Biplab Kumar Bandyopadhyay - Freshwater Aquaculture - A Functional Approach-CRC Press (2022)
Biplab Kumar Bandyopadhyay - Freshwater Aquaculture - A Functional Approach-CRC Press (2022)
A FUNCTIONAL APPROACH
(With Intricate Informations on Integration of Fish with other Crops,
Diversifications of Suitable Alternatives of Indian Major Carp
Culture Practices and Sewage-fed Aquaculture)
Dr. Biplab Kumar Bandyopadhyay a well-known fishery scientist who obtained his
Doctoral degree from University of Calcutta under the guidance of Prof. Naresh Chandra
Datta, Department of Zoology, University of Calcutta. His remarkable work is on the use
of different micro- and macronutrients, organic and bio fertilizers, nutritional supplements
and more so the disease abatement of fishes, which deserve special mention. Proper
aquaculture management practices are his special area of interest.
Dr. Bandyopadhyay is probably the first to use different types of agro-chemicals in
aquaculture practices to promote sustainable growth and prevent various types of fish
diseases which very often create tremendous financial losses to the farmers, at least in
the states like West Bengal, Odisha, Jharkhand, Bihar, Assam and Tripura.
FRESHWATER AQUACULTURE
A FUNCTIONAL APPROACH
(With Intricate Informations on Integration of Fish with other Crops,
Diversifications of Suitable Alternatives of Indian Major Carp
Culture Practices and Sewage-fed Aquaculture)
By
BIPLAB KUMAR BANDYOPADHYAY
M.Sc, Ph.D, FZS (Cal)
Preamble .............................................................................................................. xi
Acknowledgements ........................................................................................... xix
A quaculture has a long history and the ‘Art’ of aquaculture is very old. The
evidence that Egyptians were probably the first in the world to culture fish
as far back as 2500 B.C. available from the pictorial engravings of an ancient
Egyptian tomb showing tilapia being fished out from an artificial pond. The
Romans are believed to have reared fish in circular ponds divided into breeding
areas. Culture of Chinese carps was wide spread in China in 2000 B.C. Writings
in India were available in 300 B.C. which suggest means of rendering fish
poisons in the Indian sub-continent in times of war. This implies that fish culture
prevailed in those time in some Indian reservoirs. Some historical documents
compiled in 1127 A.D describe methods of fattening fish in ponds in India.
Culture of Gangetic carps in Bengal in the Indian Sub-continent is of historical
origin.
In the ancient times the human beings were residing in forests, used to hunt
fishes from the aquatic systems and used to eat it raw or either by burning or
smoking. As the humans gradually felt to reside collectively in some places,
unknowingly giving a shape of a society, realized that hunting fishes from the
nature may serve the need of the day, but may not be consumed in future. They
started stocking fish in ditches, small ponds etc. gradually it became a hobby and
this stocking gave the shape of ‘rearing’ and finally to Aquaculture.
[Hunting o Hobby o Stocking (gathering) o Rearing o Culture]
Aquaculture, the farming of aquatic organisms, has existed in some form for
4000 years. There are various hypotheses of how aquaculture came to be
including the Oxbow, Catch-and-Hold, Concentration, and Trap-and-Crop
theories. It has evolved from extensive culturing into very intensive. There
are a variety of types of aquaculture systems including pond, rice and fish
integration, cage culture, raceways and recirculating systems. The intensification
of aquaculture occurred following the Blue Revolution of the 1950’s when demand
for fish products spiked. This increase in demand occurred due to the understanding
of fish health benefits including Omega-3fatty acids and strives to eat locally.
Aquaculture, the farming of fish and aquatic plants has existed for over 4000
years (Rabanal.H.R.1988. Historyof Aquaculture, FAO). Over those 4000 years
xii
tide when the water recedes. This provides the optimal location for an
entrepreneurial human to develop an aquaculture system. It is believed that
fences and traps were created that allow fish and crustaceans in, but not out,
allowing easy harvest. Over time there was a switch to allowing the fish
that entered the trap to grow to a larger size, thus aquaculture. Areas of
southeastern Asia, primarily Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, and
India have the ideal environment for this theory to have developed.
Fisheries and aquaculture products are now globally important sources
of much needed, high quality aquatic animal proteins, and invaluable
providers of employment, cash income, and foreign exchange. Fisheries
products are the world’s most widely traded foods, with commerce dominated
by the developing countries. Fisheries products are the primary protein
sources for some 950 million people worldwide, and are an important part
of the diet of many more. In comparison to other sectors of the world food
economy however, the fisheries and aquaculture sectors are poorly planned,
inadequately funded, and neglected by all levels of government. This neglect
occurs in a paradoxical situation: fishing is the largest extractive use of
wildlife in the world; and aquaculture is the most rapidly growing sector of
the global agricultural economy.
Aquaculture is an ancient practice but until the 1950’s depended less on
innovations arising from applied science and directed management skills than
accomplishments derived from trial and error. Of the 25,000 fish species, only a
few are harvested for direct human consumption. Aquaculture science is still
poorly developed and undrestood. There are very few centers of excellence in
aquaculture, and few aquaculture experiment stations. Clearly, freshwater
aquaculture is the “poor cousin” of agriculture and capture fisheries in the
marine sectors.
Aquaculture especially in freshwater became important in the late nineteen-
forties, since the methods of aquaculture could be used to restock the waters as
a complement to natural spawning. In recent times, aquaculture has taken a
shape of lucrative industry (Timmons et al., 2002 and Cressey, 2009).
However, the intensification of aquaculture practices are the need of the day
which necessitate the cultivation at towering densities resulting significant damage
to the environment principally due to the discharge of concentrated organic
wastes, depletion of dissolved oxygen content in pond water, increased toxic
metabolites like hydrogen sulfide, methane, ammonia, and nitrites etc., which are
very often liable for mortalities of aquatic flora and fauna. Moreover, under these
conditions of intensive production, aquatic species are subjected to high-stress
conditions, increasing the incidence of diseases and causing a decrease in
productivity (Bondad et al., 2005).
xiv
sector on the other hand have shown marked transformations contributing significant
increase.
