Journal of Fisheries and Aquaculture Research

Vol. 3(1), pp. 012-015. July, 2018. © www.premierpublishers.org, ISSN: 2169-3031

JFAR

Research Article

Domestication of Lais (Ompok hypopthalmus) in the

Fishpond as a Sustainable Conservation Effort
*Infa Minggawati, S.Pi., M.Si1, Lukas, S.Pi., M.Si2
1,2
Lecturer at the Faculty of Fishery, Christian University of Palangka Raya, Indonesia

The research was done in concrete fishponds owned by the community and the other owned the
Laboratory of the Faculty of Fishery of the Christian University of Palangka Raya, Central
Kalimantan. The Lais were domesticated coming from the Rungan river of Palangka Raya city.
The research was done in March throhh July 2016. The study was conducted in two stages, the
first stage of research to engineer Lais fish maintenance environment on plakstik pond and the
second stage to engineer the feed so that the fish can adapt and grow. The parameters observed
were: fish growth, survival, food conversion and water quality (temperature, DO, pH, depth), as
well as the development of Lais fish gonads. The sample of test fish is 200 fish, each pond is 50
tails per pond. The virtues of this study were to engineer the Lais fish feed and adaptation time of
the fish in new maintenance environments as well as adaptation to artificial foods that promote
the hormonal growth of Lais fish. Innovation of environmental engineering cultivation and
adaptation of artificial feed for the development of fish gonad. Lais fish farming technology can
be applied by freshwater fish farmers.

Keyword : Domestication, Ompok hypopthalmus, Fishpond, consevation,Sustainable

INTRODUCTION
Laisis one of the fish that live in inland fisheries especially
in lakes, rivers and flooding swamps. The spread of Lais
in Indonesia are commonly in Sumatera, Jawa and
Kalimantan, but the major distribution is in Sumatera and
Kalimantan. The inland fish in Asia is dominated by the
families of CyprinidaeandSiluridae (B. Sulistiyarto D et al,
2007).
Central Kalimantan is one of the biggest fishery resources
in Indonesia. The total fishery production per year of this
province is reaching 42,000 tons including Lais. Therefore,
fishery resources is not only important as the protein
supply but also the significant income for the inland
fishermen in this region.
Floodplain in tropical Asia is one of the hot spot of global
biodiversity (D. Dudgeon, 2000). Lais (Ompok
hypopthalmus) is one of the fish that live in Central
Kalimantan inland fishery especially in floodplain along the
banks of the river where the swamp condition is always
fluctuated is terms of its depthness. The conception
pattern of Laisis one season conception in one year
applying total conceptionspawner (Elvyra R DS et al,
2009).
Food composition of Lais that catched on the floodplain of
Rungan river in October 2013 through January 2014
consist of shrimp (61%), fry (44%), insects (54%)
(Minggawati I et al, 2015). The water table of the swamps
as the effect of the dry and rainy seasons will influence the
production of Lais and their availabilty in the nature.The
other factors are the human activity of fishing the Lais, the
land use changes in the river area as the result of illegal
logging will directly influence the life cycle of the fish, the
behaviour of fish, and the population of the fish. Besides,
the practice of inbreeding to the environment also affect to
the durability of the Lais which possible reduce the
population of Lais.According to the Yearly Report Fish
Catchment especially in Palangka Raya there has been
the decreasing of Lais cacthment every year. Therefore
before Lais will exctinct as the result of the changes of
water environment, fish catchment activity. and
inbreeding, Lais needs to be conserved.
*Corresponding author: Infa Minggawati, Lecturer at the
Faculty of Fishery, Christian University of Palangka Raya,
Indonesia. E-mail: infa41@gmail.com
Co-Author Email: lukasinel@gmail.com

Domestication of Lais (Ompok hypopthalmus) in the Fishpond as a Sustainable Conservation Effort

