Development of Diet for Larval Catla catla, Labeo rohita and Cirrhinus mrigala

Abstract

Larval Catla catla,  Labeo rohita and Cirrhinus mrigala depend on live food. Quality and quantity of live food is always difficult to meet the requirements of larval fish. From the last several decades nutritionists have been working to replace live food with convenient artificial feed but still its replacement has not been accomplished. Therefore, current studies were an attempt to formulate and develop artificial feed for larval stages of these species. Each species was divided into two groups. In Group 1, each species fed on natural food and served as control and the second group exclusively fed on artificial feed and termed as treatment group-  the outcomes of which were unknown. Both groups were fed on live food (Brachionus calyciflorus) and artificial feed (40% C.P) respectively for 15 days in three independent trials for all the three species tested.  Studies were conducted in 3×2×2 ft. glass aquaria with water holding capacity of 255 L. In each trial 100 larvae were randomly stocked in each replicate aquaria of each treatment including control. During these studies Labeo rohita larvae fed on artificial feed gained maximum weight of 52.7mg, significantly higher than its counterpart. When larval growth of all the three species was compared the following trend emerged Labeo rohita 52.7 mg >Cirrhinus mrigala 44.6 mg >Catla catla 32 mg. Nonetheless larvae of all the three species when fed on natural food grew in the following order Labeo rohita 46.7 mg >Cirrhinus mrigala 35.6 mg >Catla catla 26.4 mg. Like weight Labeo rohita fry displayed maximum survival of 71% when fed on artificial. Survival of larval Cirrihinus mrigala was 61% and that of Catla catla was 52% the lowest. In general artificial feed performed better than natural food (control groups).