Milkfish

Chanos chanos

Milkfish, Chanos chanos, is a streamlined silver fish of warm Indo-Pacific waters and an important food species in many coastal communities. Often called bangus in the Philippines, it has a forked tail, small toothless mouth, and a habit of using marine, brackish, and sometimes freshwater environments during its life cycle. Young fish graze on algae, plankton, and fine organic material, which makes them well suited to pond-based production.

Milkfish are managed mainly as an aquaculture crop, not as display aquarium fish. Farms may use hatchery fry or collected juveniles, then move them through nursery ponds, brackish grow-out ponds, cages, or pens. Water quality, salinity shifts, stocking density, and harvest timing shape both survival and flesh quality. In regions where bangus is a staple, breeding technology, feed choices, pond preparation, and disease prevention can matter as much as the fish's natural history.