The Study on Growth Performance of African Catfish (Clarias gariepinus) Reared in Earthen Pond Farming System

Aquaculture industry involves culture of many fish species of either fresh or brackish water origin such as tilapia and catfish. The African catfish (Clarias gariepinus) is one of most popular freshwater fish and have a high demand in Malaysia. This research study was carried out to monitoring the growth performance of African catfish (C. gariepinus) reared in earthen pond farming system. Thirty thousand (30 000) of African catfish (C. gariepinus) fingerlings were stocked in the earthen pond farming system with the size of 30.48 m × 12.19 m. The growth performance of African catfish (C. gariepinus) was evaluated for eight weeks. Water quality, percentage weight gain (PWG), specific growth rate (SGR) and feed conversion ratio (FCR) were determined. Initial body weight of African catfish (C. gariepinus) was 8.05 g ± 0.08 and final body weight of African catfish on week 8 was 19.74 g ± 0.27. The highest growth rate of African catfish (C. gariepinus) was showed on week 2 which was 0.45 g ± 0.06. The least value of feed conversion ratio was resulted in week 2 which was 0.14 ± 0.03 which was the best value for feed conversion ratio. All the water quality parameters were within the acceptable range for African catfish (C. gariepinus). In conclusion, earthen pond
culture system was applicable for African catfish (C. gariepinus) farming.