Effect of Light and Music on Growth Performance and Survival Rate of Goldfish (Carassius auratus)

Abstract

Environmental enrichment is one of the methods for improving fish growth performance. In the present trial, the effects of both light color and music on growth performance and survival of goldfish (Carassius auratus) (initial mean weight: 4.15±0.08 g) were investigated for 2 months. Two light color treatments (red light and white light) and three music treatments (M0: without music, M30:30 minutes music and M60:60 minutes music) were considered. At the end of the rearing stage, growth performance including weight gain (WG), specific growth rate (SGR), daily growth rate (DGR) and food conversion rate (FCR) and also survival rate (SR) were surveyed. Results indicated that the effect of music and interaction effect of light by music were not significant (P>0.05) on growth performance parameters, whereas light significantly (P < 0.05) affected FCR and SGR. According to these results, goldfish showed a better growth in white light than red light (P < 0.05) while music treatments did not influence growth performance differentially (P>0.05). Using music in the rearing environment had no positive or negative effect on goldfish growth, revealing that goldfish can distinguish music from other environmental stressful sounds.