Induced Spawning of Striped Snakehead, Channa striatus, Using Ovatide

ABSTRACT

An experiment was investigated to evaluate the effects of different doses of a new spawning agent Ovatide on induced spawning of striped snakehead, Channa striatus. Nine matured females with swollen abdomen and 18 male fishes with body weights ranging from 750 to 900 g, were randomly assigned to three treatment groups. Fishes in each group were administered 0.2, 0.4, and 0.6 mL of Ovatide/kg body weight, respectively. Each breeding set consists of two males and one female. Partial spawning response was observed when the fishes were administered with 0.2 mL/kg BW of Ovatide. Complete spawning was noticed in the medium (0.4 mL/kg BW) and higher (0.6 mL/kg BW) dose administered groups. The latency period and number of eggs spawned ranged from 23 to 27 hours and 1,764 to 7,096, respectively. No significant difference (P > 0.05) was noticed in the fertilization and hatching rate between the medium and higher doses of Ovatide tested. Thus, C. striatus could be successfully induced to spawn using a synthetic gonadotropin-releasing hormone with a dopamine antagonist at the dose of 0.4 mL/kg BW under captive conditions at 29 ± 1.5°C.

KEYWORDS:

• Snakehead
• Channa striatus
• spawning induction
• hormones
• seed production