Impact of background colorations on growth, movement behavior, and some body physiological factors of Nile tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus

This study tested the reverence of background color with growth, movement behavior, and some body physiological factors in Nile tilapia. Fish were first acclimatized for two weeks in 80 L glass aquaria. In the experimental design, three groups were maintained separately. In 1st group, glass aquaria were covered with black, 2nd with green charts, and 3rd remained uncovered and maintained as a control group. All groups were in three replicates and fed on a 30% protein diet. All fishes were closely observed for movement behavior and growth-related parameters. On the 28th day, fish were anesthetized and blood was drawn from the caudal fin to determine some hematological parameters, cortisol, and glucose level. The highest weight gain and the greatest number of movements throughout the aquarium were observed in the control group. Furthermore, aquarium color determined the body pigmentation color. Black aquarium had the lowest weight gain, glucose level, FCR, DFI, FCE, and CF, while green aquarium had the highest cortisol level. Histological changes observed in black aquaria fish included reduced lamellar size, deformed blood vessels, and cardiac muscle fascicle in the gills, liver, and heart, respectively, while green aquaria fish showed fused lamellae, necrosis, fibrosis, endomiocardiac hyperplasia, and cardiac muscle fascicle. It was concluded that background coloration has a significant effect on the growth performance, behavior, hematology, body color, histology, cortisol, and glucose levels of Oreochromis niloticus , with green background inducing significant stress while black background causes black pigmentation with less growth.