Open Peer Review Discuss this article (0) Comments RESEARCH NOTE Growth performance and feed utilization of African catfish fed a commercial diet and reared in the Clarias gariepinus biofloc system enhanced with probiotic [version 1; referees: 1 approved] Iskandar Putra , Rusliadi Rusliadi , Muhammad Fauzi , Usman M. Tang , Zainal A. Muchlisin 2 Faculty of Fisheries and Marine Sciences, Universitas Riau, Pekanbaru , Riau , 28293, Indonesia Faculty of Marine and Fisheries , Syiah Kuala University, Banda Aceh, 23111, Indonesia Abstract Background The objective of the present study was to evaluate the growth performance and feed utilization of African catfish fed a commercial diet and Clarias gariepinus reared in the biofloc system enhanced with probiotic. Methods The treatment was the frequency of probiotic application into the cultured system, namely, 5-day interval, 10-day interval, and 15-day interval for 60 days of experiment. Biofloc culture was grown in an experiment tank (vol. 2000 L) by mixing the probiotic ( sp.) 10 mL and molasses 200 mL per liter of Bacillus water. The fish was stocked into the biofloc system 7 days after cultured at stocking density of 1000 fish tank . The fish was fed a commercial diet that contains 38% crude protein, twice a day at satiation. The application of probiotic was reperformed after 5 days, 10 days, and 15 days after stocking. Results The study showed that the growth performance, survival, and feed utilization of African catfish were higher in the treatment at 5-day intervals over 60 days. The ANOVA test showed that the application frequency of probiotic into biofloc system of cultured media had the significant effect on the growth performance, survival rate, and feed utilization of African catfish. Conclusion The best growth performance and feed utilization were found at the application of probiotic into biofloc system at 5-day intervals over 60 days. 1 1 1 1 2 1 2 Referee Status: Invited Referees version 1 published 22 Aug 2017 1 report , Bung Hatta Hafrijal Syandri University , Indonesia 1 22 Aug 2017, :1545 (doi: ) First published: 6 10.12688/f1000research.12438.1 22 Aug 2017, :1545 (doi: ) Latest published: 6 10.12688/f1000research.12438.1 v1 -1 Page 1 of 7 F1000Research 2017, 6:1545 Last updated: 25 AUG 2017