Reproductive Fitness of Stressed Female Catfish Broodstock of Clarias gariepinus

Effect of stress on the hatchability rates of stressed female broodstock and fry survival rates was investigated in this study. Breeding performance of Clarias gariepinus (0.95±0.32g) under different stress conditions; Starvation (ST) for 7 days, Unguided Daily sampling (UD) of fish on the last 7 days before hormonal injection for breeding , Low water level (LW) in fish tank for the last 7 days prior to breeding exercise and Control (CT). Experimental fish were injected hormone (Ovaprim) intramuscularly at an angle of 30 45 o of the dorsal fin to artificially induce them for spawning at the rate of 0.5ml/kg of fish. Weight of eggs stripped ranged between 70g and 90g with recorded mortalities except in CT. Hatchability rate varied significantly (p ST>UD. The significant better performance of fish under control experiment vindicated that stress is a major factor in broodstock performance which is capable of adversely affecting fry survival rates. It is therefore recommended that stress in fish should be minimized towards ensuring successful hatchery operations.