Adaptation of Wild Asian Seabass ( Lates calcarifer ) to Artificial Feed in Cage Culture: A Case Study

ABSTRACT This study investigates the adaptation strategy of wild Asian seabass ( Lates calcarifer ) to artificial feed in an open floating cage over a period of 360 days. A total of 1800 wild seabass with an initial length of 19.91 ± 0.26 cm and a weight of 72.85 ± 3.94 g was stocked at a density of 15 fish per m 3 in 60 m 3 cages and subjected to two feeding strategies. In Treatment 1 (T 1 ), fish were fed chopped tilapia ( Oreochromis niloticus ) across four feeding stages (S 1 , S 2 , S 3 and S 4 ). In Treatment 2 (T 2 ), fish were fed chopped tilapia as their primary feed in S 1 , subsequently, chopped tilapia and commercial feed (45% protein) at a 1:1 ratio in S 2 , followed by commercial feed in S 3 and finally formulated feed (37% protein) in S 4 at 5%–1.2% of their body weight for 90 days in each stage. The growth performance included survival rate of 94.33%, weight gain (WG) of 1035.85 ± 34.09 g, specific growth rate (SGR) of 0.76 ± 0.01% per day, feed conversion ratio (FCR) of 2.75 and feed efficiency ratio (FER) of 0.36 in T 1 . In comparison, T 2 exhibited a survival rate of 92.44%, WG of 1221.54 ± 47.79 g, SGR of 0.81 ± 0.02%/day, FCR of 2.45 and FER of 0.41. Proximate composition differed significantly among feeding stages, with a higher protein percentage observed in T 2 . Gut contents analysis revealed that fish predated natural food inside the cages, while intestinal morphology showed significant stage‐dependent changes. Total production of seabass was 904 kg (15.07 kg/m 3 ) in T 1 and 1050 kg (17.5 kg/m 3 ) in T 2 . The benefit‐cost ratio (BCR) was 1.7 for both T 1 and T 2 . Therefore, a gradual transition to formulated diets enhances growth performance and production efficiency of wild Asian seabass while maintaining economic viability in open cage aquaculture.