Abstract

Reproductive fitness of female brood stock of Clarias gariepinus was 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. gariepinus can accommodate or withstand some level of stress beyond which damaging effects may be seen in the reproductive performance.

Key words: Reproductive fitness, stress conditions, Clarias gariepinus, broodstock.