EFFECT OF WEANING TIME ON GROWTH AND SURVIVAL OF FRESHWATER ANGELFISH LARVAE (PTEROPHYLLUM SCALARE SCHULTZE, 1823)

The study was carried out to determine the most convenient time and effect of weaning on the growth and survival rate of Pterophyllum scalare larvae. Accordingly, the transition from live feed to microparticulate feed was experimented at 15th, 20th, 25th, 30th days after hatching and jointly fed with both feeds during 3 days after the last day of groups. After 3-day cooperatively feeding, larvae were fed only with microparticulate feed and the experiment lasted 40 days. Live weight and total length were measured at 15th, 25th, 32nd and 40th days and survival rates were calculated. As a result, a significant difference (P<0.05) was found between W15 and the other three groups for larval survival rates whereas there was no statistical difference between W20, W25 and W30 groups. The survival rates were found as 55.7 +/- 16.3%, 93.74 +/- 3.5%, 97.13 +/- 1.65% and 95.10 +/- 1.0%, respectively. There was no statistical difference between the groups in terms of live weight. While there was no significant difference between the groups W15, W20 and W25 in terms of total length, the group W30 was statistically different (P<0.05) from the groups W20 and W25. It was concluded that the best growth in terms of total length was observed in the group W30 (18.49 +/- 0.45mm).