and turn into males with age
 For E. malabaricus, fish become males after 5 years
 Sex reversal
 Incorporation of methyltestosterone in feeds given 3 times a week for 2 months at a
dose of 1 mg/kg fish
 2-3 year old groupers were already able to produce milt
 Induced Spawning
  Achieved by injecting human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) and pituitary gland extract
Pond culture
 Prepare pond similar to milkfish culture
 Adjust water depth to 1-2 m
 Stock with adult tilapia at 5000-10,000 per hectare and allow to reproduce
 Tilapia fingerlings will serve sa food
 Stock grouper juveniles (>7.2 cm) at 5000 pcs/ha
 Give chopped trash fish every other day at 5% grouper biomass divided into two feedings per
day
 Cultured until groupers reach 400-600 g
Cage culture
 Site selection is typical of any mariculture cage operation
 Water depth should not be less than 3 m at low tide
 Cage module consist of 4-12 compartments supported by either a bamboo or steel frame
 Each compartment can measure 5x5x3 m
 Nursery cages use nets with a mesh size of 0.5-1 cm while growout cages use nets with a mesh
size of 2-5 cm
 Shelters made of PVC pipes (5 cm diameter or bigger) are placed inside the cages
 Nursery cages
 2-10 cm TL; 50-75 fish/sq m
 Feed with trash fish at 10% body weight
 Growout cages
 10-15 cm TL: 10-20 fish/sq m
 Feed with trash fish at 5% body weight
 Harvesting is done when fish reach marketable size (400 g) by gently lifting up the cage and
scooping out the fish
MUDCRAB CULTURE
 Inhabit brackish and marine waters and prefer muddy and sandy bottoms
 Cultured Mudcrabs
 Scylla serrata – King mudcrab
 S. olivacea – native crab/orange mud crab
 S. tranquebarica – purple mudcrab
 S. paramamosain – green mudcrab
Reproduction
 Male mudcrabs deposit sperm in the spermathecae of newly molted females
 Females can store sperm good for 2-3 spawnings
 Each female can release to as much as 2M eggs per spawning
 In order for eggs to attach to the pleopod hairs on the female abdominal flap, a sandy substrate
is provided in spawning tanks
 Ablation can also be done to hasten gonad maturation and spawning

Life history
 Zoea
 5 stages (Z1-Z5)
 Megalopa
 Molts only once and turns into instar
 Crab Instar
 Crablet
 Adult
Culture
 Ponds
 Milkfish or shrimp ponds can be used
 Fenced with bamboo or nylon net to prevent escape
  Extends 30 cm above water line and 60 cm below pond bottom
 Stocked with juveniles at 5000-10000 per hectare
 Initially fed with 10% biomass then reduced to 5% biomass (trash fish, snails, animal
entrails, etc.)
 Harvest is done after 120-150 days using the pasulang method
OTHER CULTURED SPECIES
Marine/ brackish water
 Perna viridis
 Modulus netcalfei
 Crasostrea iradalei
 Haliotis asinina
 Lates calcalifer
 Lutjanus sp.
 Hippocampus sp.
Fresh water
 Macrobrachium rosenbergii
 Clarias gariepinus – African catfish
 Clarias macrocephalus – native catfish
 Clarias batrachus – Thai catfish
 Pangasius hypothalamus - river or silver stripped catfish, Siamese shark,
 Pangasius bocourti - Tra catfish sutchi catfish, or shwai catfis
 Aristichthys nobilis – bighead carp
 Cyprinus carpio – common carp
 Hypopthalmicthys molitrix – silver carp
 Chana striata – snakehead

Genetic concept
 Crossbreeding
 Hybrid vigor (Heterosis) – offspring surpass its parents for one or more traits
 T. niloticus x T. aureus – cold tolerant
  T. niloticus x T. mossambicus – saline tolerant
 Red tilapia - Oreochromis mossambicus x Oreochromis niloticus
 Inbreeding
 Mating of closely related individuals
 Done to concentrate genes of a highly desired trait
 Triploidy
 Has 3 sets of chromosomes
 Done by shocking egg immediately after fertilization (UV or chemicals)
 Increased growth rate
 Sterile
 Transgenesis
 Transfer of novel DNA gene into the genome of cultured animal to improve a particular
trait
 Detection Methods
 Southern blot – uses DNA
 Northern blot – uses RNA
 Western blot – uses protein
 Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) – amplifies specific fragments of DNA