THE IMPACT OF DIFFERENT STOCKING DENESITIES AND DIETARY PROTEIN LEVELS ON THE PERFORMANCE OF AFRICAN CATFISH (Clarias gariepinus) FINGERLINGS

The current experiment was randomly  designed  as  a 3×2 factorial design to investigate the effects of two fixed factor (stocking density & dietary protein level) on growth performance, feed utilization, survival rate and physiological response of African catfish (Clarias gariepinus). Fishes were allotted  in 18 concrete (8×3×0.5 m3; L×W×H) tanks at three different stocking density 30, 20 and 10 catfish fingerlings / m3 and fed on two different protein diets (25 and 30%). Each treatment was applied in three replicates. Fishes were fed 2.5% of biomass body weight twice/day. Results showed that growth performance, feed utilization, survival rate and hematological parameters were significantly improved with increased dietary protein level with low stocking density. The sixth treatment (high protein level 30% and lowest stocking density; 10 fish/m3) exhibited the highest growth performance with no mortalities. Based on the results of the current study, it could be recommended to use protein level diet of 30% or more and stocking density of 10 catfish fingerlings/ m3 to obtain high productivity in a short time with consequent decreased cost.Key words: African catfish; Clarias gariepinus; dietary protein; growth parameters; Stocking density