Fresh water aquaculture resource of the country largely confined to 2.41million
hectares of ponds and tanks. All these water bodies varied from small backyard
ponds of eastern Indian states to large deepwater tanks of south India. Till date
utilization of only 60-70% of these resources where from the production as
achieved, contribute a little more than 50% of the total fish production of the
country.
State wise marine output and culture fisheries production during 2012-2013
has been worked out by Goswami and Zade (2015).
There is global need for food and nutritional security especially amongst
developing and under-developed countries. Fisheries in India, is a progressively
growing sector with varied resources. It has been estimated that more than 14.50
million people at the primary level are directly or indirectly dependent on this
sector for their livelihood security (Misra et.al 2017).
Fish and fishery products represent a valuable source of nutrients of
fundamental importance for diversified and healthy diets. With a few exceptions
for selected species, fish is usually low in saturated fats, carbohydrates and
cholesterol. Fish provides not only high-value protein, but also a wide range of
essential micronutrients, including various vitamins (D, A and B), minerals (including
calcium, iodine, zinc, iron and selenium) and polyunsaturated omega-3 fatty acids
(docosahexaenoic acid and eicosapentaenoic acid). While average per capita fish
consumption may be low, even small quantities of fish can have a significant
positive nutritional impact by providing essential amino acids, fats and micronutrients
that are scarce in vegetable-based diets.
According to the latest data, Indians on an average consume just 269 grams
of fish per month in rural areas while in urban areas it’s 238 gram (Approx.6.1kg/
year) Noticeably, just about 282 of 1000 households in rural areas consume fish,
while the number is 209 households for urban areas. This apparently indicates a
vast majority of the Indians prefer consuming vegetarian dishes.
India is the third largest producer of fish while 7th in shrimp aquaculture
production. India has a long coastal line stretching about 8129 km covering
9 coastal states, 4 union territories (enriched with wide spectrum of flora and
fauna), 3.9 million hectares of estuary, 2.54 million hectares of salt affected
coastal soil and 5 million hectares of mangrove forest.
xvi
The projected demand for fish in the country (2012) is 9.74 mmt; demand for
fish for the domestic market is 5.9 mmt. The projected supply of fish is 9.60 mmt
(by 2012) with major share is from 2 are as viz. 5.34 mmt from inland aquaculture
3.10 mmt from marine fisheries The fisheries sector contributed Rs. 67,913
crores to the GDP (at current prices) during 2009-2010. When considering the
fish production state wise:
West Bengal occupy the first position with 1615.313 tones fish during 2010
2012, Andhra Pradesh occupy second position 1349.940, Gujarat third
position774.902 and Kerala have fourth position 681.613 followed by Maharashtra
having of 576.987mt. (FAO, 2012). Recent data depicts that West Bengal exported
about 1.04 lakh metric tones of fisheries products amounting Rs. 4456 crores in
2017-2018 (source: Department of Fisheries,Govt.of West Bengal).
It is no exaggeration that both the capture and culture sectors are subjected
to manmade and nature driven calamities, yet the contribution of fish production
of India to the global production is on the steady rise, from 32% in1950-51 to
58% as on date. However, considering the target posed, before the country to
produce 16.0 million tons of fish by 2030, it is necessary to impose appropriate
sustainable management strategies those are made to utilize the available aquatic
resources of the country (Ayyappan. S. 2016. Key note address during”International
conference on Aquatic Resources and sustainable Management” Kolkata).
In modern aquaculture practices the contributions of late Prof. Hiralal
Chowdhury (1921-2014), the father of induced breeding of fishes and the forerunner
of first blue revolution in India cannot be ruled out. He was the Fish breeder par
excellence and could successfully breed Esomas danricus in 1955 and
Pseudoutropis atherinoides in 1956, soon after on 10th July1957, he succeeded
in induced breeding of the minor carp Cirrihinus reba in captivity. Subsequently,
Prof.Chowdhury with the help of pituitary extracts revolutionized in successful
breeding of Cirrhinus mrigala, Labeo rohita and Catla catla in captivity.
Successful production of millions of fertilized eggs bring forth miraculous
development and the outcome of which is nearly more than about 1800 fish
hatcheries today, through both private and public participation came into existence.
Albeit, the availability of fish seed in terms of quantity has not remained an issue,
but the availability of scientific protocol for nursery rearing, fingerling production,
technology of carp poly culture, integrated farming in the country, eastern India
in particular is still in a state of infancy. In the recent past the large scale
adoption of cat fishes (Pangassius spp.) farming, also a suitable alternative of
carp culture, at least in southern part of India might reach the production target
by 2030, but the sustainable culture technology still remain in a question
(Ayappan, 2016).
xvii
Besides, in India 2,319 species of fin fish have been recorded of which 838
from freshwater, 113 brackish water and 1,368 from marine environment. Small
indigenous freshwater fish species (SIF) are defined as fishes which grow to the
size of 25-30 cm in mature or adult stage during their life cycle. Majority of them
resides in rivers and tributaries, floodplains, ponds and tanks, lakes, beels, streams,
lowland areas, wetlands and paddy fields. In general these small indigenous
fishes are highly acclaimed because of their taste and high nutritive value. However,
very little attention has been paid on their role in aquaculture enhancement,
nutrition, captive breeding and conservation needs. Subsequently, many small
indigenous fishes (SIF) have become threatened and endangered due to pollution,
over exploitation coupled with habitat destruction, diseases and introduction of
exotic varieties.
Among small indigenous fishes, many species are cultivable with high demand,
and can be introduced as a candidate species in freshwater aquaculture system.
These are Amblypharyngdon mola, Notopterus notopterus, Puntius sarana,
Labeo bata, Puntius ticto, Cirrhinus reba, Nandus nandus, Anabas
testudineus, P. sarana, Mystus vittatus and air breathing fishes like Clarias
batrachus, Notopterus notopterus, Osteobrama belangeri the– Pengba of
Manipur Loktak lake etc. Some of these species are being cultured at minimum
scale, mostly based on wild seed collection. With the technology available for
seed production, culture and expertise of disease remedial treatments now available,
large scale farming need to be popularized and expanded.
