The Effects of Water Exchange and Water Quality on Growth and Survival of Clarias gariepinus (Fingerlings) along the Mount Cameroon Region

Abstract

Clarias gariepinus has huge economic and nutritive value in Cameroon but yet it is not widely cultivated. The purpose of this study was to test the effect of water quality and water exchange (which are some factors that affect fish growth) on the growth and survival of this species along the Mt Cameroon region.

An experimental setup was used in the lab of the University of Buea campus to emulate conditions in real life and the length and weight of the fish were measured and plotted against time.The results showed that water exchange has an effect on the growth and survival of Clarias sp. along this region while water quality has no significant impact on the fish growth.

This study confirms that Clarias gariepinus can be cultivated along the Mt Cameroon region successfully and probably in other regions of the country as long as the fish farms are designed to have water exchange and the water quality is closely monitored.

Popular Abstract

Due to the unsustainable exploitation of global fish stock, there will soon be a collapse in fisheries. Inother to avoid this decline, people have turned to aquaculture which is the rearing of aquatic species in controlled environment. Clarias gariepinus (catfish) is one of these species being cultivated for it nutritional and economic value. The production of catfish has increased in Cameroon since 2000. However, it is being cultivated only in the Western Region of Cameroon. The purpose of this research was to test if Clarias gariepinus could be raised in the Mount Cameroon Region.

To achieve this, we monitored water quality and water exchange rate; the two major factors that determine the survival of an aquaculture. Water quality was monitored through the measurement of some parameters that affects it namely: pH, temperature and nutrient content (Ammonia). These parameters were altered and growth rate of the catfish measured. To measure the effect of water exchange on the growth rate of the fish, three different exchange rates were used (0, 6.6 and 86 % flow/day). The results obtained were used to plot a regression curve of exchange rate (%) against average growth rate (g/wk).

Out of the 90 fingerlings that were used, 42 were lost during experimental procedure. The survival rate was 53.33%. The major cause of these loses were attributed to cannibalism, death by treatment and desiccation. There was no significant growth difference in the water quality experiment wheras a significant growth difference with the water exchange experiment was observed.

The results obtained from the experiment showed that individual water parameters have insignificant effect on the fish growth but when combined they can significantly affect fish growth. Therefore, when cultivating Clarias gariepinus along Mount Cameroon Region the major aspect to consider should be the water exchange rate as long as the other water parameters (Tempereture, pH, Ammonia etc) are within the tolerance limits.

Recommendations
- More research should be done to determine the effect of stocking density to cannibalism.
- Various pond shapes should be used to evalaute if pond shapes can affect growth and cannibalism.
- Series of water exchange rate can be tested to determine the best water exchange rate for Clarias gariepinus growth.

Supervised by Anders Persson (PhD.) Department of Biology, Lund University Sweden.
Co-supervised by, Pius Mbu Oben (PhD.) Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Buea Cameroon.

• author: Nkengayi Ategwa, Ernest
• supervisor: Pius Mbu Oben
• organization: Degree Projects in Biology
• course: BIOM21 20101
• year: 2011
• type: H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
• subject: Biology and Life Sciences
• language: English
• id: 8164305
• date added to LUP: 2015-11-04 11:58:39
• date last changed: 2015-11-06 09:15:44