Impacts of different diets on growth and survival of stinging catfish, Heteropneustes fossilis

Abstract

The present study was conducted to determine the suitability of different larval feeds of Heteropneustes fossilis under laboratory condition. For this purpose, 30 days old Heteropneustes fossilis larvae were collected from local hatchery at Cachra in Jessore and acclimatized in a large rectangular aquarium for 2 days. The feeding trial was conducted for 30 days in triplicate with 30 larvae (0.74± 0.01 g; 2.95 ± 0.12 cm) in glass aquaria (54×36×36 cm3) each containing 30 L of water. Four different feeding trial i.e. Tubifex sp. (Ts), commercial pellet feed (Cf), snail meat (Sm) and mixed diet i.e. commercial feed and snail meat on alternative day (CfSm) were applied. The larvae were fed two times per day until reaching satiation level. The larvae fed with tubificid worms (Ts) and mixed diet (CfSm) showed significantly better results (P<0.05) in terms of length, percent weight gain and specific growth rate (SGR %) compared to other diets. Water quality parameters were monitored throughout the experimental periods and the parameters did not vary significantly (P>0.05) among the treatments. On the basis of larval development and survival rate, it could be suggested that the live tubificid worms (Ts) and mixed diet (CfSm) are suitable for Heteropneustes fossilis larvae.