The technology pertaining to breeding, seed production and farming at grow
out state of magur (Clarias batrachus) and singhi (Heteropneustes fossilis)
though have been developed but their large scale seed production and scientific
farming has not yet been taken up at commercial scale. In the present
communication however, an attempt has been made to throw some light on this
aspect along with food and feeding habits, artificial propagation, larval rearing,
expected diseases along with their remedial measures and the grow out technology
of some of the fresh water cultivable fishes like, the air breathing fish Clarias
batrachus, climbing perch Anabas testudineous’ (the koi) fresh water stripped
cat fish like Mystus vittatus, butter cat fish Ompokn bimaculatus, the milk fish
Chanos chanos and the slim-bellied Amur carp Cyprinus carpio haematopterus.
An attempt has also been made to discuss on the biology and culture possibilities
of some of the endangered fresh water fishes.
Acknowledgements
1. INTRODUCTION
Aquatic farming is one of the oldest farming practices in the world. It is believed
that the Egyptians were probably the first in the world to initiate culture practices
of the aquatic fauna (Fish) as far back as 2500 B.C. which are available in the
pictorial engravings of an Egyptian tomb where in tilapia fish (?) was shown to
been fished out from a pond.
In India, the aquaculture practice is perhaps much older than those of the
Egyptians since the documentations on the subject are also mentioned in Vedas
& Upanishadas which are existed between 4000-2500 BC. There are references
to fish culture in Kautilya’s Arthasahastra (321-300B.C) and king Someswara’s
Manasoltara (1127A.D) (Kumar and Sharma, 2012).In the “Kishkinda Khand”
section of the Hindu epic “Ramayana” there are interesting references to fish
in water in the lines: “Jal Sankoch Bikal Bhai Meena; Abodh Kutambi Jimi
Dhanabeena, ” (which means, due to paucity of water in the pond, especially
in summer, the fishes are in distress like a foolish householder who is in distress
for want of money). And further, “Sukhi meena je neer to Agodha Jimi Hari
Saran Na Akakum Badha” that means, fish which are in deep waters are as
happy as a man under God’s sheltering care, (Jhingran, 1983).
The traditional practice of fish culture in small ponds of eastern India is
known to have existed for even more than hundred years.
Fishes are defined to be the first vertebrates in the evolution of animal
kingdom. Fishes are cold blooded aquatic vertebrates which breathe by
means of pharyngeal gills, propelling and balancing themselves by means
of fins (Jhingran, 2000).
2 Freshwater Aquaculture: A Functional Approach
Fish is an essential protein rich item in every one’s day to day food dish in
majority of the states. The supply of cultured fresh water fish though is at its
increasing trend, but the demand perhaps seem to be much more. Aquaculture
is the farming of aquatic organisms by intervention in the rearing process to
enhance production. Aquaculture has a long history, originating at least in the
year 475 B.C. in China, but became important in the late nineteen-forties, since
the methods of aquaculture could be used to restock the waters as a complement
to natural spawning (Boyd and Tucker, 1998).
Definition of Fisheries: Fisheries may be defined as the culture, capture
and conservation of commercially important aquatic organisms. This includes
both aquatic animals like fishes, molluscs (clams, oysters etc.), arthropods
(crabs, prawn and shrimps etc.), plants (aquatic weeds, macrophytes etc.).
In India, the excessive price of this protein rich item coupled with the gap
of demand and supply vis-à-vis comparatively less production, poses a great
concern to the state governments. It may be inferred in this context that the less
production from the local water bodies West Bengal in particular is subject to two
possible reasons:
(1) There is a shortage of technological knowledge pertaining to the various
management practices involved in culture,
(2) Socio-economic and socio-political problems & interventions.
Aquaculture is the fastest growing food-producing sector in the world, with
an average annual growth rate of 8.9% since 1970, compared to only 1.2% for
capture fisheries and 2.8% for terrestrial farmed meat production systems over
the same period.World aquaculture has grown tremendously during the last fifty
years from a production of less than a million tonnes in the early 1950s to
59.4 million metric tons (mmt)by 2004. This level of production had a value of
US$70.3 billion or more. The diseases and deterioration of environmental conditions
often occur and result in serious economic losses.
Global production of fish from aquaculture, grew more than 30 percent
between 2006 and 2011, from 47.3 million tons to 63.6 million tons. It is estimated
that by 2012 more than 50 percent of the world’s food fish consumption will
come from aquaculture, and is expected to overtake capture fisheries as a source
of edible fish. This growth rate may be attributed to several factors:
(1) Many fisheries have reached their maximum sustainable exploitation,
(2) Consumer concerns about security and safety of their food,
(3) The market demand for high-quality, healthy, low-calorie, and high-
protein aquatic productsand,
Aquaculture: Types 3
Importance of Fish
(1) Fish is highly nutritious, easily digestible, protein rich food.
(2) Besides protein, the fish also contain various other necessary components.
(3) Abundant quantity of vitamins, minerals, calcium, and iron are available
in fish flesh.
(4) There are plentiful marine weed fishes, which the mankind do not
consume, are dried and converted to fish meal which is used as major
component of the animal feed.
(5) There are some larvivorous fish available in fresh waters which are
cultured for prevention those are also considered as vectors of various
diseases of mosquito larvae of various diseases. These fishes also rectify
the water column by controlling various infectious diseases.
(6) Fish is an easily digestible mineral and protein enriched aquatic
animal.Fish also alleviate mental anxiety and maintain mental peace,
entertainment and relief.
(7) On average, fish provides only about 33 calories per capita per day.
The dietary contribution of fish is more significant in terms of animal
proteins, as a portion of 150 g of fish provides about 50–60 percent of
the daily protein requirements for an adult.
Habitat
Fish habitat has been defined as those waters and substrate necessary to
fish for spawning, breeding, feeding or growth to maturity. This includes all types
Aquaculture: Types 5
of aquatic habitat, such as wetlands, coral reefs, sand, sea grasses, and rivers
(Rosenberg et al., 2000).
