Survival and growth of Clarias gariepinus (burchel 1822) fry on cultured freshwater zooplankton and decapsulated Artemia

Abstract

Artemia and dried zooplankton were fed to four day-old C. gariepinus fry at 3% and 5% feeding rates each as first feed. Dietary treatments were in triplicate, in a completely randomized design. Composition of mix-cultured zooplankton showed Rotifera (53.12%) to be dominant. Spawning with ovaprim at 0.5% ml/kg recorded 76% fertilization and 79% hatchability at temperature range of 28 to 30⁰C. The best percentage survival (70.00 ±12.77) was obtained for larvae fed zooplankton at 3% feeding rate. Fry fed Artemia at 5% feeding rate, recorded specific growth rate of 12.68 ±0.64, which was significantly (P <0.05) higher than other three treatments. The condition factors ranged from 3.32 ± 0.09 to 1.73 ± 0.71 and were not significantly different (P > 0.05). Feed conversion ratio was best (0.31 ±0.09) in fry fed zooplankton at 3% feeding rate, and no significant (P >0.05) difference between the treatments. Water temperature ranged from 26.85⁰C to 29.05⁰C pH 7.71 to 7.83. Fry fed dried mixed-freshwater zooplankton diet had highest survival rate and the best growth rate obtained for fry fed Artemia. It was therefore concluded that Clarias gariepinus fry can be fed dried mixed-cultured freshwater zooplankton in event of scarcity and un-affordability of decapsulated Artemia.