BASIC BILOGICAL

CHARACTERISTICS AND
REQUIREMENTS OF
IMPORTANT
AQUACULTURE SPECIES
MILKFISH (Chanos chanos )
WHY MILKFISH?
 The milkfish is the most important fish species being farmed
in the Philippines. It is cultivated in freshwater, brackishwater
and marine environments. A number of milkfish production
technologies have been developed to fit these diverse culture
situations. These production technologies are modified
depending on the location, climate, topography, tidal
fluctuation, water current, water depth, available land/space,
available supplies and materials, available capital and level of
viability.

Milkfish can be considered as the superstar of Philippine

aquaculture because of the following attributes:
a) True to its name the milkfish provides not only reasonably priced source
of nutritious protein to millions of people in the Indo-Pacific region but
also livelihood to countless of families engaged in aquaculture.

b) Herbivore/detritivore – Milkfish is low in the food chain. It eats primarily

plant materials and detritus but will readily eat rice bran, trash fish,
formulated diet and etc. when natural food becomes scarce. It can exploit
food found from the surface of the water up to the bottom.
• It is a filter feeder which utilizes fine gill rakers to concentrate
plankton inhabiting the water column.
• It is also a benthic feeder which browses on complex benthic
organisms (lab-lab), filamentous algae, and detritus on the bottom.

c) Euryhaline – It can tolerate and live in extreme salinity ranging from 0-

100 ppt but growth is optimal between 0.5-40 ppt. which means it can be
cultured in a wide range of environment from fresh to highly saline waters.
d) Eurythermal – It has a wide temperature tolerance range (10-
40°C) with optimal growth ranging from 25-30°C.

e) Milkfish is not piscivirous so it can be grown at higher densities

and can be polycultured with other finfishes and crustaceans.

f) It is resistant to diseases with no known occurrence of serious

disease outbreak in aquaculture.

g) Milkfish can be stunted under sub-optimal circumstances such as

overcrowding or scarcity of food but grows fast when conditions
become favorable once more.

h) High fecundity and longevity – a single female fish can produce 1-

9 million eggs in one spawning season in captivity and has been
observed to spawn every year during the spawning season for over
20 years.
i) Milkfish broodstock husbandry and
hatchery technology have already been
developed, thus a continuous supply of
seedstock can be assured.

j) Milkfish is highly acceptable in fresh,

frozen, fillet, deboned, smoked, canned and
many other product forms. Its only negative
attribute – having so many fine bones
embedded in its muscles can be removed
during processing to increase its commercial
value and acceptability such that it is now
exported to the US and EU; and among other
countries its export is increasing
 A. SELECTION CRITERIA AND CHARACTERISTICS
OF MILKFISH
Milkfish are similar in appearance to many other species of fish but can
be distinguished through a number of distinctive features
• Body elongate, moderately compressed, smooth, and streamlined
• Body color silvery on belly and sides grading to olive-green or blue
on back
• Dorsal, anal, and caudal fins pale or yellowish with dark margins
• Caudal fin large and deeply forked
• Pelvic fins abdominal in position, with auxiliary scales
• Scales small and smooth
• Mouth small, terminal, without teeth
• Lower jaw with a small tubercle at tip, fitting into a notch in the
upper jaw
• Only 4 branchiostegal rays support the underside of the gill covers
• Intermuscular bones long and numerous
Habitat and biology
Milkfish (Chanos chanos) is the only species in the Family Chanidae. Its
distribution is restricted to either low latitude tropics or the subtropical northern
hemisphere along continental shelves and around islands, where temperatures are
greater than 20 °C (Red Sea and South Africa to Hawaii and the Marquesas, north
to Japan and south to Victoria, Australia; and in the Eastern Pacific from San
Pedro, California to the Galapagos).