1. Bony fishes live in fresh water, sea water, and brackish (a combination of
fresh water and salt water) environments. The salinity of sea water is about
35 ppt (parts per thousand). Some species can tolerate higher-salinity
environments. Some species of gobies can tolerate salinity levels as high as
60 ppt.
2. Fishes live in virtually all aquatic habitats. Different species of fish are
adapted for different habitats: rocky shores, coral reefs, kelp forests, rivers
and streams, lakes and ponds, under sea ice, the deep sea, and other
environments of fresh, salt, and brackish water.
3. Some fish are pelagic: they live in the open ocean. For example, tunas
(several species in the family Scombridae, subfamily Thunninae) are pelagic
fishes.
4. Some species, such as the flatfishes (order: Pleuronectiformes) are adapted
for living along the bottom. Certain fishes, such as gobies (family: Gobiidae)
even burrow into the substrate or bury themselves in sand.
5. Ocean sunfish (family: Molidae) are most often spotted at the ocean’s surface.
6. Some lungfishes “hibernate” throughout a summer drought season, buried
under the mud of a dried-up pond.
7. Several fish species live in freshwater habitats and even in the darkness of
caves.
Carps in general are the inhabitants of fresh water ponds, lakes, reservoirs
and also in rivers. In the present book, the carps found in warm water fish ponds
and lakes are given importance.
Forbes (1887) for the first time characterized a lake as a microcosm. Later,
Forel (1892, 1895, and 1904) supported the idea of Forbes and developed the
study of fresh water impoundments which is now globally known as ‘Limnology’
in contrast to ‘Oceanography’ which means the study of marine ecosystem.
Elton and Miller (1954) commenting on the importance of the studies on
ponds and tanks had suggested that “There is a bewildering variation among the
ponds, even if they are situated in the same geographical area and shows great
internal complexity within each pond.”
Before we enter in the subject, let us clarify the definition of a pond. Albeit
there is no set rules. However, most of the limnologists agree that ponds are
small, completely enclosed body of water, shallow enough to encourage aquatic
vegetation. As per Forel’s (1892) classification of lakes, later modified by Whipple
6 Freshwater Aquaculture: A Functional Approach
(1927), ponds represent lakes of third order. No exact limit of areas and depth
has been laid down for a pond.
2. TYPES OF AQUACULTURE
Different types of fish culture techniques include monoculture, polyculture, selected
breeding, intensive and extensive culture, inland and brackish water, in rice field,
in floating cages and rafts.
or the more aggressive feeding behavior of males. Expected survival for all-
male culture is 90% or greater (Silva et al., 2013).
D. Disadvantages of monosex (All male) Tilapia culture:
(1) The major problem of male monosex culture is that fingerlings have to
be grown until it is possible to distinguish the female and male juveniles
(at least up to 50 g) and then the female juveniles are discarded.
(2) Accidental occurrence of even a single female tilapia mistakenly included
in a population of mostly male Tilapia affects the maximum attainable
size of the original stock in grow-out phase.
Male Tilapia production has an economic importance both to its producers
and sellers. The increase in employment in the sector out pacing world
population growth and employment in traditional agriculture is a crucial source
of income and livelihood for hundreds of millions of people around the world
(Soto-Zarazúa et al., 2010b). More so, it also plays an important role to
provide food security for the general population as an excellent source of
high-quality protein (Ghosh, 2017).
E. Sex Reversal Or Hormone Augmentation
This method can be performed by oral administration of feed incorporated
with androgen and eggs or fry immersion in different concentrations of the
male hormone. The principle behind this method lies on the fact that at the
stage when the Tilapia larvae are said to be sexually undifferentiated (right
after hatching up to about 2 weeks or up to the swim-up stage), the extent
of the androgen (male hormone) and the estrogen (female hormone) present
in a fish is equal. Thus, augmenting one of the hormones that is originally
present in the fish will direct the fish to either male or female depending upon
the hormone introduced. Accordingly, if the Tilapia larvae are fed with feeds
that are incorporated with male hormone as example 17D-methyl testosterone,
the fish will develop into phenotypic male physically and function as male but
possess the female genotype (XX). This is commonly referred to as “sex
reversal”. Production of male tilapia through the use of androgens is very
effective. Sex reversed “male” reached similar average weights as genetically
male tilapia (Mair et al., 1995). Sex reversal by oral administration of feed
incorporated with methyl testosterone is probably the most effective and
practical method for the production of all male Tilapia, However, the technique
has some limitations such as the uniform age of fish that should be used at
the first feeding stage to ensure high reversal rate and less control of reversal
efficiency especially when done in the natural environment where natural
Aquaculture: Types 11
and naturally hardy and high tolerance to variable water quality, good disease
resistance, and ability to adapt many different farming systems.
The harvesting was done on 120th.day of rearing, when the fishes attained
approximately 400-500gms.average.The production achieved after 120th days of
grow out phase is approximately 10metric tones /Ha/crop.
2. Polyculture- This is the culture of two or more species of fish in a pond or
tank. It is also a system that grows more than one species of fish from the
same trophic level.
14 Freshwater Aquaculture: A Functional Approach
4. MARICULTURE
In Mariculture, fish are grown in pens or meshed cages in harbors or sea. (Both
the sections 3&4 are out of the scope of discussing in detail in this book, hence
ignored).
can also be used. What is amazing is the stable and balanced pH and crystal
clear water. The water is basically recycled, with a small amount of water added
weekly for evaporation. This is a balanced, self-contained ecosystem that works.
Solar powers, the water pump and no chemical are added what so ever, it is
totally organic. Chameleons control any insects that might get into the house.
Earthworms are raised to feed the fish and the earthworm compost is used in
the garden or planter box gardens.
FISH
FISH PLANTS FILTER WATER
PRODUCE THAT RETURNS TO
WASTE THE THE FISH
AQUAPONICS
CYCLE
pond permitting water exchange and waste removal into the surrounding water.
