Sibling Cannibalism of African Catfish (clarias Gariepinus), Fry Cultured Under Different Photoperiods

Experiment on how to mitigate sibling cannibalism in African cat fish Clarias gariepinus was carried out in the Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture Adamawa State University Mubi. Fry of six weeks old with 1.39±33g weight and 1.41±00cm length were stocked at the rate of 50 per 25 litre of water inside a rectangular plastic bowl after been fitted with water flow through system. Four different Photoperiod regimes (24hours, 12hour, 6hours, and total darkness) was used using artificial light (Sunking solar lantern Sunking Pro2) continuously in the hatchery at low power mode 25lumens. Length, weight, percentage mortality, percentage cannibalism, percentage survival growth rate and water quality parameters were monitored daily for the period of 30 days. At the end of the experiment, there significant different in cannibalism, mortality and survival rate of the fry. fry cultured under 24hours darkness has low cannibalism, low mortality, and high survival rate of 11.66±70 9.00±00 and 79.33±00, respectively. While fry cultured under 24hours light, and the control has the highest value of 36.33±30, 16.67±67, 57.00±00 and 12.33±30, 11.33±00, 76.66±00 respectively. from the research it was observed that sibling cannibalism can be reduced by controlling the light intensity during artificial propagation of African catfish Clarias gariepinus fry.