The food, feeding habits and condition factor of three freshwater fishes from Tighra reservoir, Gwalior

Abstract

The food and feeding habit of three freshwater fishes has revealed that Sperata seenghala and Xenentodon cancila are carnivorous and Labeo boggut is a herbivorous fish. The percentage composition of various food items in stomach content of S. seenghala was 99.57% of phytoplankton, 0.14% crustaceans, 0.16% aquatic insects and 0.13% fishes and in X. cancila, it was 99.54% of phytoplankton, 0.21% crustaceans, 0.1% aquatic insects, and 0.15% fishes. Biomass of fish and crustacean was highest in comparison to other food items. L. boggut is a herbivore that feeds on phytoplankton as the sole food item. The alimentosomatic and hepato-somatic indices have every indication that S. seenghala and X. cancila are carnivorous and thus have intense liver activity while L boggut is a herbivorous fish having less liver activity The conditon factor value of S. seenghala has been found to have 0.00066 ± 0.0002, X. cancila to have 0.00034 ± 0.0001 and ofL. boggut to have 0.00108 ± 0.00006. These values suggest that S. seenghala and L boggut are fairly growing, while X. cancila is a poorly growing fish