Enrichment of Daphnia magna (Straus, 1820) with Viterna and Its Effects on the Growth and Survival Performance of the Freshwater Angelfish Pterophyllum scalare (Schultze, 1823) Larvae

The freshwater angelfish (Pterophyllum scalare) is a quite popular freshwater ornamental fish in Indonesia due to its distinguished body shape and pattern. However, its growth tends to be slow due to low nutrients in its main diet, namely Daphnia magna. The most feasible solution is to enrich D. magna to increase its nutritional content with Viterna (livestock vitamins). The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of D. magna enriched with Viterna to increase the growth of freshwater angelfish. This study used a Completely Randomized Design to compare three enrichment dosages (10, 20, and 30 ml/L) with a non-enriched control in three replications. This study showed that 3 hours-enrichment can result in an increase in fat (0.6%) and protein (1.25%) profiles in D. magna. Absolute Weight Growth (AWG), Absolute Length Growth (ALG), and Specific Growth Rates (SGR) showed significant differences (P≤0.05) between all treatments. The best result was obtained at a Viterna dosage of 30 ml/L which resulted in an Absolute Weight Growth value of 207.14 mg, an Absolute Length Growth of 14.19 mm, and an SGR of 2.58%/day. Survival rates during the larvae culture were not statistically different (P≥0.05) among the treatments. Enrichment of D. magna with Viterna has been proven to optimize its potential as live food for fish larvae cultivation.