GROWTH AND SURVIVAL IN FOUR COLOR VARIANTS OF Procambarus clarckii FRY REARED IN A RECIRCULATING SYSTEM

Abstract

Procambarus clarckii is a freshwater lobster with several body colors and is one of the commodities in demand by ornamental lobster hobbyists. Like the Crustacea subphylum, its growth begins with periodic skin changes. Its survival plays a role in lobster cultivation. The research aimed to examine the growth and survival of P. clarckii in blue, orange, brown, and white colors. It was maintained for two months with a recirculation system and fed commercial pellets. The research was designed in a Completely Randomized Factorial with eight treatment combinations and three replications. The treatments were in different initial lengths, between 2.0-2.5 cm (A) and 3.0-3.5 cm (B). The parameters observed were the frequency of molting and survival rate. The study results showed that during two months of observation, P. clarckii with four different body colors experienced skin changes 6-7 times in treatment A and 5-6 times in treatment B. The highest survival rate occurred in orange lobster, followed by brown, blue, and white lobsters in treatments A and B with water quality conditions that were suitable for the required water quality standards such as temperature, TDS, pH, and DO, both in lobster and filtration-recirculation containers.