Arnauld Sedjro Martin Djissou¹ , Luc Bonaventure Badji¹ , Nambyl Mohammed Adeoti Fagbemi¹ , Daouda Konate¹ , Yamoussa Bangoura¹ , Gildas Djidohokpin² , Richard Adandé² , Mamadou Alpha BALDE¹

1 Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture, Institut Supérieur des Sciences et de Médecine Vétérinaire de Dalaba, Dalaba, Guinea
2 Department of Natural Resource Management, Faculty of Environmental Sciences, University of N'Zérékoré, N'Zérékoré, Guinea
Author    Correspondence author
International Journal of Aquaculture, 2026, Vol. 16, No. 1   
Received: 11 Nov., 2025    Accepted: 01 Jan., 2026    Published: 24 Jan., 2026

This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

In fish farming, feed accounts for a large proportion of production costs because of the use of fish meal and fish oil. The aim of this study was to develop a local feed from available local resources. To this end, a local feed balanced in essential amino acids and based on maggots (Musca domestica), earthworms (Eisenia fetida) and brewer's yeast as a total replacement for fishmeal was tested on Clarias gariepinus fry of average initial weight Pmi= 4.39± 0.01g for 90 days. Tested with three replicates, the feeds (control feed T0 - imported (Gouessant) and local feed T1) were used to feed fry distributed in tanks (volume 0.5m³ each) with a density of 100 individuals / tank. Results showed that no significant differences were found in final weight and weight gain (p>0.05), whereas survival and protein intake differed significantly (p<0.05) between T0 and T1. Feed utilisation parameters showed better utilisation of the T1 local feed, with a consumption index of 1.01 and a protein efficiency coefficient of 1.9. Economic analysis showed that local feed T1 was about half the cost of commercial feed T0. Nevertheless, further investigations are required to determine the impact of using this local feed on the organoleptic quality and reproductive capacity of the products obtained.

Clarias gariepinus; Total replacement; Local feed; Reproductive capacity