Adults occur in small to large schools near the coasts or around islands. They
are well developed, migratory, large (up to 1.5 m and 20 kg), and mature sexually
in five years. Milkfish only spawn in fully saline waters. The activity is most often
correlated with the new or full moon phases, takes place mostly in the night and,
in most regions, has one or two seasonal peaks. In the natural environment,
spawning takes place near coral reefs during the warm months of the year, and
populations near the equator spawn year-round. Juveniles and adults eat a wide
variety of relatively soft and small food items, from microbial mats to detritus,
epiphytes and zooplankton.
 Milkfish is a heterosexual fish; hermaphrodism has
not been reported. In natural spawning stocks the sex
ratio is almost equal, with a slightly higher amount of
females. The determination of sex is very difficult,
because there are no easily identifiable morphological
differences between males and females; however, the
pheromone PGF2a (prostaglandin) has been found to be
an effective way to identify mature male milkfish.
 Milkfish eggs (1.1-1.2 mm in diameter) and larvae (3.5 mm at
hatching) are pelagic and stay in the plankton for up to 2-3 weeks.
Egg division begins an hour after and hatching occurs 35-36 hours
after spawning. In the wild, eggs are probably released in deeper
oceanic waters and in the outer reef region. Older larvae migrate
onshore and settle in coastal wetlands (mangroves, estuaries)
during the juvenile stage, or occasionally enter freshwater lakes.
The larvae eat zooplankton and can thrive and grow in water as
warm as 32 °C. They then migrate onshore and where they can be
caught by fine-mesh nets operated along sandy beaches and
mangrove areas; these 'fry' are 10-17 mm long and are used as
seedstock in grow-out ponds, pens and cages. In the wild, juveniles
are found in mangrove areas and coastal lagoons, and even travel
upriver into lakes; they go back to sea when they get too large for
the nursery habitat, or when they are about to mature sexually.
 Milkfish can reach a maximum size of
180 cm SL (male/unsexed) and 124 cm SL
(female). The maximum recorded weight
and age is 14.0 kg and 15 years
respectively. Resilience is low, with a
minimum population doubling time of 4.5 -
14 years. Its fisheries importance is highly
commercial, especially in aquaculture,
and it is also used in game fish as bait. It is
especially valued as a food fish in
Southeast Asia.
Site selection for Milkfish farming
Milkfish farming can be started in any existing developed
and operational brackish water fish farms. The site should have
a minimum water depth of 0.8 to 1 meter, good quality of
water with optimal Salinity of 10 to 30 ppt, Temperature of 20
to 30°C, Water pH value of 7.5 to 8.5, Dissolved Oxygen (DO) of
4.0 to 5.0 ppm around the year. Milkfish can be grown in
freshwater and tolerates low levels of DO and high levels of
Ammonia compared to other cultivable fish species. Pond soil
should be sandy or silty clay loam. Good access to roads from
the farm site and the power supply is also necessary for Milkfish
farming site to reach markets for easy culture operation
Site selection, considering both the technical and non-technical
aspects, is a requirement for hatchery operation. A major technical
criterion in selecting a site for a Milkfish hatchery is as follows;

⚫ The area must be flood and pollution-free and should be near

the water source

• Adequate good quality sea and freshwater should be available

the whole year round

•The area should be near the broodstock source the non-technical

criteria include access to transportation (for the transport of
broodstock and fry): supply facilities like feeds, fertilizer,
chemicals, etc.; and labor support.
 Production systems
Seed supply
Milkfish fry can either be obtained through collection from coastal
areas or littoral waters or can be produced in captivity. The supply of
wild fry is often unpredictable; catches in recent years have diminished
and cannot satisfy the demand from on-growing farms.

Fry from captive broodstock and spawners

To develop broodstock under captive conditions, large juvenile
milkfish may be stocked, fed and maintained in floating sea cages in
protected coves or in large, deep, fully saline ponds (as practiced in the
Philippines), or in large deep concrete tanks on land (as practiced in
Indonesia and Taiwan Province of China), until they reach sexual
maturity with an average body weight of at least 1.5 kg. Land-based
broodstock facilities are entirely dependent on fresh pumped seawater
supplies and are often integrated with a hatchery.
 Broodstocks reach maturity in five years in large floating cages, but
may take 8-10 years in ponds and concrete tanks. On average, first-
spawning broodstocks tend to be smaller than adults caught from the
wild. As a result, first-time spawners produce fewer eggs than wild
adults, but larger and older broodstocks produce as many eggs as wild
adults of similar size. Broodstocks of about 8 years old and averaging 6
kg produce 3-4 million eggs.

Breeding milkfish in captive conditions and the mass production of

fry, as practised in Taiwan Province of China, Indonesia and the
Philippines, is mostly dependent on natural spawning, which assures
high survival rates. Artificial induction is not normally used. On days
when natural spawning occurs, the fish may feed less than usual but
show increased swimming activity and exhibit chasing, occasional
leaping, and water-slapping activities from late noon to early evening.
Spawning usually takes place around midnight but daytime spawning
sometimes occurs.
Wild-caught fry
Wild-caught fry are collected with fine-mesh seines and
bag nets of various indigenous designs in the Philippines,
Taiwan Province of China and Indonesia. The most commonly
used gear are push net "sweepers" and dragged seines.

