This paper presents an experiment in which two different fish culture system types were evaluated for the short-term commercial culture of fingerlings of Clarias gariepinus maintained at half the recommended stocking rate; 82.5/m3 in 2 m3 water volume in indoor blue fiber-glass tanks (IFT) and outdoor black plastic tanks (OPT). The research objectives were to assess the suitability and commercial viability of the tanks. Initial mean body weight of graded fingerlings of C. gariepinus for IFT and OPT were 11.32±2.25 g and 10.92±2.44 g (mean±standard deviation) respectively. The study lasted for eight weeks with the fish attaining post-juvenile sizes of 174.95±74.30 g and 178.84±52.04 g (mean±standard deviation) in the IFT and OPT respectively which were not significantly different at p > 0.05. Survival at termination was 81.21±0.0% and 81.21±2.5% for IFT and OPT respectively. As fish attained larger sizes of 100 g and above between weeks 6 and 8, skin lesions and frayed fins were observed in comparatively more of the indoor reared fish than the outdoor reared fish. It may be concluded that the systems are not vastly different in terms of resultant survival and growth performance of the African catfish, however, the culture duration may be halved when maintaining the reported stocking rate in order to prevent distress as a fallout of aggression as they increase in size.
This experiment investigated the impact of two water sources and their quality on the survival, growth and health of Clarias gariepinus fingerlings reared in indoor concrete tanks. 400 fingerlings of mean weight 15.33±3.47 g and total length 12.63±1.00 cm (mean±standard deviation) was randomly distributed into four concrete tanks of 12 m3 capacity each. Water quality was analyzed bi-weekly throughout study duration. Growth parameters such as mean weight gain (MWG), specific growth rate (SGR) and feed conversion rate (FCR) were calculated using standard procedures. At study termination, duplicate groups per treatment were assessed for survival rate and a health status check was determined by a hematological evaluation and microscopic examination of parasitic incidence. Results indicated that fish reared in water sourced from bore-hole [BH] performed comparatively significantly better in growth (p < 0.05) than fish in water from earthen pond [EP] as the MWG stood at 294.05±79.17 g for the former against 211.03±54.62 g for the latter with the survival rates for both treatments being in excess of 90%. Additionally, fish reared in EP presented with a higher infestation load of Trichodina spp., although there was no significant difference (U = 7, p > 0.05) between fish reared in EP and BH treatments with regards to their packed cell volume levels and white blood cells. The outcome of this study shed light on the impact a water source can have on the growth and health status of C. gariepinus with a recommendation of microbiological analysis of water supply from open/surface systems before usage for the African catfish aquaculture.
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