Dietary protein requirement for juvenile mandarin fish, Siniperca scherzeri

An 8‐week feeding trial was conducted to investigate the dietary protein requirement of juvenile mandarin fish, Siniperca scherzeri , a demersal freshwater piscivore with high commercial value in East Asia. Five isolipidic (100 g/kg) and isoenergetic (20 MJ/kg) practical diets were formulated to contain graded levels of 450, 500, 550, 600, and 650 g/kg crude protein, using mackerel fishmeal as the sole source of protein. Each of the five test diets was fed to visual satiety to triplicate groups of fish (initial mean body weight ± SE ; 20.1 ± 0.2 g) reared in a recirculating freshwater system over the experimental period. Fish growth performance in terms of weight gain tended to improve with increasing dietary protein level, and the highest values were observed in those fish fed the 600–650 g/kg diets. Feed intake significantly declined as the protein content of the diet increased. Feed efficiency and protein retention tended to increase with increasing dietary protein levels, from 450 to 600 g/kg, and then declined when dietary protein content further increased to 650 g/kg. A similar trend was also found for the protein efficiency ratio, although the observed changes did not reach statistical significance. Whole‐body composition and plasma biochemical parameters were not significantly affected by the dietary protein content. Based on these findings and a broken‐line model of growth, 614.4 g/kg seems to be the proper amount of protein in a practical diet for >20 g mandarin fish.