<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>Cannibalism is an important characteristic of African catfish that significantly reduces the number of stocked fish at harvest. This study evaluates the effect of reciprocal hybridization of <italic>Clarias batrachus</italic> and <italic>Clarias gariepinus</italic> on cannibalism and growth performance of their progenies in an indoor rearing system. The result obtained reveals excellent performance of hybrids of <italic>C. gariepinus</italic> ♂ and <italic>C. batrachus</italic> ♀ over the purebreds in terms of growth. However, the reciprocal hybrids between <italic>C. gariepinus</italic> ♀ and <italic>C. batrachus</italic> ♂ all died few hours after hatching. Cannibalism was significantly reduced in the crosses between <italic>C. gariepinus</italic> ♂ and <italic>C. batrachus</italic> ♀ with 100% survival after five months of culture. Hence, this could be exploited in commercial production of catfish to reduce cannibalism and increase harvest size of fish farmers.</p></abstract>

Cannibalism is an important characteristic of African catfish that significantly reduces the number of stocked fish at harvest. This study evaluates the effect of reciprocal hybridization of Clarias batrachus and Clarias gariepinus on cannibalism and growth performance of their progenies in an indoor rearing system. The result obtained reveals excellent performance of hybrids of C. gariepinus ♂ and C. batrachus ♀ over the purebreds in terms of growth. However, the reciprocal hybrids between C. gariepinus ♀ and C. batrachus ♂ all died few hours after hatching. Cannibalism was significantly reduced in the crosses between C. gariepinus ♂ and C. batrachus ♀ with 100% survival after five months of culture. Hence, this could be exploited in commercial production of catfish to reduce cannibalism and increase harvest size of fish farmers.

Cannibalism and Performance Evaluation of Hybrids between <italic>Clarias batrachus</italic> and <italic>Clarias gariepinus</italic>

Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture, University of Agriculture Makurdi,

Croatian Journal of Fisheries

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Cannibalism and Performance Evaluation of Hybrids between  and 

Cannibalism is an important characteristic of African catfish that significantly reduces the number of stocked fish at harvest. This study evaluates the effect...

Cannibalism and Performance Evaluation of Hybrids between Clarias batrachus and Clarias gariepinus

Published Online: Oct 17, 2016

Page range: 124 - 129

Received: Feb 16, 2016

Accepted: May 18, 2016

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/cjf-2016-0019

Keywords
Hybridization, African catfish, Aggressive behavior, Cannibalism, Asian catfish

© 2016 Samuel Olabode Olufeagba et al., published by De Gruyter Open

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Cannibalism and Performance Evaluation of Hybrids between Clarias batrachus and Clarias gariepinus

Published Online: Oct 17, 2016

Page range: 124 - 129

Received: Feb 16, 2016

Accepted: May 18, 2016

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/cjf-2016-0019

KeywordsHybridization, African catfish, Aggressive behavior, Cannibalism, Asian catfish

© 2016 Samuel Olabode Olufeagba et al., published by De Gruyter Open

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
Hybridization, African catfish, Aggressive behavior, Cannibalism, Asian catfish