International Journal of Entomology Research

Authors
S Nahar, MM Nabi, Md Abdul Halim

Abstract
The experiment was carried out to optimize the stocking density of air breathing fish Heteropneustes fossilis in a cemented dewatering canal with six segments in Bangabandhu Academy for Poverty Alleviation and Rural Development (BAPARD), Kotalipara campus under Gopalganj district, Bangladesh from 15 February to 15 July, 2018. Three stocking densities such as 20 (T₁), 25 (T₂) and 30 (T₃) per m² were tested with two replications each. Fish were fed with commercial pelleted feed containing 36% crude protein. After six months rearing, the mean harvesting weights of Heteropneustes fossilis were 59.70±0.51, 52.40±0.87 and 48.21±0.1.23 g in T₁, T₂ and T₃, respectively. The best survival was found in T₁ among the treatments. The FCR was 1.5±0.30, 1.75±0.35 and 1.85±0.14 in T₁, T₂ and T₃ respectively. SGR in T₁ (1.15) was significantly higher than T₂ (1.04) and T₃ (0.97). FCR was lower in T₁ (2.39) than in T₂ (3.11) and T₃ (3.45). The percentage of survival as recorded in the present study was 80, 68 and 60 for T₁, T₂ and T₃, respectively. The mean production of H. fossilis was 0.95, 0.89 and 0.87 kg per m² or 9386.00, 8793.20 and 8595.60 kg/ha in T₁, T₂ and T₃, respectively. In the present study, the total expenditure of production (BDT/ha) was lower in T₁ (25, 18, 115.60) than T₂ (31, 75, 440.80) and T₃ (31, 86, 102. 40). The net return gained from 180 days culture period was obtained as BDT 12,36,284.40, 6,54,747.60 and 2,52,137.60/ha for T₁, T₂ and T₃, respectively.