Getachew Senbete*, Megerssa Endebu, Nanecha Bejiga and Daba Tugie
African catfish (Clarias gariepinus) is the most suitable candidate species for aquaculture, widely farmed next to tilapia. However, its production in intensive pond culture has not yet been practiced in Ethiopia. The main objective of this experiment was to evaluate its growth performance and survival rate at different stocking densities. Fingerlings of African catfish of similar size were collected from Koka Reservoir, introduced to concrete ponds at Batu fish and other aquatic life research centre, and acclimatized for 15 days. The fish were then stocked into 4.8 m3 experimental ponds at low stocking density (T3=10 fish/m3), medium stocking density (T2=20 fish/m3), and high stocking density (T1=30 fish/m3), in duplicate. All the fish were fed with 35% crude protein pelletized feed, and water quality parameters were monitored. Data were collected for five months and analyzed using one-way ANOVA at a p<0.05 significance level for mean separation. Survival rates of fish were 100%, 98.95%, and 96.45% at low (T3), medium (T2), and high (T1) stocking densities, respectively. Daily growth rates (g/fish/day) were 0.76, 0.91, and 0.81 in T1, T2, and T3, respectively, and all values indicated good growth performance. The average mean length (cm) and weight (g) of the fish in T1 were statistically significantly different from T3 for the first four months. Individual fish weight gains in all treatments were promising. Total biomass across all treatments showed differences, with the highest biomass (7.41 kg/m3) obtained in T1, followed by T2 (6.06 kg/m3) and T3 (2.71 kg/m3). Therefore, considering higher biomass as a target in the economics of fish culture, we recommend the higher stocking density of 30 fish/m3.
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