EN
Background. Development of modern aquaculture and the increasing consumer demand provoke improvements in the complex breeding technologies of economically valuable fish species. Wels catfish, Silurus glanis L. (known also as the European catfish), because of its breeding and consumption values, becomes an increasingly common object of breeding. The objective of the presented work was the evaluation of selected feeds differing in dietary lipids levels applied in rearing the wels catfish fry under controlled conditions. Materials and Methods. The feeding trial (60 days) was carried out with the wels catfish fry, weighing on average 55 g. The experiment was conducted under controlled conditions in an aquarium hall in 60-L flow-through tanks. During the growth test, the fish were given four commercial feeds of the same protein amount (45%) and graded fat levels (15%, 20%, 25%, and 30%). In the final evaluation of the feeding tests, the following rearing effectiveness indices were used: food conversion ratio (FCR), specific growth rate (SGR), protein efficiency ratio (PER), protein retention (PR), lipid retention (LR), and survival rate (SR). Conclusions were drawn on the basis of statistical analysis using Statistica computer software. Results. The wels catfish fed 20%-fat-content feed attained the highest individual weights. The other treatments yielded statistically significantly lower (P < 0.05) body weights. No statistically significant differences were found between the mean values of the specific growth rate (SGR). The values of feed conversion ratio (FCR) and protein efficiency ratio (PER) were approximately equal in the individual groups. The protein retention attained values from 28.2% to 33.0%, while fat retention ranged from 11.8% to 24.2%. No mortalities were recorded. The amount of fat in all groups increased significantly after the termination of the growth. The increase of fat amount in the feed was not correlated with the growth of fat amount in the fish body. The levels of the other body components increased, but no differences between the groups were found. Conclusion. Differentiated amounts of dietary lipids in the diet did not exert any effect on the rate of fish growth or on the proper utilization of the nutritive components in feeds.