Indian J. Fish., 50(4) : 473-477, Oct.-Dec.

, 2003

473

Effect of different feeds on growth, survival and production of freshwater mud eel, Monopterus cuchia (Hamilton)
N. T. NAREJO*, S. M. RAHMATULLAH AND M. MAMNUR RASHID
Department of Aquaculture, Faculty of Fisheries, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh, Bangladesh * Department of Freshwater Biology and Fisheries, University of Sindh, Jamshoro, Sindh, Pakistan

ABSTRACT
An experiment was conducted to study the effect of different feeds on growth, survival and production of freshwater mud eel, Monopterus cuchia reared in cemented cisterns (1.25m2 each) over a period of twelve months from July 2000 to June 2001. Three different feeds namely F 1(live small fish), F 2 (dead small fish) and F 3 (pellet feed, 30% protein) were applied to treatment I, II and III respectively. Each cistern was stocked with ten fish having mean initial body weight of 30.5 4.25 g, each treatment was replicated thrice. Highest weight gain of 71.20 3.78 g was obtained in treatment II (p<0.05), followed by treatment I (46.46 2.30 g) and lowest 26.10 2.40 g in treatment III. Survival 76.66 4.76%, specific growth rate 0.3297 0.01 and production 0.624 0.056 Kg/ m2/ year were also highest in treatment II. Weight gain was observed throughout the study period from February to November. However, slight weight loss (estivation) was observed during winter from December to January. Water quality parameters like temperature, dissolved oxygen, pH and alkalinity were optimum. On the basis of better growth, survival rate and production, it is suggested that dead small fish are suitable for the culture of M. cuchia in cemented cisterns.

Introduction
Freshwater eel culture is a low-cost system compared to other small-scale fish culture projects. Freshwater eel culture does not necessarily require large water bodies and expensive formulated feed. The mud eel is quite hardy and pollution resistant. It can be profitably raised with aquatic crops like swamp cabbage (Nasar, 1997).

Monopterus cuchia commonly occurs in the freshwaters of Bangladesh, Pakistan, northern and northeastern India and Nepal (Jhingran and Talwar, 1991). In Bangladesh it is found throughout the country, more commonly in mud-holes, shallow beels and boro-paddy fields particularly in Sylhet, Mymensingh and Tangail Districts (Rahman, 1989). M. cuchia is carnivorous and nocturnal, pre-

N. T. Narejo et al. fers animal based foods like, small fishes, molluscs and worms. It often spends the day hiding under crevices, water hyacinth, stones and mud. It comes out at night in search of food and may go into adjacent water bodies to feed. The mud eel can serve as a predator against golden snails (which have become a pest) in some Asian countries, particularly Philippines and Vietnam (Nasar, 1997). No work has been reported on the growth, survival and production of this species. Few isolated studies related to the haematology (Mishra et al., 1977 and Narejo et al., 2001), histochemistry of the unicellular gland (Mittal and Agrawal, 1977; Mittal et al., 1980) structure and histochemistry of epidermis and respiratory adaptations (Singh et al., 1989) are, however available. Hence, the present study was undertaken to examine the effect of different food items on growth, survival and production of M.cuchia

474 (Seymour, 1980). Ten fish of same size (30.5 g 4.25) were reared in each cistern and three replicates were maintained for each treatment. About 2/3 of the cistern was covered with water hyacinth as shelter. Initially the feeds comprising of live small fish and dead small fish were supplied at the rate of 5% of the body weight, while 5.0 g of pellet feed was given once daily at 5.00 PM for one week. Sampling was done monthly. Water quality parameters like temperature, dissolved oxygen, pH, alkalinity were recorded monthly throughout the study period. The pellet feed was made from locally available raw materials and their percentage composition is given below. Mustard oil cake Fish meal Rice bran Wheat bran Atta Vitamin Salt = = = = = = = 15 55 11 14 4.7 0.1 0.2

Materials and methods

Fishes of uniform size (30.5 4.25 g) were obtained from local fishermen, acclimatized for 15 days in a cemented cistern with water hyacinth shelter. Ninecemented cisterns (1.25 m2 each) were chosen instead of mud ponds, to avoid burrowing of eels. The culture of mud eel with different feeds were conducted for twelve months from July 2000 to June 2001. These cisterns are adjacent to the Faculty of Fisheries, Bangladesh Agricultural University Mymensingh. Each cistern was provided with different food items like live small fish, dead small fish and pellet feed and designated as treatment I, II and III respectively. Water depth was maintained at 30.0 cm for all the cisterns. Alternate day water exchange was carried out to prevent accumulation of growth inhibitory ammonia

All the feeds were analysed for proximate composition using standard methods (AOAC, 1980) (Table 2). Statistical analysis was performed using single factor analysis of variance (ANOVA). Duncan's new multiple range test (DMRT) was performed to compare the treatment means.

