Abstract

Catfish (Clarias gariepinus) is one of the best candidate aquaculture species. Feed plays the major role on culturing fish, especially at early stages. Various studies have found low survival rate and poor growth performance as a major obstacle in meeting the demand of fry, particularly in developing countries like Nigeria. In thirty two days of the experimental period, this study investigated growth and survival rates of Clarias gariepinus larvae by feeding Daphnia magna, Ostracoda (Heterocypris incongruens), commercial feed, fish meal mix and soybean meal mix. The trials were conducted in 25 tanks, with 150 fish per tank, 5 treatments and 5 replicas. Water flow with the help of oxygen aerator was allowed, and a feeding frequency of three times per day was applied. Water quality was in an accepted range of a mean temperature 26.3 ± 1OC, Oxygen 5.8 ± 0.35mg/L (94.3 ± 4.5 %), pH 7.7 ± 0.1 and ammonia concentrations was less than 0.2mg/l in all treatments. Before weaning strategy was practiced, Artemia nauplii were used as starter feeds that gave an overall average growth of 6.03 mm TL and 2.25 mg TW. Among the five treatments, larvae fed on Daphnia demonstrated the highest growth performance in terms of mean monthly weight gain (79.75 mg) and change in length (14.77 mm). The next on the ranking is commercial feed (57.75mg and 12.87mm), followed by Ostracoda (53.75mg and 12.07mm), then fish meal mix (23.75mg and 8.67mm) and lastly, soybean meal mix (21.75mg and 8.27). There was a significant difference recorded between treatments

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