Impact of different diets on growth performance of Asian catfish Clarias batrachus (Linn.)

The study has been conducted to observe the larval rearing of Asian catfish Clarias batrachus fed with different diets for a period of 70 days in an indoor hatchery system. The brooders of C. batrachus were induced to breed using ovaprim, hatchlings were isolated and maintained in a separate tank. Different diets such as artificial feed, live feed, substrate + artificial feed, substrate + live feed and substrate alone were utilized in this experiment. Three different age groups such as 5, 10 and 15 days old fries were used for the experiment. Water quality parameters such as dissolved oxygen, water temperature, pH, total alkalinity and water hardness were monitored regularly. The growth parameters include initial and final length as well as weight, specific growth rate and survival rate. The experimental group consists of artificial feed group (T₁), live feed group (T₂), substrate + artificial feed group (T₃), substrate + live feed group (T₄) and substrate alone group (T₅). Among the experimental groups T₄ showed maximum growth response followed by T₃. T₂, T₁ and T₅ showed a non – significant variation in growth performance. From these results, it is concluded that the addition of substrate will help to enhance the production of fish by providing shelter and additional food in terms of planktons.