Alimentary ingredients and the feeding behavior of Nile tilápia (<em>Oreochromis niloticus</em>)

Abstract

Nile Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) responses to attractivity and taste of fourteen food ingredients, here classified as animal sources (shrimp, fish, silkworm and meat meal, integral lyophilized egg and sugar-cane-yeast), vegetable protein sources (maize gluten, soybean bran, sunflower meal and cotton bran) and energetics (maize flour, manioc scraping, manioc bran and wheat bran) were investigated. These ingredients were compared to a control diet, using a two-choice method. Four 750 liters aquaria stocked with three fries each and two feeders installed respectively at the right and left corner where used to register the responses of the fries to each ingredient separately. The results showed that behavioral patterns of the fries change according to the type of ingredient and that three seems to be a positive correlation between the attractivity and taste degree and the occurrence of agonistic behavior in the studied species. It may be suggested that the most attractive and tasty ingredients (silkworm, fish, meat and shrimp meal, and integral lyophilized egg) be added to special fish diets, in order to increase food consumption in pre-hibernal periods and under stress and pathological conditions.