Results
The weight gain was significantly (P<0.05) high (71.20 3.78 g) in treatment II and lowest (26.10 2.40 g) in treatment III with pellet feed (30% protein). The specific growth rate (% per day) of fish in different treatments varied between 0.1691 and 0.3297. Highest value

Effect of feeds on growth of mud eel

TABLE 1: Water quality parameters from cemented cisterns Months Temperature (C) July 2000 August September October November December January 2001 February March April May June 31.1 28.9 27.9 27.7 21.4 16.4 10.5 19.2 26.8 27.5 27.4 28.1 pH 7.48 7.60 7.50 7.40 7.37 7.40 7.45 7.40 7.35 7.30 7.33 7.30 Parameters DO (mg/L) 4.9 4.8 4.7 4.9 4.5 5.4 5.5 5.6 4.6 4.8 4.8 4.7

475

Alkalinity (mg/L) 150 154 155 152 150 148 145 146 149 152 180 160

TABLE 2. Proximate composition of the different feeds. Food items Live small fish Dead small fish Pellet feed Moisture (%) 32.10 31.38 20.0 Ash (%) 15.40 15.30 14.3 Crude lipid (%) 9.30 9.50 6.90 Protein (%) 20.30 20.30 30.0 Crude fibre (%) 0.70 0.72 1.40 NFE* (%) 22.20 21.60 21.00

* Nitrogen free axtract calculated as: 100- % (Moisture + Protein + Lipid + Ash + Crude fibre).

TABLE 3:

Growth, survival and production of M. cuchia in different treatments reared in cemented cisterns Treatment I 30.51a 4.252 76.96b 2.30 46.46b 2.30 152.32b 7.57 0.2534b 0.0081 70b 10.00 0.430b 0.046 Treatment II 30.5a 3.45 101.70a 3.78 71.20a 3.78 233.44a 12.41 0.3297a 0.0101 76.66a 4.67 0.624a 0.056 Treatment III 30.5a 1.25 56.60c 2.40 26.10c 2.40 85.57c 7.88 0.1691c 0.0072 53.33c 4.75 0.241c 0.183

Parameters Initial weight Final weight Weight gain % Weight gain SGR (% per day) Survival rate % Production (Kg/m2/year)

1.Figures in the same row having the same superscripts are not significantly different (p> 0.05). Figures having different superscript are different significantly. 2. Standard deviation.

N. T. Narejo et al.

476 The specific growth rate of fish in all treatments was found to be very poor, which might be due to the size of the experimental fishes. However, the highest SGR (0.3297) was found in treatment II and lowest (0.1619) in treatment III. Usui (1974) in A. anguilla, Nasar (1997) in M. cuchia and Narejo et al. (2002) in snake eel (Pisodonophis boro) reported similar findings. In the present study slight weight loss (estivation) was observed during winter from December to January during low water temperature (10 16 C). Nasar (1997) reported an ideal temperature of 20 to 35C for proper feeding and growth of M. cuchia. Usui (1974) reported that below a temperature of 12 C A. japonica, A anguilla and A. rostrata do not feed and thus do not grow at all. Brown (1957) reported that temperature altered the rates of metabolic process and could be expected to have a considerable effect on the growth of poikilothermous animals. Nikolsky (1963) observed that metabolic rates were closely connected with changes in temperature of the surrounding water. The above findings are in agreement with the present study. The survival rate of fish fed with different feeds ranged from 53.33 to 76.66%, with highest value in treatment II. Nahar et al. (2000) and Narejo et al. (2002) reported similar survival rate (83 %) in C. gariepinus and (70%) in snake eel, P. boro respectively when fed with dead small fish. The total production of fish ranged from 0.241 to 0.624 Kg/m2/year. The highest production of fish obtained in treatment II might be due to greater survival. However, the production obtained in the present study was lower than that of Nahar et al. (2000) and Viveen et al. (1985) where 4500- 5000 Kg/ha/120days and 9700 Kg/ha/ 365 days in C. gariepinus respectively were obtained which was higher than that reported by

120 100 80 60 40 20 0

Mean weig ht (g)

feed 1 feed 2 feed 3

Fig 1: Mean growth of M. cuchia in terms of weight gain (g) fed with different feeds.

