International Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Research

Authors
Sheikh Sahiduzzaman, Tauhiduzzaman, Sheikh Mustafizur Rahman

Abstract
An experiment was conducted for 28 days to determine the effect of different shelters on growth and survival rate of Asian catfish, Clarias batrachus. The Larvae were investigated in aquariums (50× 30× 30cm³) each containing 25 L of water. Initial average length of larva was 2.30 cm which weighed 0.19 g were released into aquarium: floating shelter (T₁), earthen vat shelter (T₂), PVC pipe shelter (T₃), without shelter (T₀ is control group). Each treatment was conducted with three replications. The larvae were fed Tubifex sp. twice a day until satiation. Water quality parameters were found within the productive range (temperature: 28.65±0.79°C, DO: 6.22±0.50 mg L^-1, pH: 7.76±0.19, and NH₃: 0.8±0.7 mg L^-1) for all treatments. Larva reared in aquaria with floating shelter showed the highest growth rate, specific growth rate (SGR), coefficient of variance (CV) compared to others. The average final weight at the end of 28 days experiment in control, floating shelter, earthen vat shelter and PVC pipe shelter was 0.62, 0.77, 0.72, 0.66 gm respectively while the average final length in these treatments was 3.32, 4.53, 4.32, 3.86 cm respectively. On the contrary, there was almost no effect of shelter was found on the survival rate (96-98%) of the larvae during the experimental period. Based on these findings, availability of floating shelters appears to be comfortable for C. batrachus.