Hatchery production
Milkfish hatcheries consist of larval rearing tanks, culture
tanks for rotifers (Brachionus) and green algae (eg Chlorella)
and hatching tanks for brine shrimp (Artemia). Larval rearing
may be either operated in outdoor or indoor systems,
depending on the specific conditions in the countries where
fry are being produced.
 Hatchery operations utilise either intensive (high stocking density, high
volume tanks, daily feeding and water exchange) or semi-intensive (low
stocking density, high volume tanks, minimal water exchange, feeding with
mixed diet) systems, with an average survival rate of 30 percent (from
stocked newly-hatched larvae). After hatching, the larvae are ideally kept
at 50/litre in hatchery tanks (either concrete, fibreglass, canvas or
polypropylene-covered earthen tanks) maintained with Chlorella and fed
with rotifers during the early stages and later with copepods or brine
shrimp for a total of 3-4 weeks. Following this, their size ranges between 2-
3 cm and they are ready for transport to nurseries.

The fry may change hands two or more times before being used for
grow-out; each time this happens, they are sorted and counted,
transported, and stored for different periods of time. Fry are a highly
perishable commodity and some of them die during gathering, storage,
transport, nursery rearing and grow-out. The technologies for fry storage
and transport are generally effective, although perhaps not yet optimised
Fry are stored in a cool place in plastic basins or clay
pots at 100-500/litre, in water of 10-25 percent, which
is renewed daily. Dealers may store fry for 1-7 days,
depending on the demand.

Fry can be maintained on wheat flour or cooked

chicken egg yolk for 1-2 weeks but soon begin to die,
despite continued feeding. Recently, micro-
encapsulated feeds have become commercially
available for finfish but the cost compared to
conventional live feeds is higher.
Nursery
Nursery operations in milkfish producing countries vary according to established
cultural practices.

In Taiwan Province of China, where commercial hatchery and nursery productions

are integrated enterprises, milkfish fry are generally grown in either earthen ponds or
elevated canvas or concrete tanks at intensive stocking densities of >2,000/litre.

In Indonesia, a well established backyard-type nursery is used. This consists of a

series of elevated canvas or concrete 1-2 tonnes tanks and similar stocking densities
to those used in Taiwan Province of China are employed.

In the Philippines, milkfish nurseries are integrated with grow-out facilities, where
wild-caught or hatchery-reared fry are first acclimated into nursery compartments
which comprise one third to one quarter of the total area of the Brackish water pond.
Fry are stocked at a density of up to 1,000/litre and are fed with a naturally-
grown micro-benthic food known as "lab-lab" which grows on the fertilised pond
bottom.
 Nursery rearing has also been carried out in hapa type
suspended nylon nets installed in Brackish water ponds or lagoons
and in freshwater lakes within the grow-out compartments, a
traditionally practice in the Philippines. When natural food is
becoming depleted, artificial feeds such as rice bran, corn bran,
and stale bread or formulated feeds are provided.

In about 4-6 weeks, the fry grow to 5-8 cm juveniles, which is

the ideal size for releasing into grow-out ponds or pens. Depending
on the desired grow-out period, juveniles or fingerling size milkfish
are kept in nurseries or transition holding tanks up to the required
stocking size of 30-40 g.

Nursery rearing from fry to fingerling size normally achieves 70

percent survival.
On-growing techniques
Milkfish may be on-grown in ponds, pens or cages. Pond culture of
milkfish can be conducted in shallow or deep water systems.

Shallow water culture

Shallow water culture is practiced mainly in Indonesia and the
Philippines. Milkfish are traditionally cultured in shallow Brackish
water ponds in which the growth of benthic algae is encouraged
through inorganic or organic fertilisation. Milkfish will survive on
benthic algae alone only if the productivity of the algae exceeds the
grazing rate of the fish; otherwise, supplemental commercial feeds
are applied. The 'lab-lab' culture system in the Philippines is
equivalent to shallow water culture in Taiwan Province of China. 'Lab-
lab' is the term used in this country for the algal mat (and all micro-
organisms associated with it) in the ongrowing ponds.
 Brackish water ponds in the Philippines were mostly
excavated from "nipa" and mangrove areas. Shallow water pond
design generally consists of several nursery and production
ponds with a typical area of 2,000 m² for nursery ponds and 4
ha for production (on-growing) ponds. Typically, ponds have a
depth of 30-40 cm and are provided with independent water
supplies.

