Spawning performance and survival of Clarias gariepinus fry bred under different water sources in Abakaliki Metropolis

Abstract

The study was conducted to compare effects of three different water sources on hatchability and survival of Clarias gariepinus fry. The water sources used were: rain (RNW), borehole (BHW) and well (WLW). The experiment involved artificial induced breeding of C. gariepinus and rearing the resultant larvae/hatchlings for 14 days to assess reproductive performance. Hatchability was estimated 24 hours after incubation, while larval survival was determined at 14 days’ post hatching. Data resulting from the experiment were subjected to one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). Percentage hatchability in all water sources were relatively high with the highest mean value of 93.1±1.60% obtained in RNW experiment. Larval survival after 14 days’ post hatching was above average with the highest mean value of 63.7±2.41% recorded in BHW while RNW recorded the lowest mean value of 44.2±0.55%. The results of this study has demonstrated that borehole water may be a suitable water source for induced artificial spawning of the African catfish and subsequent larval rearing.

Keywords: Brood Stock, Hypophysation, Propagation, Water quality, Milt, Hatching