Influence of initial stocking density on growth performance and survival of European catfish (Silurus glanis L.) larvae under controlled conditions

Vasilka Krasteva

Abstract: This paper presents the influence of initial stocking density on European catfish (Silurus glanis L.) larvae growth performance indicators. The experimental unit was a flow-through system with complete water turnover every 43 min. The research was carried out at the Institute of fisheries and aquaculture, Plovdiv in two consecutive years (2017-Experiment I and 2018-Experiment II). The experimental design includes the evaluation of three variants of stocking densities: variant A-10 ind.l-1, variant B-20 ind.l-1 and variant C-40 ind.l-1. The results from the study demonstrated that the weight gain (IWG, mg) was strongly affected by the stocking density. It is the highest in the lowest stocking density (Variant A) in both experiments. The survival rate was the highest in variant B, respectively 70.9% in 2017 and 89.9% in 2018. The specific growth rate (SGR, %.day-1) and the daily growth rate (DGR, mg.day-1) were the highest in variant A in Experiment I and Experiment II. The recorded values of food conversion ratio (FCR) were the highest in variant C (1.2) in both years.

Keywords: European catfish; growth; initial density; larvae; rearing; Silurus glanis; survival

Date published: 2020-02-27