Cages are used to culture several types of shell fish and finfish species in fresh,
brackish and marine waters. Cages in freshwaters are used for food fish culture
and for fry to fingerling rearing (Soltan, 2016).
Origin of cage culture is bit ambiguous.It is assumed that at the beginning
fishermen might have used the cages as holding structures to store the captured
fish until they are sent to the market. The first cages which were used for
producing fish were developed in Southeast Asia around the end of the 19th
century. Wood or bamboos were used to construct these ancient cages and the
fish were fed by trash fish and food scraps. In 1950s modern cage culture began
with the initiation of production of synthetic materials for cage construction. Fish
production in cages became highly popular among the small or limited resource
farmers who are looking for alternatives to traditional agricultural crops.
In India, cage culture has been attempted for the first time in 1970 in three
different types of environments:
1) Swamps marked by low dissolved oxygen concentration, using air-breathing
fishes,
2) Running waters of the Yamuna and Ganga Rivers at Allahabad, using major
carps and
3) A static water body in Karnataka, using common carp, catla, silver carp,
rohu, snakeheads and tilapia.
CIFE Mumbai though in an isolated manner started cage culture for raising
fingerlings as well as table-fish in reservoirs such as Powai (Maharashtra),
Govindsagar (H.P.), Halali (M.P.), Tandula (Chattishgarh) and Dimbe
(Maharashtra). Later, a number of attempts were made to produce cage-stocked
fish, especially fry to fingerlings (Banerjee, 1979).During 2005- 2006, floating
cage culture experiments were conducted in Kabini reservoir, Karnataka for
raising fingerlings for stocking, with moderate success, defined by a survival rate
of around 40percent. Some trials on cage aquaculture were conducted during
1998 onward for production of fingerlings but results were not optimal. CIFRI
has banked on the success of producing fingerlings for stocking reservoirs in
floating cages installed in different agro climatic zones of India (Madhya Pradesh,
Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and Northeast states).With the lessons learned,
cages were subsequently used for raising catla fingerlings in Karnataka (Govind
et al., 1988), also with little success. Production of fingerlings for stocking
reservoirs was tried in Govindsagar (H.P), Getalsud (Ranchi), Gularia (U.P.)
reservoirs, with poor success because proper monitoring was not initiated.More
20 Freshwater Aquaculture: A Functional Approach
● The crowding in cages promotes stress and allows disease organisms spread
rapidly. Also, wild fish around the cage can transmit diseases to the caged
fish.
● Caged fish are unable to get the natural food of their choice, whereas it is
readily available to the free fish.
● During feeding a significant amounts of fish feed passes out through the
mesh therefore, fish require feeding many times a day.
● The high fish density with the high feeding rates, often reduce dissolved
oxygen and increase ammonia concentration in and around the cage, especially
if there is no water movement through the cage.
● In public waters, cage culture faces many competing interests and its legal
status is not well defined.
● There is usually a high mortality rate because of bacterial and fungal diseases.
● Water pollution
● Poaching
● Conflicts in the use of water with other users.
● Management includes routine check, provision of adequate security and good
supply of quality feed to ensure faster growth.
Cages are made of four parts: 1. Solid frame 2. Nets 3. Floats and 4. Anchor.
A cage can be floating type or fixed type. Floating type if the cage is
submerged fixed and is attached to a stake fixed to the bottom. Cages have high
potential to improve the status of the local fish supply.
Pen culture is possible only in the three zones, namely, intertidal, sublittoral
and seabed -all having natural bottom as the limit of the lower side of the
enclosure.In the case of freshwater except for the very large lakes – even here
tidal influence is little compared with the sea, the intertidal zone is non-existent.
Largely the enclosure of a pen is restricted to shallow area adjacent to the shore.
The pen or enclosure may be:
(a) Completely enclosed on all four sides in the middle of a bay, with no foreshore
or
(b) A shore enclosure with a foreshore extending to deep water surrounded by
a net structure or
(c) A bay or loch enclosure with an embankment or net structure only at the
entrance.
The pen culture of milkfish (Chanos chanos) is the most important fresh
water pen culture in the world. The pen culture of milkfish has yielded the
production much more than 4, 000kg/ha (average), without supplementary feeding.
The Laguna Lake Development Authority has claimed that the lake fish pen
industry can grow to 15, 000 hectares and a yield projection more than one lakh
metric tons annually.
The origins of pen culture are more obscure, but it also seems to have begun in
Asia. Pen culture originated in the Inland Sea area of Japan in the early 1920s. It
was adopted by the People’s Republic of China in the early 1950s for rearing carps
in freshwater lakes, and was introduced to Laguna de Bay and the San Pablo
Lakes in the Philippines by the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR)
and the Laguna Lake Development Authority (LLDA) between 1968 and 1970 in
order to rear milkfish (Chanos chanos) (Alfarez, 1977; PCARRD, 1981).
Pens are still constructed in much the same way as they always were,
except that nylon or polyethylene mesh nets have replaced the traditional split
bamboo fences. The nets are attached to posts set every few meters, and the
bottom of the net is pinned to the substrate with long wooden pegs. But stressing
may be used to strengthen the structures in exposed areas. Pens are usually built
in shallow (<10m) waters, are 3–5m deep, and 1–50 ha in size (IDRC/SEAFDEC,
1979). Soft substrates are preferable.
The development and adoption of inland water pen culture has been much
less dramatic than that of cage culture, and at present it is only practiced on a
commercial basis in the Philippines, Indonesia and China (Dela Cruz, 1980, 1982;
Lam, 1982). The principal species being cultured in these countries are milkfish
and carps (e.g. grass carp, Ctenopharyngdon idella; bighead carp, Aristichthys
Aquaculture: Types 25
iii. Suitability for culturing many varied species: Under artificial culture
provided suitable environmental conditions are maintained, with artificial feeds,
many varieties of species can be cultured as in the cage.
iv. Ease of harvest: Even though in the large pens the harvest may not be as
easy as in the cages, it would be definitely more controllable and easier than
in the natural waters.
v. The flexibility of size and economy: When compared with the cage, pens
can be made much larger and construction costs will be cheaper than those
of the cages.
vi. Availability of natural food and exchange of materials with the bottom:
Since, the bottom of the pen is the natural bottom, unlike the cage which kept
either on the bottom or floating, has always a netting/ screen separating the
cage from bottom; the pen culture organisms are at an advantage that while
enclosed they can procure food/exchange materials.
