The present study was conducted to determine the possibility of replacing the commercial fish meal (FM) with the locally produced fish by-product meal (FBPM) in the diets for red tilapia (phenotypically Oreochromisniloticus) fry (body weight ~0.54 g). Five isoproteic and isolipidic experimental diets with 0, 25, 50, 75, and 100% inclusion levels of FBPM were formulated and hand-fed to triplicate groups of fish (20 fish/ group) twice a day. After 6 weeks, fish fed FBPM 50 attained the highest final body weight (4.7±0.3 g; mean ±SD), weight gain (764.8±47.2%), specific growth rate (5.1±0.1%/day), feed intake (7.2±0.4 g/fish), protein efficient ratio (1.7±0.2), and the best feed conversion ratio (0.9±0.1). All fish fed FBPM-based diets also attained the better survival (93-95%) than those fed control diet (83%). Since FBPM is a by-product of marine fisheries industry, it should be considered as a major protein source in the diets for red tilapia fry.
