INTRODUCTION

Artificial induced spawning is a technique whereby hemaes are used to accelerate

breeding process of fishes
The sexuality of spawning is a major problem in the production of African catfish
(claries geviepines) naturally catfish breeds in the open water during the rainy
season when the temperature is between 22-25c
Another major problem is the African catfish is the bottleneck of Laval rearing
This include water management the initial larvae feeds and temperature control
Sex Determination/Broods tock Selection
The male fish can be determined by the head muscles and the protruding genital
papilla while the female fishes can be determined by the gentile opening and the
size of the abdomen.
Gonads maturation starts during the rainy season with water temperature slightly
above v25c
1.1 Selection of brood fish and maintenance of broodstock
Large specimens of about 1-5kg are selected and transfer to the catfish
hatchery. Female of this size may yield between 30.000 and 500.000 eggs.
They are kept in flow-through thanks at high densities of 100 kg/m3. The
oxygen level is maintained above 3mg /me, light-dark cycle 912 L: 12D) or in
continuous semi-darkness. The water temperature is maintained close to 25c.
The fish are fed catfish pellet at a feeding rate of 0.5% of their body wet
weight per day.
1.2 Breeding
For the purpose of hormonally-induced breeding, female brood fish are
stocked in separation tanks and arent fed for about 36 h to empty their
stomach before stripping. Determination of the development stage can be
done macroscopically by the visible increased size and softness of the belly,
or by analyzing the size of post-vitellogenic acolytes. This is done by
canulation of the ovaries and sub sequentially measuring the annulated post-
vitellogenic oocytes. The mean diameter of the oocytes should be more then
1, 05 mm.
It is generally not possible to evaluate the ripeness of male fish by means of
external examination. One or two males must therefore be killed or surgically
operated, and dissected to reveal the condition of their tastes. The presence
of ripe sperm in the testes is indicated by white, opaque, milky colour
 extending form the distal margin into the body of the testis. Unripe testes are
usually smaller and have a translucent colour.

2.1 introduction
Artificial spawning is most commonly induced by hypophyzation, which
involves the injection of a fish pituitary gland homogenate into female fish to
stimulate the final egg maturation and ovulation.
Different synthetic hormones are also available (such as Human Chorionic
Gonadotropin (HCG). Luteinizing Hormone Releasing hormone analog
(LHRHa), Gonadotropin Releasing Hormone (GnRH) and others) but these are
expensive and sometimes difficult to obtain for farmers.
In this chapter, the preparation and administration of a pituitary homogenate
is described.

2.2 Preparation of the pituitary extract

The hypothesis can be removed from male or female catfish by the following
steps (Vivien et al., 1985):
A specimen must be killed (preferably a male, which must be killed for its
sperm anyway) and the head must be taken off.
The head is divided by the middle of the mouth leaving at surface the bones
of the head.
The hypophysis is found as a small round-shaped organ, situated at the
ventral part of the basis (sellaturcica).
After the removal, the hypophysis can be placed in a mortar and mixed with a
physiological solution (0,9% NaCl).the volume of physiological solution used
is 1 ml per kg bodyweight of the recipient containing acetone (1 ml per
hypophysis).
The acetone has to be renewed after 10 min and again after 8 h.
The hypophysis must then be taken out of the acetone 24 h later.
Finally the hypophysis can be air-dried by evaporation in a dark room and
stocked in a closed recipient in a fresh place. This dehydrated hypophysis is
used the same way as the fresh one.

2.3 Administering the pituitary extract

The female fish is intramuscular or intraperitoneal injected with a
syringe near the ventral fin. After the injection, it is advised to apply a
little friction on the muscle to allow a good distribution of the injected
suspension. Following hypophyzised
 the female fish are placed separately into smaller tanks because of
their aggressive behavior which occurs prior to spawning. If catfish are
kept together at this time, they severely injure each other. In addition,
the tanks as a result of their vigorous prespawning activity.
Generally 12 hours after injection (at 25C), the females are ready for
stripping.
3.1 Testes extraction and milt harvest
The testes are situated in the dorsal part of the abdominal cavity of
the male. They are lobulated and show a white opaque color. The
testes are removed by either killing the fish or after a surgical
operation (Nguenga et al. 1996). Since the milt cannot be obtained by
stripping a male, this is the only way to obtain the milt. (See above)
Once the eggs are ready for fertilization, the milt is obtained from the
testes by cutting little incisions in the external part of the lobules. The milt
can be preserved for a couple of hours in physiological serum (or better,
in semen extender) at 4 C in a refrigerator. The milt can also be conserved
for a longer time with cryopreservation. When appropriate, sperm quality
can be controlled under the microscope by placing a small drop on a slide
and adding a drop of water to activate the sperm. When the spermatozoa
are still moving after 30 seconds, the sperm is good enough to ensure the
fertilization of the ova.
4.2 Harvesting The Eggs
An ovulation female can be recognized by a thickness and softness of the
belly region or by canulation (see above). However, 12 hours after the
hypophyzation (at 25 C), it is almost sure that the females are ready for
spawning. The female is taken out of the tank, preferably held by two
persons with wet towels to avoid injury to fish. The ventral sides of the
fish have to be dried and gently pressed, to extrude the eggs. An
estimation of the weight of the eggs has to be done in order to ensure the
fertilization of a high quality of eggs.
5. Fertilization
 Artificial fertilization takes place when milt is dispersed on the eggs. After
squeezing the testes over the eggs, a small quantity of water from the
incubation is added. The eggs are mixed using water or a soft rubber
spatula for at least two minutes. This method is called dry fertilization.
Another method wet fertilization includes the dilution of sperm in a
buffer solution before adding it to the eggs. The dilution is then kept at
4C.b This second has the advantage that its possible to prolongate the
duration of spermatozoa motility to up to 1 day.
4.1 Egg incubation
After mixing, more water is added to almost fill the bowl in order to let
the eggs hydrate and develop adhesive properties as a result of the
deactivation of the micropyle .The excess water and the eggs are spread
in a monolayer over an incubation gauze the process is continued using
several frames, which are all placed at a downward angle in the
incubation trough. This position allows free-swimming hatchings to leave
the frame while dead and unfertilized eggs still hang on. The frame can
then easily be removed. if the eggs do not readily adhere to the gauze
frames, an interval of 30 to 60 seconds is allowed to elapse , so that the
adhesiveness of the eggs may develop.