(P <0.05) was obtained in treatment II and lowest in treatment III. The survival rate varied significantly (P>0.05) among the treatments. The highest survival rate (76.66 4.67%) was in treatment II followed by treatment I (70.0 10.0%) and the lowest (53.33 4.75%) in treatment III. The highest fish production (0.624 0.056 Kg/m2/year) was obtained in treatment II followed by treatment I (0.430 0.046) and lowest in treatment III (0.241 0.18) (Table 3). The Initial average weight of 30.5 4.25 g reached a final weight of 76.96 g, 101.70 g and 56.60 g for treatment I, II and III respectively (Fig. 1). The weight gain was observed in all treatments from February to November, however slight weight loss (estivation) was observed from December to January.

Discussion
Growth rate of M.cuchia was highest in treatment II fed with dead small fish. Various authors have reported similar observations (Usui, 1974; Chen, 1976; Golani et al., 1988; Nasar, 1997)) In the present study the increasing trend of mean weight gain in fish was obtained from February to November. It might be due to the optimum water temperature (19 - 31C).

Ju Au ne g O c u st D e to b ce er m Fa be br r ua ry Ap ri Ju l ne
Months

Effect of feeds on growth of mud eel Narejo et al. (2002) in snake eel, P. boro. It is clear from the present study that M. cuchia could be reared successfully with live feed (dead small fish) with better growth rate, survival and production.

477
vival and production of African catfish (Clarias gariepinus, Burchell). Bangladesh J.Fish. Res., 4 (2): 121-126. Narejo, N.T., M. Mamnur Rashid and S. M. Rahmatullah 2001. Variations in the haematological parameters of the freshwater mud eel, Monopterus cuchia (Hamilton) with respect to sex and season. Bangladesh.Vet., 18 (1): 49-57. Narejo, N. T., M. M. Haque and S. M. Rahmatullah 2002a. Growth performance of snake eel, Pisodonophis boro (Hamilton) reared experimentally with different food items. Bangladesh J. Train & Devet., 15 (1). Nasar, S. S. T. 1997. Backyard eel culture: International Institute of rural reconstruction, Silang, Cavite, Philippines. 88pp. Nikolsky, G. V. 1963. The Ecology of Fishes. Academic press Inc. London and New York. 17-19 p. Rahman, A. K. A. 1989. Freshwater Fishes of Bangladesh. 364 pp. Rashid, M. H., S. M. Rahmatullah and M. R. Amin 1996. Preparation of low cost feed for cage culture of pangus Pangasius sutchi (Fowler). Bangladesh J. Fish., 19 (1-2): 45-52. Seymour, E. A. 1980. The effects and control of algal blooms in fishponds. Aquaculture, 19: 55-74. Singh, B. N., M. A. Toowheed and J. S. D. Munshi 1989. Respiratory adaptations in the larvae of Monopterus cuchia (Ham.). J.Fish Biol., 34: 637-638. Viveen, W. J. A. R., C. J. J. Richter, P. G. W. J. Van Oordt, J. A. L. Jansen and E. A. Huisman 1985. Manual for the culture of the African catfish (Clarias gariepinus). Directorate General for International Technical Cooperation, Hogue, Netherlands. 93 pp. Usui, A. 1974. Eel culture: Fishing News Books Limited, England, 188 pp.

References
AOAC. 1980. Official Methods of Analysis. 13th edition, Washington D. C. 1018 pp. Brown, M. F. 1957. The Physiology of Fishes. Academic press Inc. Publishers. New York. Vol 1. 390-392 p. Chen, T. P. 1976. Aquaculture Practices in Taiwan. Fishing News Books Limited. 1 Long Garden Walk, Farnham, Surrey, England. 163 pp. Golani, D., D. Shefler and A. Gelman 1988. Aspects of growth and feeding habits of the adult European eel, ( Anguilla anguilla ) in lake Kinneret (Lake Tiberias) Israel. Aquaculture, 74 (3-4): 349-354. Jhingran, A.G. and P.K. Talwar 1991. Inland Fisheries of India and Adjacent Countries. Vol, 1 Oxford and IBH publishing co. Pvt. Ltd. Calcutta. 514 pp. Mishra, N., P. K. Pandey and J. S. Datta Munshi 1977. Haematological parameters of an air-breathing mud eel, Monopterus cuchia (Ham.) (Amphipnoidae; Pisces). J. Fish Biol., 10 : 567-573. Mittal, A. K. and S. K. Agarwal 1977. Histochemistry of the unicellular glands in relation with their physiological significance in the epidermis of Monopterus cuchia (synbranchiformes, Pisces). J. Zool. Lond., 182: 429-439. Mittal, A. K., M. Whitear and S. K. Agrawal 1980. The structure and histochemistry of the epidermis of Monopterus cuchia. J. Zool. Lond., 191: 107-125. Nahar, Z., A. K. M. Azad Shah, R. K. Bhandari, M. H. Ali and S. Dewan. 2000. Effect of different feeds on growth, sur-