Assuming that fingerling channel catfish need fish meal in their diets for maximum growth at optimum temperatures, the results of the present study and Li et al. (2006) indicate that 4% fish meal in the diet is adequate for optimum growth and feed efficiency under the conditions of these studies. Li et al. (2006) reported that fingerlings raised in aquaria and fed allplant- protein diets had about 12–15% reduction inweight gain compared with fish fed diets containing fish meal (Li et al. 2006), which In summary, it appears that fish meal is not an essential component in the diets of juvenile channelcatfish reared at low temperatures (17–218C). However, at optimum temperatures (278C), a reduction in was fed. An 8% fish meal diet did not further improve the weight gain of fish over a 4% fish meal diet. Whether fish meal is economical for use in channel
catfish feeds depends on its price relative to other plant and animal protein sources that can be used to replace
fish meal.