Prey Selection by African Catfish Clarias gariepinus (Burchell, 1822) Larvae Fed Different Feeding Regimes

Authors: ERDAL YILMAZ, AHMET BOZKURT, KAYA GÖKÇEK

Abstract: Live prey selection by African catfish, Clarias gariepinus, larvae was examined under laboratory conditions. Larvae were offered plankton, plankton + trout starter (TS) and plankton + betaine supplemented trout diet (BTS) for 7 days after exogenous feeding. Five larvae were sampled to determine their gut contents and selectivity index for each treatment 15 min after the feeding. It was observed that dry diets (TS and BTS) improved the growth (P < 0.05), but did not significantly influence the prey selection of the larvae. It was determined that African catfish larvae preferred Copepods and Rotaria sp. to other zooplankton species for all feeding regimes.

Keywords: Clarias gariepinus, prey, selectivity, rotifer, copepod, betaine

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