Research Article

Influence of Stocking Density on Growth and Survival of Channa punctatus Reared in Cemented Ponds

Muhammad Hanif Chandio1,2*, Naeem Tariq Narejo2, Muhammad Farooq Hassan3, Faheem Sadar4, Nasiruddin Shaikh1, Bushra Ainy Dars5, Ghulam Abass6, Asma Fatima6 and Shahnaz Rashid6

1Directorate of Fisheries Sindh (Inland), Government of Sindh, Thandi Sarak, Hyderabad, Sindh, Pakistan; 2Department of Freshwater Biology and Fisheries, University of Sindh, Jamshoro, Pakistan; 3Department of Veterinary Pathology, Shaheed Benazir Bhutto University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Sakrand, Sindh, Pakistan; 4Maine Fisheries Department, Government of Pakistan, West Warf, Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan; 4Government College University, Hyderabad, Sindh, Pakistan; 5Planning and Development Department Sindh Secretariat, Karachi, Pakistan; 6Center of Excellence in Marine Biology, University of Karachi, Karachi, Pakistan.

Received | April 06, 2022; Accepted | June 07, 2022; Published | August 23, 2022

*Correspondence | Muhammad Hanif Chandio, Directorate of Fisheries Sindh (Inland), Government of Sindh, Thandi Sarak, Hyderabad, Sindh, Pakistan; Email: hanifchandio@gmail.com

Citation | Chandio, M.H., N.T. Narejo, M.F. Hassan, F. Sadar, N. Shaikh, B.A. Dars, G. Abass, A. Fatima and S. Rashid. 2022. Influence of stocking density on growth and survival of Channa punctatus reared in cemented ponds. Sarhad Journal of Agriculture, 38(3): 1085-1088.

DOI | https://dx.doi.org/10.17582/journal.sja/2022/38.3.1085.1088

Keywords | Stocking density, Growth, Survival, Channa punctatus, Cemented cisterns

Copyright: 2022 by the authors. Licensee ResearchersLinks Ltd, England, UK.

This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Introduction

Snakehead fish (Channa punctatus) are locally called Murrels belonging to the genus Channa. A total of 14 species of snake heads were reported in which only 4 species of snake heads Channa marulius, Channa striatus, Channa gachua and Channa punctatus were reported from Pakistan. Among these the two species of snakehead fish, Channa marulius and Channa punctatus have high commercial importance as a food fish (Parveen et al., 2021). This fish also possessed air breathing organs in its body that allow them to migrate on land through wriggling movements. Snakehead species can successfully survive in adverse environment because containing breathing organs with advanced breathing abilities, specified by Shafri et al. (2012). It prefers stagnant muddy water bottoms of rivers, lakes, swamps, marshes, canals and ponds. They are voracious carnivore, preying upon live animals. The hatchlings and fry feed mainly on zooplanktons and small insects larvae, while the adults feed on the invertebrates, small fishes and frogs. Stocking density has been reported in different species in Pakistan; such as in in Heteropneustes fossilis by Narejo et al. (2005, 2010) and in Tilapia chatralada by Sindhu et al. (2017). No study existed on the stocking density and its effect on the growth and survival ratio of snakehead fish, Channa punctatus. The current study plays an important role for culturing and rearing of native snakehead species. By considering the lack of current information on the stocking density of snakehead fish, we were conducted an experiment to determine the optimal stocking density of Channa punctatus, fed all parts of chicken (APC).

