Replacement of fish meal by Lucilia sericata (Meigen, 1826) live larvae and powdered meal in production of stinging catfish Heteropneustes fossilis (Bloch, 1794) post-larvae

Reduction of aquaculture operations and production cost is key to the success and profitability of this enterprise, while protein needs, especially the cost of fish meal, are very expensive. The current study was conducted to investigate the post-larval production performance of Heteropneustes fossilis using Lucilia sericata maggot as a fish meal replacer in two ways, namely, live larvae and powder form. A 28 days growth trial was performed where five isonitrogenous diets for Heteropneustes fossilis post-larvae were experimented using live maggots and maggot meal, respectively. The proximate composition of each formulated diet, growth parameters of fish post-larvae, such as, weight gain, specific growth rate, protein efficiency ratio, apparent protein utilization, survival rate and the food conversion ratio were examined. After the experiment, the carcass composition of the experimental fishes were evaluated. The best final weight (1.61 g), weight gain (1.418 g), percentage of weight gain (739±1.18%), specific growth rate (2.63), protein efficiency ratio (2.29), apparent protein utilization (85%), survival rate (90%) and lower food conversion ratio (2.06) were observed in fish fed with 75% maggot meal as a substitute of fish meal. This study will help the aquaculture industry, especially the catfish culture in identifying an alternate source of protein and lowering the cost of aquaculture operation.