The Effect of Dietary Supplementation of 17α -Methyltestosterone and 17β-Estradiol Hormones on Growth, Sex Conversion and Reproduction in Electric Yellow Cichlid (Labidochromis caeruleus)
The Effect of Dietary Supplementation of 17α -Methyltestosterone and 17β-Estradiol Hormones on Growth, Sex Conversion and Reproduction in Electric Yellow Cichlid (Labidochromis caeruleus)
Zafer Karslı1,*, Dilek Şahin1, Meryem Öz2, Ünal Öz2 and Orhan Aral2
ABSTRACT
In this study, effects of dietary supplementation of two different hormones on growth, sex conversion and reproduction of electric yellow cichlid, Labidochromis caeruleus were investigated. Moreover, possible negative (sterilization, mortality, reproduction performance etc.) and positive (growth, sex conversation etc.) impacts of hormone administration were also assessed. This study had two experiments. In the first experiment, six experimental feeds were prepared by adding two different hormones (17α-Methyltestosterone (Mt), 17β-Estradiol (Es) at three different doses (20, 40, 60 mg kg-1) and control feed was without hormone. All six experiment groups receiving experimental diets and control were conducted in 3 replicates in 21 aquariums for 3 months in the first experiment. L. caeruleus were fed orally with these hormone-supplemented feeds and growth parameters, sex conversion and survival rate were examined. In the second experiment, fish from the first experiment were fed with commercial cichlid feed containing no hormones and numbers of fry produced was recorded. At the end of 90-day feeding period in the first experiment, the best growth was obtained in 60 mg kg-1 Mt treated group (1.97±0.17 g). Sex conversion to all male population (100% male) was observed in 17α-Mt treated groups, while, conversion to 82.22, 86.67 and 86.67% females was observed in 17β-Es treated (20, 40 and 60 mg kg-1) groups, respectively. In the second experiment, after feeding the fish with a commercial feed for 3 months, fish fry was released from fish mouth and numbers of fry were counted. The present findings revealed that 17α-Mt hormone was more effective in growth and sex conversion, while the survival rate and number of fry produced were negatively affected by the increased dose of both hormones.
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February 2022
Vol. 54, Iss. 1, Pages 1-501
