Growth of Sex Reversed Nile Tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus In a Closed Recirculating Culture System

Swim up fry of the Nile tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus, were fed 0 or 60 mg l7-methyltestos­terone (MT) per kg feed for 30 days. Fish that had been fed 0 or 60 ppm MT for the first 30 days were subsequently fed a commercial diet for 56 weeks to evaluate growth, survival, sex ratio, body composition, gonadosomatic index and the total edible portion. Mean body weight of MT treated group and untreated group were 1.7 g and 1.1 g, respectively at the end of the treatment for 30 days $(P<0.05)$. The experiment was terminated after a total of 60 weeks, the mean body weight of the MT treated population was 1,016 g and that of the untreated population was 762g $(P<0.05)$. However, the final mean body weight of untreated males (l, 086g) was not significantly different from treated males (l,016 g), but the mean body weight of the female group was 512 g. Therefore, the reason for the lower mean body weight of the untreated group was entirely due to stunted females. The percentage fillet yield of MT treated fish$(34.6\%)$ was not significantly different from that of the untreated males $(34.4\%)$, but the untreated females were lower than those of both treated and untreated male groups $(32.4\%)$ (P<0.05). There were no significant differences in the percentage of the all edible portion (AP) between MT treated and untreated males, but females were lower than males. Females are smaller fish in size and the gonads are larger in proportion which were discarded along with the intestine this explains the observed difference. Total biomass of the two groups were 134.8kg and 104.5kg per $m^3$, respectively. The proportion of fish reaching a marketable size of over 800 g in body weight within 14 months were $78\%$ in the MT treated group and $41\%$ in the untreated group.