Pen culture, as cage culture is economical and is attributed to the multiple
use of the same water body (e.g. pen culture in an irrigation reservoir).
Disadvantages
i. High demand of oxygen and water flow: Since the fish cultured are
stocked in high density they deplete oxygen very fast and a good flow of
water through the pen either by natural means or artificially by pumping is
demanded for healthy and fast growing fishes.
ii. Dependence on artificial feed: Since high density (biomass) is to be sustained
in a restricted area, for high production artificial feeding is necessary, increasing
the cost of production.
iii. Food losses: Part of the feed is likely to be lost uneaten, and drifted away
in the current, but the loss here would be less than in floating cages.
iv. Pollution: Since a large biomass of fish are cultured intensively a large
quantity of excrements accumulate in the area and cause a high BOD
also substances such as ammonia and other excreted materials, if not
immediately removed/ recycled. They pollute the water and cause damages.
v. Rapid spread of diseases: For the same reason of high stocking density
in an enclosed area, beginning of any disease will spread very quickly and
can cause immense mortality of stock and production decline.
vi. Risk of theft: Since the fish are kept in an enclosed area, ‘poaching’ and
thefts can take place more frequently than in natural waters, but perhaps less
than those from cages.
Aquaculture: Types 27
vii. Conflict with multiple uses of natural waters: In locations where a pen
is constructed to the requirement of higher water level e.g. in a lake/reservoir,
would be against the interest for irrigation water supply; enclosures can
interfere with navigational routes and also with recreational activities, such as
swimming, boating etc.
Figs. 7: Bioflocs
Aquaculture: Types 29
Advantages Disadvantages
01. Biosecurity is appreciably good. High energy input. Paddle wheels
Till date White Spot Syndrome Virus required: 28-30HP/Ha.
(WSSV) has not been detected using
this system.
02. Zero water exchange-less than 100% In case of failure of power opportunity of
exchange for whole culture period. increased rate of mortality. Zero-hour
failure is preferred.
03. FCR low- between 1.0-1.3 Entire pond should be lined with HDPE
sheets. Initial expenditure is too much.
04. Production (Carrying capacity): 5-10% Need special training to the technicians.
better than normal system.
05. Shrimp size bigger than 2.0 gm than
normal system.
06. Low production cost (around 15-20%)
proportions that effectively utilize these natural foods (Fig.8). As a result, higher
yields are obtained. Efficient Polyculture systems in tropical climates may produce
up to 8, 000 kg of fish per hectare per year (Das, 2017).
B . Fishes generally used in polyculture in India
Combinations of Indian Major Carps (Rohu, Catla and Mrigal) and Chinese carps
(bighead, silver, grass carp, and the common carp) are most common in Polyculture.
Other species may also be used.
D. Problems in Polyculture
Polyculture is an effective way to maximize benefit from available natural food
in a pond. But, pond management becomes more difficult when stocking fish
species having specialized feeding habits in the same pond. Judicious application
of fertilizers and nutritionally balanced feeding practices must have to be followed.
Inadequate fingerling supply at the right time severely limits the choice of species
available for polyculture; at least one species should have general rather than
Aquaculture: Types 31
specialized feeding behaviour. This will allow more of the available natural food
to be utilized.
An example of two species polyculture:
“Tilapia – Shrimp Polyculture in cages”
Methods of farming
Shrimps and Tilapia may be cultured simultaneously in the same pond. It is
necessary to stock tilapia after 15 days of stocking shrimp @ 1000 and 1, 00, 000
respectively per hectare (1000 and 10,00,000 nos./Hectare). The average weight
of the tilapia fish may be about 50gms each.Stocking more than the mentioned
number may compete with the shrimp habitat. Only 1000 nos /ha of stocked fish
will grow too fast and within 90 days of farming both fish and the shrimps may
be harvested at one time. However, if the farmer wants much larger fish, may
be transferred to another pond for continuation of farming. Subject to the provision
of nutritionally balanced feed at daily basis, the average growth of Tilapia to the
tune of 300gms may be achieved.
H. Heater
Pump
5
1
2 3 H
Fig.10: The basic recirculating aquaculture system consists of the following components:
1. Fish tanks 2. Sedimentation tank 3. Pump tank 4. Biotower and 5. Reception
tank
34 Freshwater Aquaculture: A Functional Approach
‘RAS’= Re-defined
Recirculation aquaculture systems (RAS) represent a new and unique way to
farm fish. Instead of the traditional method of growing fish outdoors in open
ponds and raceways, this system rears fish at high densities, in indoor tanks with
a “controlled” environment. Recirculating systems filter and clean the water and
recycling back through fish culture tanks.
In a RAS, water flows from a fish tank through a treatment process and is
then returned to the tank, hence the term recirculating aquaculture systems.
New water is added to the tanks only to make up for splash out evaporation
and to flush out waste materials. In contrast, many raceway systems used to
grow trout are termed “open” or “flow through” systems because all the water
makes only one pass through the tank and then is discarded.
Fish grown in RAS must be supplied with all the conditions necessary to
remain healthy and grow. They need a continuous supply of clean water at a
temperature and dissolved oxygen content that is optimum for growth. A filtering
(biofilter) system is necessary to purify the water and remove or detoxify harmful
waste products and uneaten feed. The fish must be fed a nutritionally-complete
feed on a daily basis to encourage faster growth and high survival.
Aquaculture: Types 35
Benefits of RAS
RAS offer fish producers a variety of important advantages over open pond
culture. These include a method to maximize production on a limited supply of
water and land, nearly complete environmental control to maximize fish growth
year-round, the flexibility to locate production facilities near large markets, complete
and convenient harvesting, quick and effective disease control.
