Effects of Dietary Lipid Quality on Growth and Food Conversion of Tilapia

Growth and food conversion patterns of Tilapia aurea raised in aquaria and fed diets containing 10% lipid from 4 different sources showed that growth and food conversion were significantly better on menhaden oil than on beef tallow. No significant differences were detected in growth of tilapia on catfish oil or soybean oil and either beef tallow or menhaden oil. No mortalities occurred during the course of the lO-week feeding trial. T. aurea responded similarly to channel catfish with respect to their ability to utilize menhaden oil as a suitable source of dietary lipid. Tilapia did not grow well on a diet supplemented with beef tallow, whereas channel catfish have been shown to perform equally well on both dietary lipids.