Effect of Different Water Media on Growth and Production Performance Parameters of African Catfish Clarias gariepinus (Burchell 1822) Fry

Abstract

This study evaluated and compared growth performance, feed utilization and survival of Clarias gariepinus fry cultured in three different water media. The water media used were: Rainwater (T1), Bore Hole Water (T2) and Well water (T3). Fourteen ( 14) days old C. gariepinus fry of initial mean weight 0.17±0.00-0.19±0.00 g and initial mean length 0.92±0.02-0.96±0.02cm was fed for 28 days with commercial feed in plastic aquaria tanks (30l). Weight gain, specific growth rate (SGR), feed conversion ratio (FCR) and survival rate were determined weekly for each water medium. Data resulting from the experiment were subjected to one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) at (P<0.05) significance level. At the end of the experiment, the highest weight gain 0.57±0.04 g was recorded for fry reared in borehole water (T2), while fry cultured in rainwater (T1) obtained the least mean weight gain 0.18 ± 0.02 g. The best and the least specific growth rates (SGR) of 4.92 ± 0.32 and 2.67 ± 0.24 were also obtained in fry reared in borehole water (T2) and rainwater (T1) respectively. Fry survival rate was highest in bore hole water (T2) (73.3 ± 9.13 %), and lowest in rainwater (T1) (23.3 ± 2.03 %). These results show that though borehole water is the most excellent water medium for nurturing of C. gariepinus fry, well water is also suitable for the culture of C. gariepinus fry.