Mian, Md. Abdul Mannan creator Wee, Kok Leong Chairperson Lin, Chang Kwei Examination Committee Little, David C. Examination Committee British Technical Assistance (BTA) British Council Scholarship Donor text series technical report th Bangkok Asian Institute of Technology 1988 continuing eng 86 p. Two experiments were conducted to study the catfish use of artificial feeds in nursing walking (Clarias macrocephal us) fry. Experiment 1 was conducted to select a suitable diet for .Q.. macrocephalus fry. Four artificial diets, i.e. commercial powder feed, fish me al, rice bran and a mixed diet of rice bran plus fish meal (1 : 1 by weight) were tested as fry feeds for rearing .Q.. macrocephalus. The fry averaging 0. 1g were stocked in 24 circular concrete tanks <1 2 in static and 12 in recirculated water systems) of 1. 25m diameter and 0. Sm depth housed under a thatch roof. The water depth was maintained at 0. 1 5m for the first 3 weeks and 0. 3m for the subsequent 2 weeks. The water flow into individual tank in recirculated water system was maintained at 1 . OL/min., i.e. 4 exchange of total water a day. The fishes were fed ad-libitum 4 times a day <8 . 00, 12. 00, 16. 00 and 20. 00 hours) for the whole experimental period. The average final fish weights and survival rates with fry fed commercial powder feed in static and recirculated water systems were 1 . 65g, 53 . 33% and 1. 86g, 58 . 00%, respectively; for fish meal 1 . 37g, 48. 67% and 1. 33g, 50. 33%, respectively; for rice bran 0 . 42g, 28. 67% and 0 . 42g, 28 . 67%, respectively and the mixed diet 1. 35g, 45. 33% and 1. 13g, 46. 33%, respectively. The growth and survival was relatively low with all the diets. However, the best growth and survival rate was attained with the fish fed commercial powder feed in both static and recirculated water systems. This is because of the sticky and consistent nature of the diet which enabled fish to consume it without wastage. Experiment 2 was conducted to evaluate the effects of 3 stocking levels on the growth and survival of .Q.. macrocephalus fry fed commercial powder feed in net cages. Twelve nylon net cages ( 1 m x 1 m) were stocked with fry (averaging 0. 1 g) at 3 densities, i.e. 100, 200 and 400 fish/m2 {u2022} The fishes were fed a d - libitum 4 times a day ( 8. 00, 1 2. 00 , 16. 00 and 20. 00 hr.) for 35 days. The average final weights of fish reared at 100, 200 and 400/m2 were 5 . 89g, 6. 01 g and 4. 65g, respectively. The survival rate was found to be 52. 00%, 56 . 25% and 51. 1 3% at 100, 20 0 and 400 fish/m2 , respectively. The fry stocked at 200/m2 gave the best results in terms of growth, survival and food conversion efficiencies. A Thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science, School of Environment, Resources and Development Thesis (M.Sc.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 1988 Catfishes Asian Institute of Technology. http://203.159.5.9/ait-thesis/detail.php?q=B18931 http://203.159.5.9/ait-thesis/detail.php?q=B18931 110920 20260818170316.0