4.2 Water characteristics for incubation

The incubation trough is supplied with a flow of aerated water. The eggs
are maintained under low light intensity or even darkness. Direct
sunlight is fatal to the eggs .The optimum temperature for incubation is
280c.Eggs are, however, tolerant to temperature extremes and will
hatch successfully in 17 to 33oc.

4.3 Hatching of the eggs

Hatching is temperature and takes between 20 and 24 hours after
fertility within the optimum temperature range. At temperature below
 23oc, mortalities are often due to the increase in developmental time
and the greater occurrence of fungus (Saprolenia and others) infections.
The hatching of a batch of eggs is usually complete within three hours
after the first eggs have started to hatch. The incubation frames are
then carefully removed from the hatching trough in order to prevent the
dislodging of the dead eggs and empty eggs cases, which promote
fungal infections.

5.1 Introduction
At hatching, the larvae measure 5 to 7 mm and weight between 1,2 and
3,0 mg. the free-swimming embryos (hatchings) are photophobic and for
aggregations on the bottom of the incubation tank. Taking advantage of
their photophobic behavior, it is possible to concentrate them in a dark
corner of the tank and to remove both deformed and weak hatching
using a siphon.
5.2 Feeding
Exogenous feeding starts on the second or third day after hatching,
before the yolk sac is completely adsorbed. Artemia nauplii in
combination with a formulated dry feed. It has been shown that a
continual supply of food produce the highest growth rates. In practice,
larvae are fed ad labium by hand every 2 or 3 hours for 16 to 18 hours a
day.
However, Van Damme et al. (1990) have demonstrated that the best
growth was obtained with larvae fed Artemia only on (250 mg average
weight after 11 days). Verreth et al.. (1994) find that Artemia cysts have
advantage over a dry feed.
The larvae grow very rapidly after the start of exogenous feeding (about
100% of body per day). The feeding with Artemia nauplii is stopped on
the second or third day after the start of exogenous feeding when the
larvae are big enough to ingest inert food particles or zooplankton
(usually daphnia) .If an abundance of live food is available, a constant
 concentration of live feed organism is maintained in the larval rearing
system as this greatly enhance their growth rate.
7.3 Predation on the Larvae
Several studies have been carried out on the principal predators on the
larvae of claries gariepinus.However, one of the most important
predators seems to be toad tadpoles(Bufo regularies).In the laboratory
conditions it was observed that the predator pressure was very high
(100 mortality) during the yolk-sac stage and reduced gradually as the
larvae increased size(Nguenga et al. 19970).Based on these result, it
was suggested to transfer the fry into nursing pond only when they
have reached a size greater than 10mm to avoid their predator during
the primary nursing phase.
7.4 Optimal environment conditions1
Temperature:
The optimal temperature for growth appears to be 30c, however,
temperature in the range between 26c to 33c yield acceptable growth.
At temperatures below this range, growth rates decreases but survival
is still good.However,28c is the optimal temperature for both yolk sac
absorption and maximum growth rate(Kalmar et al., 1994)
Photoperiod:
A OL: 24D photoperiod ( continual darkness) appears optimal. Although
larval growth decreases with longer light photoperiods, survival is good
Salinity:
A salinity range of 0 to 2.5 appears to be optimal, however, larval
growth is acceptable up to 5% salinity and survival is good nup to
7.5%.
Oxygen:
Although the effect of oxygen on larval growth and survival has not
been quantified, well oxygenated water is recommended. This is
easily achieved by means of aeration or good flow rates.
Water quality:
The species display large tolerance to ammonia. Under normal
hatchery rearing conditions, ammonia does not appear to be a limiting
or lethal factor.
 Density
Growth is density dependent; the higher the rearing density of larvae,
the lower their growth rate. Some studies have determined that the
hatchery production will increase up to a density of 400 individual, per
litre