The climbing perch, Anabas testudineus, is an air-breathing fish having great consumer preference as a food fish and is considered a prime candidate species for aquaculture. Spawning success is an important issue while using hormones for captive induced breeding. In the first experiment, a trial was conducted to assess the efficacy of a synthetic Gonadotropin Releasing Hormone analog (sGnRHa) on the spawning success of climbing perch. Female fish were administered six different doses each with a single intramuscular injection of sGnRHa hormone at 0.002 (TOD1), 0.005 (TOD2), 0.01 (TOD3), 0.015 (TOD4), 0.02 (TOD5), 0.03 (TOD6) μg/g body weight. Similarly, males were administered half of the hormone dose of females in all the respective treatment groups. The greatest (P<0.05) relative fecundity (715.13±15.0 eggs/g female body weight) and fertilization percentage rates (93.1±8.0%) occurred when female fish were treated at the 0.015μg/g body weight dose. There was a reduction in relative fecundity and hatching rate in female fish injected with the largest dose (1.5μL/g body weight) of sGnRHa. A second experiment was conducted to assess the effect of a different male-female ratio on optimum spawning success in climbing perch. For this study a different female to male ratio (1:1, 1:2, 1:3 and 1:4) and male to female ratio (1:1, 1:2 and 1:3) were used. There were a greater (P<0.05) relative fecundity (886.62±17.9 eggs/g female body weight), fertilization (98±6.7%) and hatching (99±5.4%) rates with the female to male ratio of 1:2. This indicated that the hormone dose of 0.015μg/g body weight and a female-male ratio of 1:2 are optimal for enhanced spawning success in the climbing perch.
Keywords: Anabas testudineus; Climbing perch; Hormone dose; Induced breeding; Operational sex ratio; Spawning success.
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