A combination of two species fish culture with Labeo gonius (Hamilton, 1822) and Cyprinus carpio Linnaeus, 1758 under mid-hill condition in Meghalaya, North-east India

Abstract

One of the major issues in promoting aquaculture in mid altitude region is the dearth of suitable fish species for enhancing fish production. The prevailing cold climatic conditions in the state of Meghalaya restricts the fish growing period to about 7-8 months in a year. The six species composite fish culture as commonly practiced in the lower altitude warmer region do not always perform well in mid altitude region. Therefore, a study was undertaken to evaluate a two species fish culture system with Labeo gonius (Hamilton, 1822) and Cyprinus carpio Linnaeus, 1758, for enhancing fish production from the mid-hill region. The paper highlights the performance of the two species in small ponds over a period of one year. The specific growth rate (SGR) ranged from 0.248 to 1.038 g day-1 and 0.520 to 1.831 g day-1 for L. gonius and C. carpio respectively. The combination yielded an average fish production of 2,550 kg ha-1 year-1.