Abstract:
The research on feeding effectivity of arfak rainbowfish conducted at Fisheries Laboratory, Faculty of Fishes and Marine Scince, University of Papua in July to December 2016. The purpose of this research is to describe feeding effectivity of the fish at several levels of water turbidity. The fish samples used in the treatment, collected from Nimbai Stream, Prafi River system, Manokwari were acclimatized for a month in the laboratory. The fish were selected based on the body length and categorized into six size classes. Each individual of the fish was treated with 200 individuals of mosquito larvae (instar IV stage) at seven turbidity levels (2.54, 25.07, 50.52, 100.20, 500.60, and 800.40 Nephelometric Turbidity Unit, NTU) using particles with size of <63 μm. Feeding effectivity was indicated by the level of preda tion in a period of 15 minutes. The results of the research showed that average level of predation did not differ among size classes at the low level of turbidity (≤50,52 NTU). The significant decrease in the average level of predation occurred at the higher level of turbidity (≥100,12 NTU) with the values range from 23.2% to 65.9%. This indicated a decrease in the feeding effectivity as the turbidity levels increase.