Minggawati and Lukas 013

One conservation activity that can done by applying the
domestication or adapting Lais into a place where the fish
can be kept and possible to breed.Species domestication
is to change the wild species to be aquaculture species
(Effendie MI, 2004).
Domestication and introduction of new species are done to
increase the number of species (diversification) of the
aqualculture comodity. The species chosen for the
domestication and introduction have the strong potency as
candidate of aquaculture comodity based on consideration
of biology, economy, and market. The aim of the research
was to do a domestication of Lais in the concrete fishpond,
environmental engineering, and fish food engineering.
Based on the explanation above the study of
domestication of Lais (Ompokhypopthalmus) in the
concrete aquaculture was done as an effort to do the
sustainable conservation.
METHODS
The research was done in concrete fishponds owned by
the community and the other owned the Laboratory of the
Faculty of Fishery of the Christian University of Palangka
Raya, Central Kalimantan. The Lais were domesticated
coming from the Rungan river of Palangka Raya city. The
research was done in March throhh July 2016.
The steps of the research were following: 1). Engineering
the concrete aquaculture environment which had several
sctivities : built 4 concrete fishpond 1.2 x 2 meters,
arranged the water circulation using aerator. The water
resource was from the well. Filled the water from the well
until 150 cms high, and the water was precipated for 3
days and installed the aerator into the water. Next was to
place the Lais catched from the nature into the concrete
fihpond with the density 50 fishes per pond, the average
weight 10-50 grams, and length 20-30 cms. 2). In terms
of engineering the fish food it was impossible to feed them
by giving the pellet but feeding them using insects that
could be found easily in the market. The feeding were
done 2 a day. Meanwhile the measurement of the water
quality was firstly done when the fish placed in pond which
including : temperature, depth, pH, DO, and water clarity.
The level of water was adapted to the water quality of the
origin habitat of Lais.
fishermen in the area. Before the fish were loaded to the
concrete fishpond, the fish were kept in the fishcage for
one day and not given the food – it was done to make the
fishes not stress and strong during the load. In the process
of loading, the fishes were placed in the big bag and given
the oxygen. The loading used the motorboat in the river
and car in the land and took about 1 hour to reach the
place. The bad road condition really influenced loading
process and weaken the fish and made them stress.
Lais were about to keep then gradually placed into the 4
concrete fishponds where one fishpond was received 50
fishes. The length of the fishes were 10-25 cms and weight
about 20-200 grams just before the placement. The depth
of the ponds is 50-70 cms. The breeding was 5 months.
Table 1: The Viability of Lais in the Concrete Fishpond in
5 Months Breeding
Number of Number of Number of Fish Viability(%)
Pond Fish on Initial at the End of
Placemnet Monitoting
1 50 20 30
2 50 18 32
3 50 20 30
4 50 22 28
m Table 1, it was seen that the viability of Lais in pond
number 1, 2, 3, and 4 were about 28-32% out of the 50
fishes placed in every pond.
B. The Mortality of Lais
The initial number of Lais breeded in the concrete fishpond
were 200 fishes and at the end of the research were just
80 fishes which means the percentage of viablity was 40%
and the number of dead fishes were 120 (60%). The
mortality of the fish monthly is displayed on Figure 1
following.

RESULT AND DISCUSSION

A. The Viability of O. hypopthalmus

The viability of Lais in the breeding place is part of the first

phase where the Lais being kept would survive among the
Lais in not origin habitat. Lais were kept in concrete
fishpond of the size 1.2 x 2 meters and the height 50-70 Figure 1: The Mortality of Lais Breeded During the
cms.Lais were domesticated coming from floodplain of Research
Rungan river by the amount 200 fishes, collected from the

Domestication of Lais (Ompok hypopthalmus) in the Fishpond as a Sustainable Conservation Effort