Materials and Methods

Current experiment was conducted for a period of 90 days from June-August 2018. Different stocking density of fish such as 10 in T-I, 15 in T-II, and 20 in T-III fish/m2 were placed in cemented ponds (size 2.5m2) with two replications. The experimental fish (size, 9.70 ± 1.2 g) were collected from River Indus Jamshoro, Sindh, Pakistan. The experimental fish were feed with all parts of chicken (APC) as best feed reported by Chandio et al. (2020). Calculations on the growth parameters were done by the following formulas; (Weight gain (g) = final body weight - initial body weight / initial body weight; Specific growth rate (%) = in final body weight - an initial body weight/ duration of the experiment (days); Survival rate (%) = number of fish surviving on last day I number of fish initially stocked; Weight gain (%) = 100 × final BW – initial BW/ initial BW). However, water quality parameters like temperature was measured by digital thermometer, salinity by refractometer, pH, nitrate, ammonia, and oxygen content were measured via digital water quality analyser (CONSORT-Model No.C-6030) on fortnightly basis. The data obtained were analyzed using one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) using SAS (Statistical Analysis System) 9.1 version. Treatment means were analyzed using the Duncan’s Multiple Range Test.

Results and Discussion

Growth performance

The growth of snakehead fish (Channa punctatus) was influenced by different stocking densities in cemented ponds and the results showed that the treatment (I) having 10 fish/m2 exhibited maximum weight gain (64.6 grams) with 100% survival ratio than other treatments (I-III) having (15 fish/m2 and 20 fish/m2) showed minimum WG (35.0 g with 90% survival and 16.4 g with 80% survival ratio), respectively (Table 1). Comparable analyses were found by many authors on different fish species such as Pangasius sutchi by Azimuddin et al. (1999); in Monopterus cuchia by Narejo et al. (2002); in Macrobrachium rosenbergii by Haque et al. (2003); in Heteropneustes fossilis by Narejo et al. (2005); in Theraponjarbua by Abbas and Siddiqui (2007); and in Channa striatus by Mollah et al. (2009) and Amin et al. (2015), respectively. They concluded that, snakehead and catfish having preference to live and grow in a small communities like low density in any environment because they are highly carnivore in nature with cannibalism. Our result on snakehead stocking density was comparable with above authors.

Table 1: Data on growth parameters of Channa punctatus under different stocking density for the period of 90 days (June to August, 2018).

*Values are presented as a mean of all replicates; different superscripts showing different values.

Water quality of fish ponds

During the rearing experiment, the monitoring of water quality of ponds was monitored fortnightly, such as temperature values were found within optimal range of 26.8 to 30.6oC, pH (7.3 to 7.5), oxygen (4.0 to 4.8mg per litre), alkalinity (149 to 180 mg per litre), nitrate (0.17 to 0.18 mg per litre) and ammonia from 0.35 to 0.55 ug/dLumol/litre (Table 2). Similar values within our range was reported by Smitha et al. (2007), Puri et al. (2010), Kalwale and Savale (2012), Dastagir et al. (2014, 2016), Raj and Sevarkodiyone (2018), Rukhsana et al. (2021), they all examined water from fresh water bodies such as ponds, rivers, lakes, streams and Dams. The current values of water quality parameters in our ponds were found within recommended range of (WHO, 2018) especially for fish culture in ponds.

Table 2: Water quality parameters of ponds during the experimental period of 90 days.

Conclusions and Recommendations

It was concluded that Channa punctatus have a preference to live in a small community than large schooling and could be reared 10 fish/m2 was found to be suitable density for growth and survival in cemented ponds. The present study plays an important role for culturing and rearing of native snakehead species and recommended to rear this species with other cost effective feed will be proved remarkable in aquaculture.

Novelty Statement

The current work will be useful to the aquaculture sector on the basic knowledge of stocking density of snakehead fish, Channa punctatus in cemented tanks.

Author’s Contribution

Muhammad Hanif Chandio: Performed the experiment and prepared initial draft.

Naeem Tariq Narejo: Designed and conceived the idea of this experiment.

Muhammad Farooq Hassan: Helped in relevant literature.

Faheem Sadar, Nasiruddin Shaikh and Bushra Anny Dars: Helped in data analysis and manuscript writing.

Ghulam Abbas and Asma Fatima: Added recent literatures modified text of the manuscript.

Shahnaz Rashid: Reviewed last version for publication.

Conflict of interest

The authors have declared no conflict of interest.

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