Abstract

Olabode HF, Ogene YO and OpeyemiKD

Reproductive fitness of female brood stock of Clarias gariepinuswas determined using three different stress conditions; confinement and starvation for 12 hours before hormone injection; keeping fish out of water after hormone treatment (Latency period) and transportation. Broodstock of eight months old with an average weight ranging between 450 and 750 g were used for the experiment. There was no significant different (p>0.05) in hatchability of eggs among the stressed conditions. Survivability of fry within twenty one days of hatching was also not significantly different (p>0.05) among the conditions. Whatever mortality observed in injected females was attributed to stress while fry mortality was due to cannibalism as a result of congestion. The result showed that female broodstock of C. gariepinuscan accommodate or withstand some level of stress beyond which damaging effects may be seen in the reproductive performance.