International Journal of Aquaculture, 2018, Vol.8, No.22, 161-167
161
Research Report Open Access
Optimal Feeding Frequency for African Sneakhead Fish (
Parachanna obscura
,
Gunther, 1861) Fingerlings Reared in Captivity
Diane N.S Kpogue
1
, Herman K. Gangbazo
2
, Juste Vital Vodounnou
3
, G.A. Mensah
4
, Emile D. Fiogbe
3
1 National University of Agriculture, BP 43 Ketou, Benin
2 Halieutic Production Direction 01 BP 383 Cotonou, Benin
3 University of Abomey-Calavi, Faculty of Sciences and Techniques, Laboratory of Research in the Wetlands, 01 BP 526 Cotonou, Benin
4 National Institute of Agriculture, Research of the Benin, 01 BP 884 Cotonou, Benin
Corresponding author Email
International Journal of Aquaculture, 2018, Vol.8, No.22 doi
Received: 28 Jun., 2018
Accepted: 29 Sep., 2018
Published: 12 Oct., 2018
Copyright © 2018
Kpogue et al., 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.
Preferred citation for this article
:
Kpogue D.N.S., Gangbazo H.K., Vodounnou J.V., Mensah G.A., and Fiogbe E.D., 2018, Optimal feeding frequency for African sneakhead fish (
Parachanna
obscura
, Gunther, 1861) fingerlings reared in captivity, International Journal of Aquaculture, 8(22): 161-167 (doi
Abstract
Parachanna obscura
is a fish that has a good economic value and is an important performance for aquaculture. By
identifying the optimum stocking density and frequency of feeding, farmers can successfully decrease the feed charge and increase
growth performance. The aim of our study is to define optimum frequency of feeding of
P. obscura
fingerlings reared controlled
condition. Therefore the experiment was conducted during three months. The fingerlings of
P. obscura
were fed one of four
schedules at 3% of body weight. The initial weight body was 13.27±0.07 g. At the end of this study, the results prove that survival
rates were 100% and were not significantly affected by the frequency of feeding (
p
˃0.05). Growth performances varied significantly
with treatments (
p
<0.05). The augmentation of frequency of feeding above 3 times/day did not produce any significant (
p
˃0.05)
improvement of growth. Therefore, optimal feeding frequency for
Parachanna obscura
fingerlings reared in controlled conditions is
three times daily.
Keyword
s
Feeding frequency;
P. obscura
; Fingerlings; Diet
Background
The snakehead belonging to the family Channidae is one of the important native fish of freshwater of tropical
Africa and Asia (Ng and Lim, 1990). The local and international markets greatly demand on Channidae due to its
tasty flesh and medicinal value in enhancing wound healing and reducing potsoperative pain (Mollah et al., 2009).
Parachanna obscura
is the most common African Channidae (Bonou and Teugels, 1985). It is a hardy species that
supports stressful conditions (Kpoguè et al., 2013a). It has good economic value and is an important performance
for aquaculture (Micha, 1974; Boladji et al., 2011). It is not a fatty fish but an intermediate one (Mujina et al.,
2009). It is consumed for its nutritional value (Ama-Abasi and Ogar, 2013) and its flesh is white, firm, practically
boneless and has an good flavor. To maintain this fish population as well as its rehabilitation and conservation,
development of a suitable technology for rearing of
P. obscura
fingerlings is necessary. Efforts on culturing
P.
obscura
merely start and end at collecting them from the wild. It is reared in small reservoirs in hydro-
agricultural purpose in Ivory Cost (Lazard and Legendre, 1994). It is also extensively cultured in Cameroon,
Nigeria and Democratic Republic of Congo (De Graaf, 2004; FAO, 2007; Bassey and Ajah, 2010). In intensive
fingerlings culture, several factors influence survival rate, welfare, growth, feed efficiency, production including
feeding level (El-Sayed, 2002; Imtiaz, 2007), dietary nutrient level (NRC, 1993), stocking density (Ma et al.,
2006; Chambel et al., 2015; Gao et al., 2017) and feeding frequency (Jamabo et al., 2015). The overfeeding of fish
pollutes the water of the aquaculture and meant expenses supplement on the production cost. However, the
optimization of the feed ration and the frequency of distribution constitute fields of research in the aquaculture. In
aquaculture, stocking density is the concentration which fish are stocked into a system (De Oliveira et al., 2012).
By identifying the optimum stocking density and feeding frequency, farmers can successfully decrease the feed
cost and increase growth and also able to manage other parameters such as variation of individual size and
qualities of water which are deemed important in rearing of fish in culture conditions. Feeding level requirements,
dietary (protein, lipid and carbohydrate) level requirements of
P. obscura
fingerlings have been determined by