The average yield of a typical integrated nursery, transition

and shallow grow-out system that produces 3 crops a year is 800
kg/ha. Modified modular pond designs consisting of a series of
grow-out compartments with a maximum of eight crops a year
have been shown to increase yield to a high as 2,000 kg/ha.
Deep water culture
Deep water culture was developed in the mid 1970s in response to the
decline of profitability of shallow water culture, and the limited and increasing
value of land and manpower resources. Deep-water ponds provide a more stable
environment and extend the grow-out period into the winter season. Most deep-
water milkfish ponds have been created by converting either shallow water
ponds or freshwater ponds, with a depth of 2-3 m. Production from these
systems has sharply increased in Taiwan Province of China, having expanded
from 23 percent of the total production in 1981 to 75 per cent in 1990.

Most milkfish ponds in the Philippines and Indonesia are of the extensive and
semi-intensive type, with large shallow pond units, tidal water exchange, natural
food, minimal use of fertiliser alternating with commercial feeds and other
inputs, and low to medium stocking rates (50 000-100 000/ha). The Taiwanese
method of production, on the other hand, employs intensive stocking densities
(150 000-200 000/ha). Few diseases or infestations have been recorded so far in
milkfish grow-out farming in these Asian countries.
Pen culture
Pen culture was introduced in the Philippines in 1979 in the Laguna Lake. At that
time, the lake had a very high primary productivity, which met the nutritional
needs of milkfish.

Because of the low rate of input and the high rate of return, the pen culture area
increased sharply from 1973 to 1983, and exceeded more than 50 percent of the
total lake surface, which is 90,000 ha. As the primary production of the lake
could not meet this sudden expansion of aquaculture, and feeding became
necessary to meet the nutritional requirements of the cultured fish, the pen
culture practices developed in lakes were later introduced into inter-tidal areas
in the Philippines along coves and river estuaries as well.

Pen operators stock fingerlings at 30,000-35,000/ha and provide supplemental

commercial diets. However, disease spreads among culture pens and causes mass
mortality. Government regulations are now being considered to maintain
sustainable yields from this type of farming.
Cage culture
Fish cages are smaller and more
restricted enclosures that can be
staked in shallow waters or set-up
in deep water with appropriate
floats and anchors. Cage farming of
milkfish is commonly carried out in
marine waters along coastal bays.
Stocking rates (in the Philippines)
are quite high, from 5 up to 30/m³.
Feed supply
In the past, traditional feeding practices for milkfish grow-out production
have consisted of natural food ("lab-lab") or a combination of phytoplankton
and macroalgae (Enteromorpha intestinales, Cladophora spp. or
Chaetomorpha linnum) encouraged by fertilisation.

In the 1980s however, special commercial feeds for milkfish were

developed and became almost exclusively used. As cage and pen culture
technology proliferated in the 1990s, both in marine and inland waters,
extruded milkfish feeds were further developed into floating and semi-floating
forms, while sinking forms were used for pond and tank-based grow-out.

Feed supplies are now manufactured commercially in the form of starters,

growers and finishers, which are administered according to the production
stage of the milkfish.
Harvesting techniques
Milkfish are normally harvested at sizes of 20-40 cm (about 250-500g). There
are three known methods used for harvesting milkfish:

Partial harvest. Selective harvest of uniformly grown milkfish from grow-out

facilities (ie cages, pens, ponds, tanks) using seine or gillnets, retaining the
undersize fish and harvesting only the commercial sized stocks, with an average
body weight of 250g or larger.
Total harvest. Complete harvest in one crop period from grow-out facilities (ie
total draining of ponds by gravity or pump, hauling of the entire net cage
structure, seining or the use of gillnets in pens). The harvest size at this stage
may vary from 250-500g.
Forced harvest. Emergency harvesting, regardless of fish size or grow-out stage,
which is carried out during "fish kills" due to oxygen depletions that are attributed
to algal blooms, red tide occurrence, pollution or other environmental causes.
THANK
YOU