Hatching trials with eggs of the armoured catfish Hoplosternum
littorale (Hancock)
I.W.
Ramnarine-2001
Aquaculture,
198 (1-2): 123-127
Abstract:
The
armoured catfish Hoplosternum littorale (Hancock) is commercially
cultured in Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana and Suriname. In some culture
systems, fingerlings are collected from the wild, but more commonly the
fingerlings are hatchery produced. Hatching success is a key problem. In
initial hatching trials with low hatching success, the culture water was
found to contain high populations of the bacterium Aeromonas hydrophila
and the fungus Saprolegnia sp. In subsequent trials, the egg masses
were treated with antibiotics and anti-fungal agents. While the anti-fungal
treatment of intact egg masses had little apparent effect on hatching
success, the antibiotic treatment resulted in an increase from 52.2% to
60.5%. When egg masses were broken into smaller pieces and treated with
antibiotics and anti-fungal agents, hatching success increased from 50.0% to
81.8%. This suggests that treatment of the egg masses with antibiotics and
anti-fungal agents is more effective with smaller egg masses.
(Department
of Life Sciences, University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad and
Tobago, Tel.: +1-868-645-3232/9 ext. 3093; fax: +1-868-663-9686, e-mail: Indar_Ramnarine@hotmail.com)