RAS can be of various sizes ranging from large-scale production systems
(more than 450 metric tonnes per year) to intermediate-sized systems (225metric
tonnes per year), to small systems (more than 100metric tonnes per year). They
can be used as grow-out systems to produce food fish or as hatcheries to
produce eggs and fingerlings for sport fish stocking, growing out for minor carps
and ornamental fish for residential aquariums.
This is an excellent alternative to open pond culture where low densities
(extensive culture) of fish are reared free in large ponds and are subject to losses
from diseases, parasites, predation, pollutants, stress, and seasonally suboptimal
growing conditions.
RAS offers an unique opportunity of conversing both land area and
water.Maximum production of fish may be achieved in a relatively small area of
land and using a small volume of water.For example, using a RAS it is possible
to produce more than 45 metric tonnes of fish in a 5, 000 square-foot building,
whereas 20 acres of outdoor ponds would be necessary to produce an equal
amount of fish with traditional open pond culture.
Similarly, since water is reused, the water volume requirements in RAS are
only about 20% of what conventional open pond culture demands. They offer a
promising solution to water use conflicts, water quality, and waste disposal.
These concerns will continue to intensify in the future as water demand for a
variety of uses increases.
system (RAS) reflects new light in the process. They can be located close to
large markets (urban areas) and thereby may minimize hauling distances and
transportation costs. There is an immense scope of the RAS near waste water
disposals from municipal water supplies where dechlorination is of utmost
importance for pisciculture. Nearly all species of food fish and sport fish that are
commonly reared in ponds including major and minor carps, catfish, snake heads
and tilapia etc. can readily be grown in high densities in confined tank systems
having recirculation facilities.
Disadvantages of RAS
RAS do have some disadvantages when compared to open pond culture. They
are relatively expensive systems to develop (building, tanks, plumbing, and biofilters)
and to operate (pumping, aerating, heating, lighting). Moreover, they are complex
systems and require skilled technical assistance to manage successfully.
Constant supervision and skilled technical support are required to manage
and maintain the relatively complex circulation, aeration, biofilter systems and to
conduct water quality analysis. The danger of mechanical or electrical power
failure and resulting fish loss is always a major concern when rearing fish in high
densities in small water volumes.
Aquaculture: Types 37
The‘RAS’ Design
The functional parts of a RAS include:
(1) Growing tank,
(2) Sump of particulate removal device,
(3) Biofilter,
(4) Oxygen injection with U-tube aeration and,
(5) Water circulation pump.
Depending on the water temperature and fish species selected, a water
heating system may be necessary. Ozone and ultraviolet sterilization may also be
advantageous to reduce organic and bacterial loads.
Biosecurity
Fish hatcheries with RAS facility are often fully closed and entirely controlled,
making them mostly biosecure - diseases and parasites cannot often get in.
Biosecurity means RAS can continusously operate without any chemicals, drugs
or antibiotics. Water supply is a regular route of pathogen entry, so RAS water
is often first disinfected or the water is obtained from a source that does not
contain fish or invertebrates that could be pathogen cariers.
in the system to keep the levels of these parameters within acceptable ranges is
very important to maintain the viability of the total system.
A successful water reuse system should consist of tanks, filters, pumps and
instrumentation (Helfrich.L.A and Libey.G 1991).
Fish tanks
Fish tanks may be round or octagonal or square design with rounded corners and
the arrangement of in-and outlets of water treatment units should support the
circular water flow. Aqua jets may be kept additionally for enhanced water flow
and aeration.The circular flow promotes the performances of stocked fishes.
Circular tanks are good culture vessels because they provide virtually complete
mixing and a uniform culture environment. When properly designed, circular
tanks are essentially self-cleaning. This minimizes the labour costs associated
with tank cleaning. (Nazar et al., 1990).
Aeration systems
Usage of air diffusers is preferred in RAS. These diffusers produce small air
bubbles within the tank that rise through the water column. The smaller the
bubbles and the deeper the tank, more oxygen is transferred.
Biofiltration
The biological filter (biofilter) is the heart of the RAS. As the name implies, it
is a living filter composed of a media (corrugated plastic sheets or beads or sand
grains) upon which a film of bacteria grows. The bacteria provide the waste
treatment by removing pollutants. The two primary water pollutants that need to
be removed are (1) fish waste (toxic ammonia compounds) excreted into the
water and (2) uneaten fish feed particles. The biofilter is the site where beneficial
bacteria remove (detoxify) fish excretory products, primarily ammonia.
Nitrification
Ammonia is a poisonous waste product excreted by fish. Since fish cannot
tolerate this poison, detoxifying ammonia is fundamental to good water quality,
healthy fish, and high production.
40 Freshwater Aquaculture: A Functional Approach
the surface media for a time period sufficient to allow the bacteria to convert
toxic NH3 and NO2 to less toxic NO3. Careful calculation of the flow-through
rates (turnover or contact time) and size (volume and depth of the biofilter) is
fundamental.
The biofilter media can be corrugated plastic, Styrofoam or glass beads, lava
rock, sand, gravel, or similar material that supplies large surface area. The quality
and quantity of surface area of the media provided for nitrifying bacteria are
important determinants of the efficiency of the biofilter.
The ideal biofilter media has:
(1) High surface area for dense bacterial growth,
(2) Sufficient pore spaces for water movement,
(3) Clog resistance,
(4) Easy cleaning and maintenance characteristics.
Biofilter Sizing
The biofilter in any RAS design must be sized to correspond with the other
system components.
Important factors that must be considered in designing a biofilter are:
1. Media surface area (square feet of surface for bacteria attachment),
2. Ammonia leading (ounces of ammonia that need to be converted per day per
square foot of media area), and hydraulic loading (gallons of water per day
per square foot media surface).
Types of Biofilters
Biofilters can be configured in many ways. The two general categories are:
(1) Submerged bed filters and
(2) Emerged bed filters.
Submerged bed filters can have fixed (immobile) media in which the water
flow can be upward, downward or horizontally through the media.
The fluidized bed reactor (FBR) is a commonly used submerged bed filter.
