Artificial propagation of Clarias gariepinus (Burchell, 1822) in aquaria

Induced spawning of the African catfish (Clarias gariepinus) was successfully carried out using natural hormone (homoplastic hormone-pituitary extract from Clarias gariepinus). The study which was carried out at Bahir Dar Fisheries and Other Aquatic Life Research Centre lasted 78 days (June to October). Three gravid females and three mature males of C. gariepinus (weight range of 305 to 1035 g) were used for the study. In all, three trials were carried out in glass aquaria with 50 litre volume. The spawning fecundity of the three C. gariepinus injected with catfish pituitary extract varied from 43,456 to 75,460 with mean fecundity value 54,572. The mean percentage fertilization, hatching rate and survival rate of the eggs were 81.5 ± 2.36, 87.13 ± 0.13 and 87.04 ± 5.98, respectively. This study has shown that C. gariepinus can be successfully bred using pituitary of C. gariepinus with simple low cost technique using glass aquaria.Key words/phrases: Aquaria, Catfish, Fecundity, Induced spawning, Survival rate.