Obtaining growth of largemouth bass (LMB) to a market size of 570 g by the end of the second season is a challenge for producers in Kentucky. Development of practical feeding protocols to take full advantage of growth potential throughout the production season will be useful. This 9-week study examined the influence of water temperature on growth, condition factor, feed consumption, feed efficiency for feed trained largemouth bass (LMB) fingerlings.
Seven individual recirculating systems with four replicate aquarium tanks per system were randomly assigned a temperature treatment (15, 18, 21, 24, 27, 30, and 33℃). Prior to the experiment, individual LMB were injected with a Passive Integrated Transponder (PIT tag). Each tank was stocked with 6 feed-trained fingerling LMB (68.6 ± 1.4 g) and fed once daily by hand to apparent satiation with slow-sinking commercial trout feed (45% protein, 20% fat). Water quality was monitored to maintain conditions suitable for growth. Weight, length, and tag number for each fish was recorded at the end of the study. Significant differences will be determined with One-Way ANOVA, and relationships described with regression analysis.
As expected, feed consumption and growth among treatments increased to a maximum and then decreased with increasing temperature. Regression analysis yields a maximum SGR at 25.1℃ with an R2 of 0.79 and a maximum total feed consumed at 26.8°C with an R2 of 0.72. Regression equation maximum for feed efficiency was 24.1℃ with an R2 of 0.73. There was no significant difference in survival among treatments. Tag specific data will be reported in the presentation.