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Abstract
Experiment on effects of food and feeding frequency on growth, survival rate and food conversion ratio (FCR) of dog conch were carried on in Nha Trang, Khanh Hoa during a period of 120 days to find out suitable food and feeding frequency for grow-out culture of dog conch. Juvenile dog conch were placed in a cement tanks (12 m2/tank) at a density of 80 individual/m2. Results showed that the processed food from different protein source affected the growth parameters and survival rate of dog conch. The final height and body weight of dog conch in the treatment of processed food from trash fish (30.7 ± 0.3 mm, 2.18 ± 0.07 g) were highest and showed significant differences compared to other treatments (P < 0.05). In the treatment of processed food from trash fish, the survival rate of dog conch (77.0%) was highest and the FCR was lowest (1.63), which results presented significantly higher differences compared to treatment of processed food from fish meal, 63.7% and 2.33, respectively (P < 0.05). The growth rate of dog conch in the feeding frequency treatment of 3 and 4 times per day ranged from 30.7 to 31.5 mm of height and 2.13 to 2.17 g of weight and showed significant difference compared to 2 times per day of feeding frequence treatment (P < 0.05). Similarly, the FCR in the feeding frequency of 3 and 4 times per day treatment was significantly lower compared to the those in the treatment of 2 time per day. However, the feeding frequency did not affect the survival rate, ranged from 75.3 – 78.7% (P > 0.05). This study shows the potential of using the processed food as trash fish to improving the performance of dog conch culture.