BRIN develops incubator to accelerate tilapia breeding
Jakarta (ANTARA) — The National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) is developing a tubular tilapia egg incubator made from local materials to boost productivity more efficiently.
“This incubator works to shorten the time female broodstock spend mouth-brooding their eggs. With this device, tilapia eggs can hatch in less than seven days. As a result, gonad maturation and subsequent spawning cycles in broodstock can be accelerated,” said Mohamad Soleh, a researcher at BRIN’s Centre for Applied Zoological Research, in a statement issued in Jakarta on Wednesday.
Soleh explained that improving fry productivity is an important step in supporting the development of tilapia farming, which holds significant prospects. High demand for tilapia needs to be matched with increased fry productivity.
These reproductive characteristics form the basis for developing artificial hatching technology to improve seed production efficiency. According to Soleh, the advantages of the tubular incubator include its capacity to hold eggs in large quantities, a high hatching rate, more uniform larval size, ease of harvesting, practical and efficient operation, and optimal management of hatching conditions.
“The success of this egg incubation technology still depends on the diligence of fish breeders. Accurate selection at the fertilised-egg stage — identifying eggs that have turned yellowish-brown — is one of the main determining factors in achieving a high hatching rate. A high hatching rate and uniform larval size are the keys to boosting national fry productivity,” Soleh said.
He also highlighted the need to use all-male fry in aquaculture operations. The use of male fry is expected to increase farming output and yield greater profits.
Male fry are produced through periodic high-temperature treatment (thermal shock) starting from newly hatched larvae until the stage when larvae begin swimming freely, followed by rearing the fry until they reach a size ready for stocking in aquaculture ponds.
Soleh noted that tilapia farming is supported by vast available farmland, well-established cultivation technology, easily obtainable fry, and the fish’s ability to adapt to fluctuations in water quality.
In addition, its harvest cycle is relatively short, at around four to six months; it carries low to moderate business risk and is suitable for development on scales ranging from smallholdings to industrial operations.
“Tilapia farming is quite competitive compared with other fish commodities such as gourami, common carp, tawes and nilem. The selling price can reach Rp30,000 per kilogram, the market demand is open, and profit can reach 20-40 per cent, making this a promising venture. Its relatively short farming period also helps accelerate capital turnover,” Soleh concluded.