The present research aimed to assess a lab-scale model to study periphyton-based systems for fish culture. Twenty-five liters plastic aquaria were stocked with three Nile tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus, juveniles (0.77±0.09g; 12 fish m-2) for 6 weeks in a 2x2 factorial design. Small plastic bottles were placed in some aquaria for periphyton development. Two feeding regimes were employed: "full-fed" (standard feeding rates were fully adopted) and "half-fed" (50% of standard feeding rates). Growth performance and limnological variables were observed in each aquarium. There werefive replicates per treatment. Fish have fed actively on periphyton, especially in the half-fed aquaria. The placement of periphyton bottles had no significant effects on the water quality variables, except by the gross primary productivity which became lower. Half-fed aquaria presented lower concentrations of ammonia (0.28-0.29mg L-1), nitrite (0.33-0.37mg L-1) and phosphorus (0.42-0.43mg L-1) than full-fed aquaria (0.57-0.60mg L-1; 0.75-0.77mg L-1; 0.67-0.70mg L-1, respectively). The final body weight of fish in half-fed aquaria with periphyton bottles (6.22±0.64g) was significantly higher than in aquaria without bottles (4.65±0.36g). Although the growth rate of fish was lower in the half-fed aquaria (4.27-4.72 vs. 5.29-5.61% BW day-1), survival was significantly higher when compared to the full-fed aquaria (93.3-100.0 vs. 80.0-83.4%). Only in the aquaria with periphyton the feed conversation ratio was improved by the feeding restriction regime.
periphyton; tilapia; feeding restriction; fish culture
