Hakan TÃœRKER
Abstract
Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) is currently receiving increasing attention as a new species in closed recirculating freshwater aquaculture system. Understanding performance of tilapia in this condition is important to optimize the design and management of the system. The objective of this study was to determine the growth performance of juvenile Nile tilapia under the different color light. Fish were reared in tanks (n=2) under one of four different lighting spectra; blue (436-495 nm), green (495-566 nm), red (627-780 nm) and day light (566-589 nm) as a control for 120 days in the dark room. The fish under green spectrum light significantly gained more weight and showed better food conversion ratio than those under the other lights. There were no significant differences between the blue and red light treatment for the growth. It is concluded that green color should be taken into consideration when developing culture strategies to maximize the growth of Nile Tilapia reared under intensive culture conditions.