Captive Breeding of Endangered Ompok pabda with Ovatide

Abstract

The Pabdah catfish, Ompok pabda, was successfully spawned with the synthetic hormone Ovatide at two different doses (0.4 and 0.6 ml/kg of body weight of female). The latency period was 9–10 h at 0.6 ml compared to 10–12 h at 0.4 ml kg⁻¹ of body weight. All the females spawned successfully. Average rate of fertilization (75.5 %) and hatching (60.5%) was higher with a dose of 0.6 ml kg⁻¹, while lower fertilization (65.1%) and hatching rate (45%) were observed at 0.3 ml kg⁻¹ of body weight. Fecundity ranged from 80–130 eggs gm⁻¹ body weight of female. Eggs hatched between 12–14 h after spawning at a water temperature 28°–32°C. The mean egg diameter was 0.95 ± 0.15 mm.

Keywords:

• Live gene bank
• captive breeding
• Ompok pabda
• Ovatide
• spawning
• Northeastern India

Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to Dr. A. K. Roy, IAS Director of Fisheries, Assam, India, for his keen interest in this work and constant encouragement. Thanks are also due to S. Boro, B. Rabha, and others of Ulubari Fish Seed Farm for managerial support during breeding and laboratory work.