Survival and Growth of Clarias gariepinus and Heterobranchus longifilis Larvae Fed with Freshwater Zooplankton

Abstract

The suitability of the freshwater zooplankton was investigated in two African catfish larvae, Clarias gariepinus and Heterobranchus longifilis, at the end of yolk sac resorption. This live food was compared to Artemia nauplii, another live food. With those two regimens, four lots of larvae were constituted with two replicates: Cg zoo, larvae of C. gariepinus fed with freshwater zooplankton; Cg art, larvae of C. gariepinus fed with artemia; Hl zoo: larvae of H. longifilis fed with freshwater zooplankton and Hl art: larvae of H. longifilis fed with Artemia. After a 10 day-experiment, survival rates ranged from 97% to 98% and 78.5% to 81.5% were obtained in Cg zoo, Cg art, Hl zoo and Hl art, respectively. Final mean weight were 11 ± 0.003, 13 ± 0.003, 67 ± 0.001 and 89 ± 0.005 mg for Cg zoo, cg art, Hl zoo and Hl art, respectively with specific growth rate which respectively were 11.28 ± 0.3%, 14.3 ± 0.2% 14.29 ± 0.22% and 17.2 ± 0.5% per day. Those results show that freshwater zooplankton proved suitable for first feeding of C. gariepinus and H. longifilis larvae and could constitute a valuable alternative for larval rearing.