Efficacy of different types of live and non-conventional diets in endangered clown knife fish Chitala chitala (Hamilton-Buchanan) during its early life stages

Abstract

In the present study, the growth and survival of early life stages (ELS) of Chitala chitala were studied in nylon hapa for 28 days, followed by rearing in fibreglass reinforcement plastic (FRP) tanks for a period of 30 days. Ten‐day‐old ELS of C. chitala reared in hapa were fed with three different diets namely Indian Major Carp (IMC) spawn (<8 mm), live tubifex and fresh fish eggs. In the second phase, 28‐day‐old ELS were stocked in 200‐lit FRP tank and supplied four different live diets namely live tubifex worm, chironomous larvae, zooplanktons and mosquito larvae. Fish accepted all types of diets in the experimental rearing period in both the systems. The experiments conducted in hapa showed a higher specific growth rate (SGR), weight gain per cent and survival rate in larvae fed with live tubifex (SGR=1.76±0.02) than fish eggs (0.77±0.31) and IMC spawn (0.46±0.12). The study carried out in FRP tanks revealed that SGR was higher in ELS fed on chironomous larvae (4.44±0.61), followed by mosquito larvae (3.29±0.40) and live tubifex (3.28±0.36), whereas minimum SGR was recorded with zooplanktons (2.84±0.66). A significant difference (P<0.05) in SGR, final mean weight and weight gain (%) was also recorded. The highest mean survival rate (100%) of ELS in an FRP tank was observed in chironomous larvae and zooplanktons, whereas with live tubifex and mosquito larvae the same survival rate (80%) was recorded. The rate of survival of the ELS reared in hapa varied from 65% to 85%. The experiments showed that ELS of C. chitala could be reared successfully in hapas and fibreglass reinforcement tanks for attaining better survivability and growth.

Phenotypic variation of Chitala chitala (Hamilton, 1822) from Indian rivers using truss network and geometric morphometrics

“…C. chitala is a high-priced fish for food, sport and aquarium purposes due to its rarity and delicacy ( Gopalan, Ramasastri & Balasubramanian, 2004 ; Sarkar, Deepak & Lakra, 2009 ). The population of this species has reduced considerably due to over-exploitation, habitat alteration, pollution and related anthropogenic pressure on their natural habitats and thus, is categorized as near threatened (NT) by International Union for Conservation of Nature ( Swain et al, 2021 ) though it was earlier categorized as endangered (EN) ( Ayyappan, Raizada & Reddy, 2001 ; Sarkar et al, 2007 ). Assessment of C. chitala for the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species was most recently carried out by Chaudhry (2010) .…”

Growth and Survival of Goldfish (Carassius auratus) Juveniles Fed Tubifex, Custard Meal and Commercial Feeds

“…It has been reported that feed acceptability is influenced by chemical stimuli created by the feed (Mackie and Adron, 1978). Moreover, feed intake largely depends on certain crucial factors, such as feed size, type, physical appearance, and attractiveness (Sarkar et al, 2007). Although fish feed contained higher protein (29.17%) than aquarium feed (18.18%), the results showed that goldfish juveniles fed fish feed had significantly lower growth (P < 0.05).…”

“…In the present study, commercial fish pellet was used to compare the palatability with other feeds. The growth rate of fish with appropriate quality and adequate quantity of feed mostly depends on voluntary feed intake and assimilation of nutrients (Diana et al, 1988;Sarkar et al, 2007). It has been reported that feed acceptability is influenced by chemical stimuli created by the feed (Mackie and Adron, 1978).…”

“…Moreover, Tubifex is rich in protein and essential fatty acids such as n-3 (C18: 3n-3 and C20: 5n-3) and n-6 (C18:2n-6 and C20:4n-6) fatty acids (Görelşahin et al, 2018;Yanar et al, 2003). It has already been established to increase the growth performance of different fish species such as Chitala chitala (Sarkar et al, 2007), Clarius macrocephalus (Santiago et al, 2003), Notopterus chitala (Sontakke et al, 2019), and Sander lucioperca (Bódis et al, 2007). Furthermore, several studies reported Tubifex as an alternative to Artemia for different fish species such as catfish (Arslan et al, 2009;Evangelista et al, 2005).…”

Effect of Formulated Feed as a Subsitute for Live Feed on Growth Performances, Biochemical Composition and Digestive Enzyme Activities of Asian Stinging Catfish, Heteropneustes fossilis (Bloch, 1794) Larvae

“…Therefore, live feeds are conveniently used for larval feeding (Holt, 1993;People Le Ruyet et al, 1993) as it is believed that live feeds stimulate enzyme secretion resulting in good growth and survival. Tubifex is well known to increase the growth performances of different finfish species such as Chitala chitala (Sarkar et al, 2007), Clarius macrocephalus (Santiago et al, 2003) and catfish (Evangelista et al, 2005;Arslan et al, 2009). However, the regular application of live Tubifex to fish larvae is impractical for developing countries because of inconsistent supply and high price (Evangelista et al, 2005).…”