From the mortality data during the domestication, the
mortality number was on March which reaching 41 fishes,
April 31 fishes, May 31 fishes, June 27 fishes and July 7
fishes. While August and September no fishes found dead
(0 mortality), this data show that Lais being breeded has
already adapted to the aquaculture environment and the
fish appeared healthy. The high mortality number of Lais
in March was caused by the exhaustion of the fish during
the loading process, sensitive character of the fish, agility,
and easily stress, low pH of the water compared to March
though May and also still adapting to new habitat
environment.
C. Gonad maturity level of Ompokhypopthalmus
Based on the fish picking from the nature and the breeding
in concrete fishpond in March – July 2016. Fish
domesticated was adult Lais or on the maturity level of
Gonad I - IV.The comparison of Gonad maturity level of
Lais have been domesticated and Lais in the nature was
not different. Observation result on the Gonad Maturity
Level have been domesticated on March – July (Gonad
Maturity Level was taken from the dead Lais) shown that
the distribution of Gonad Maturity I and II found more
March and April. For May – July also found Gonad Maturity
III and IV (Figure 2). Gonad Maturity Level I – IV of Lais in
the nature is on October – April (Minggawati I, 2015).
Figure 2: Gonad Maturity Level in the Fishpond
Based on the observation, Gonad Maturity Level of Lais
also happened on the Lais have breeded in the fishpond.
It was started from Gonad Maturity Level I – V on March
until July 2016 and the conception (Gonad Maturity Level
IV) on May and June. Stated that most tropical fish hatch
or concept on the rainly season because there are stimuli
from the nature: temperature, chemical water changes,
and flooding (Scott D.B.C, 1979). An effort to domesticate
Lais in a certain fishpond can also be done on May – July
where Lais is the status of gonad maturity level.
D. The Food for Lais
During the breeding of Lais in the fishpond, food feed was
alive cricket that directly given to pond. The nature food
Domestication of Lais (Ompok hypopthalmus) in the Fishpond as a Sustainable Conservation Effort
J. Fish. Aquacul. Res. 014
was given because Lais breeded was not able to consume
pellet or artificial food. Cricket is easily to found because it
is commercially sold. Lais is classiffied as carnivore which
it consumes adult insects, fry and shrimp (Minggawati I,
2010).
Lais takes food which the motion organism in the surface
of water. Therefore for the breeding of Lais it is advised to
give the floating food.
E. The Water Quality and Food for Breeded
The measurement of water quality was done every month
during the research. The water measurement result of
temperature, clarity, depth, DO, and pH in 5 months of
adapting to the new environment which was in March 2016
until Junly 2016 where Lais already have the ability to
adapt can be seen on Table 2.
Table 2: Average of Water Quality Data in Concrete
Fishpond During the Research
No Month DO (mg/l) Temperature pH Clarity Depth
(cm) (cm)
1 March 7,8 28 5,4 50 50
2 April 7,8 28 5,9 50 60
3 May 7,8 27,9 6 40 60
4 June 7,9 27 6 40 50
5 July 7,9 26,9 6,6 40 60
Disslove oxygen (DO)in the fishpond is 7,8 -7,9 mg/l. In the
nature disslove oxygen 7,8 -7,9 mg/l for Lais is about 3,28
– 3,75 mg/l. Good disslove oxygen for fish (DO) is 2 – 10
mg/l. The temperature of fishpond is 26,9oC – 28oC, while
in the nature the temperature for Lais is 26oC – 28,75oC
(Wardoyo TH and Soepomo,1982). Optimum tempetarure
for fish in inland fisheries is 25oC – 30oC7. pH of the water
in the fishpond is 5,4 – 6,8, while in the nature is 5,5 – 6,0.
Said that Lais have the ability to live in the water pH 5,5 –
6,0. Water clarity in the fishpond is 40-50 cm, while the
clarity in the nature is 25-32,50 cm (Elvyra R DS et al,
2009). The depth of the fishpond is 50-70 cms. The quality
of water in the fishpond is still tolerated by Lais or not too
far from the origin habitat. The good water quality for Lais
breeding is DO 3 – 7 mg/l, temperature 26 – 28oC, pH 5
– 6, clarity 40 cm, depth 50 – 100 cm.Water quality is
depthness 0,5 meter, temperature 26,9oC, pH 4,6, DO 3,4
mg/l, and clarity 27,6 cm (Minggawati I et al, 2015).
If the environment factors are appropriate, the living things
will live well. But, when the environment factors have
changed then only the the living things who have the high
level of tolerance will survive. Domestication is not perfect
yet when part of the life cycle can happen in the cultivation
system (Scott, D.B.C, 1997).
Following are the figures 3 of the placement of Lais and
the measurement of quality water in the concrete fishpond
during the research.
Minggawati and Lukas 015
Figure 3: Placement of Lais and Measurement of Water Quality in the Fishpond
CONCLUSION
The quality of water in the fishpond for the domestication
of Lais: Disslove oxygen(DO) 7,8 -7,9 mg/l, average
temperature 26,9oC – 28oC, average water pH 5,4 – 6,8,
water depthness 50-70 cm dan water clarity 40cm. Initial
number ofLais is 200 fishes, the viability is 40%.Gonad
Maturity Level I – V happened on March until July, that
Gonad Maturity Level IV is very dominant inMay -
July.Food for Lais that given for 5 months is
crickets(insects).Domestication of O.hypopthlmus that has
been done is an effort to do a sustainable conservation.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors are thankful to the Rector of Chrsitian
University ofPalangka Raya, Central Kalimantan for
facilities. We thank several anonymous reviewer and
colleagues for their suggestion to improve the manuscript.
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Accepted 2 May 2018
Citation: Infa Minggawati, Lukas (2018). Domestication of
Lais (Ompok hypopthalmus) in the Fishpond as a
Sustainable Conservation Effort. Journal of Fisheries and
Aquaculture Research, 3(1): 012-015.
Copyright: © 2018. Minggawati and Lukas. This is an
open-access article distributed under the terms of the
Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits
unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any
medium, provided the original author and source are cited.