P. Chepkwemoi¹ , Gladys Namuswe Bwanika¹ , J. Kwetegyeka² , G. Mbahizireki¹ , L. Ndawula³ , A. A. Izaara⁴

1 Department of Biological Sciences, Makerere University, P.O. Box 7062, Kampala, Uganda
2 Department of Chemistry, Makerere University, P.O. Box 7062, Kampala, Uganda
3 National Fisheries Resources Research Institute, P.O. Box 43, Jinja Uganda
4 Mukono Zonal Agricultural Research and Development Institute, P.O. Box 164, Mukono, Uganda
Author    Correspondence author
International Journal of Aquaculture, 2013, Vol. 3, No. 22   doi: 10.5376/ija.2013.03.0022
Received: 26 Jun., 2013    Accepted: 05 Jul., 2013    Published: 22 Jul., 2013

This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Chepkwemoi, 2013, Fatty Acid Profiles and Growth of African Catfish Larvae Fed on Freshwater Cyclopoid Copepods and Artemia as Live Starter Feed, International Journal of Aquaculture, Vol.3, No.22 126-132 (doi: 10.5376/ija.2013. 03.0022)

The possibility of utilizing freshwater crustaceans (Cyclopoid copepods) as an alternative live starter feed for African catfish (Clarias gariepinus, Burchell, 1822) larvae was explored. Larvae cultured in experimental tanks under ambient hatchery conditions were tested on three experimental diets for three days following commencement of exogenous feeding: freshly decapsulated Artemia cysts, early stages of Cyclopoids-copepods and a combination of the two. Change in total length measurements of larvae was used as a measure of growth. Fatty acid profiles of four-day old larvae were determined using Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) method. Overall, growth of catfish larvae was significantly different (F=25.94, P<0.05) across diets. Cyclopoid-Artemia-fed larvae grew faster (9.1±0.89) mm, followed by Cyclopoid-fed larvae (8.8±0.92) mm and Artemia-fed larvae (8.6±0.79) mm. Similarly, significantly high composition of α linolenic acid (LNA), Arachidonic acid (AA), and Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) were recorded for Cyclopoid copepods-fed larvae than for Artemia-fed larvae (LNA, F=14.7, P=0.028; AA, F=12.1, P=0.037 and DHA, F=101.9, P=0.002, respectively). These essential fatty acids play a significant role in the structural, physiological and functional development of larval fish thus promoting growth. A combination of Cyclopoid copepods with Artemia was of an added advantage possibly due to the large-sized Artemia that makes catchability easy. These results demonstrated that partial or total replacement of Artemia with Cyclopoid copepods as a live starter feed for African catfish larvae is feasible but call for further investigations on cost benefit analysis.

Clarias gariepinnus; Larvae; Cyclopoid copepods; Artemia; Essential fatty acids; Starter diet