Feed Utilization, Gonadal Maturation, Carcass Composition and Stress of the Catfish, Heteropneustes fossilis (Bloch) Fed with Animal Viscera-Based Diets at Varied Temperatures

Low water temperature induces stress and affects somatic growth in teleostChanna stewartii(Perciformes)

“…This is particularly true for many of the fish species inhabiting the hilly terrains of eastern Himalayan region and slight elevation in temperature probably generates ‘summer’ feeling, thereby induces the metabolism and growth. We have also experimentally proven this hypothesis in catfish H. fossilis and opined that, in eastern Himalayan region of India, the catfish growth could be considerably augmented by rearing the animals at elevated water temperature of 35°C (see Majhi & Das ). Overall, the growth data obtained in this study allow us to surmise that rise in 11–12°C from the open environmental water temperature leads to better growth in C. stewartii , possibly true in many other species as well.…”

“…Nevertheless, there are possible proven ways to overcome such practical problem. One of such strategy is culturing the fish at comparatively elevated water temperature from the ambient ranges, preferably in a controlled environment (Beitinger, Bennett & McCauley ; Majhi & Das ). It is true that water temperature, one of the important abiotic factors, control various parameters in the life span of teleost fish.…”

“…The teleost fish effectively utilizes the feed stuff when reared at comparatively elevated water temperature and attains better somatic growth (Gadowaski & Caddell ). While each species has certain thermal tolerable limits, it is inevitable that, the increase in water temperature should be below critical temperature and not to induce stress in the animals (Das, Pal, Chakraborty, Manush, Chatterjee & Mukherjee ; Majhi & Das ). In this study, we observed that C. stewartii maintained at an average 10–11°C above the open environmental water temperature during winter months, perform well in terms of somatic growth.…”

“…Although, for sustainability reasons, the species should be propagated in mass scale but, often, the farming community of the region do not show interest to captive propagate the species due to its poor growth performance coupled with periodic mortalities in ponds and tanks (Das & Kalita ). One of the reasons for such poor growth rate attributes to cold climate of the region (Majhi & Das ). Evidently, the case of such poor growth performance do not restrict to C. stewartii lone, it's the fate of many exotic fish fauna those were introduced to the region from elsewhere as a part of species diversification (see review by Leveque, Oberdorff, Paugy, Stiassny & Tedesco ).…”