The FBR consists of fine particles (sand, dense plastic, glass beads, minerals,
etc.) in a container through which upwelling water flows thereby “fluidizing” or
suspending the media in the water column. FBRs offer large surface area per
42 Freshwater Aquaculture: A Functional Approach
Compartmentalization
The ability of isolate the components of the system (biofilter, fish tank, and sump)
is an important design feature, particularly critical when it becomes necessary to
do filter maintenance or to treat the fish with chemicals and drugs. Cleaning and
declogging static biofilters can pose difficult problems, particularly if there is no
provision for shutting down the system for maintenance. Some therapeutic
chemicals and drugs used to treat such fish may be harmful to nitrifying bacteria
Aquaculture: Types 43
on the biofilter. A sudden drop in the efficiency of the bacteria can result in toxic
NH3 concentrations and fish kills. Other filters: Other types of filtration (mechanical
and chemical) are available and can sometimes be used to supplement the
efficiency of biofilters in removing ammonia in fish production systems. Most of
these measures are useful only to temporarily control ammonia and nitrite in
small systems. In chemical filtration, water is pumped through a chemical media
of activated carbon, zeolite, or other substances. These chemicals have microscopic
pores that trap ammonia ions and remove them from the water. The familiar
activated charcoal filter, popular in aquaria, can be incorporated as an auxiliary
filter to support biofiltration in fish production systems, but this form of filtration
requires periodic replacement with large quantities of relatively costly activated
charcoal. Zeolite filters are frequently used to remove NH4 (and indirectly NH3)
at an estimated rate of 1 mg NH4 per 1gm of zeolite. The use of zeolite requires
regular and constant pumping of water through the filter and regular replacement
of large quantities of expensive zeolite. Zeolite can be recharged with a salt
solution (10%) and reused, but salt water disposal then becomes an environmental
problem, particularly in inland waters.
Sump
A sump (clarifier tank) is used to prevent the excessive accumulation of fish
excretory products and waste feed. Waste products increase the biological oxygen
demand (BOD), decrease the dissolved oxygen content, lower the carrying capacity
(density of fish) that can be reared, and may result in off-flavor in fish products.
Accumulation and decomposition of waste material results in the production of
toxic compounds such as ammonia (NH4, NH3, NO2) and hydrogen sulfide
(H2S) that can be hazardous to fish health. The clarifier tank is designed as a
settling basin (large volume tank with a slow flow rate to increase sedimentation).
Its purpose is to concentrate and remove suspended solids (fish feces, uneaten
feed particles) before they clog the biofilter or consume valuable oxygen supplies.
The clarifier should be a separate tank, isolated from the fish tank and the
biofilter, so that it can be cleaned periodically (daily) as needed. To increase the
efficiency of the clarifier, various filters (plastic filters, sand filters, metal screens)
can be inserted into the sump tank.The sump tank should have a v-shaped bottom
to concentrate waste particles and facilitate cleaning.
Oxygen Management
Successful fish production depends on good oxygen management. The addition
of oxygen in a pure form or as atmospheric air (aeration) is essential to:
44 Freshwater Aquaculture: A Functional Approach
Pure Oxygen
Pure oxygen injection systems are increasingly being used in aquaculture. They
are particularly useful in maintaining oxygen-saturated conditions in recirculating
systems with high densities of fish. Pure oxygen can be delivered and stored in
a tank as liquid oxygen or it can be produced on-site by a oxygen generator.
Bottled oxygen gas also is sometimes kept as an emergency backup system for
RAS, but this alternative usually is too expensive and bulky to be practical. Liquid
oxygen technology is relatively simple, efficient, and cost-effective; especially if
purchased in bulk quantities and if the site is located near a reliable supplier. A
liquid oxygen system consists of a storage tank for the liquid gas, vaporizers to
turn liquid oxygen to gas, and supply lines to the fish tanks. It conveniently
requires no external power supply and is therefore free of power failures and the
consequent fish kills. Most growers rent or purchase a liquid oxygen storage tank
of a size sufficient to provide two to four week supply of oxygen. The size of
the tank corresponds with the fish production capacity of the system.
Aquaculture: Types 45
Oxygen Diffusion
Effective diffusion of pure oxygen gas into a liquid (water) can best be
accomplished using a U-tube oxygenation, counter-current flow injectors, or micro-
bubble devices (tubes or fine wetstones). The purpose is to dissolve much of the
oxygen injected so that it is available to the fish, rather than wasted by bubbling
out of solution to the atmosphere.
Ozone Sterilization
Ozone (O3) is a naturally occurring gas (upper atmosphere) that consists of three
atoms of oxygen. It is a powerful oxidizing agent that can be used to break down
compounds. Ozone must be used with caution since it is directly toxic to aquatic
life and may form harmful biproducts (hypochlorite, hypobromite). Careful redox
potential measurements and special injection equipment apparatus are needed to
determine and control ozone applications.
A. Basic Principles
Integrated fish farming is based on the concept that ‘there is no waste’, and
waste is only a misplaced resource which can become a valuable material for
Aquaculture: Types 49
another product (Vincki, 1977). In integrated farming, the basic principles involve
the utilization of the synergetic effects of inter-related farm activities and the
conservation, including the full utilization of farm wastes.
Integrated fish farming is a system of producing fish in combination with
other agricultural and livestock farming operations centered on the fish pond. The
farming sub-systems e.g. fish, crop and livestock are linked to each other in such
a way that the by products/and wastes from one sub-system become the valuable
inputs to another sub-system and thus ensures total utilization of land and water
resources of the farm resulting in maximum and diversified farm output with
minimum financial and labour costs (FAO: Corporate Document Repository).The
integration of aquaculture with livestock or crop farming provides quality
protein food, resource utilization, recycling of farm waste, employment
generation and economic development. Integrated fish farming is well developed
culture practice in China followed by Hungary, Germany and Malaysia. Our
country, India--the country is organic-based and derives inputs from agriculture
and animal husbandry. The integrated fish farming is accepted as a sustainable
form of aquaculture. For integration we can use recycled effluents from agro
based industries as well as food processing plants at minimum financial and labor
costs. Integrated aquaculture is the concurrent or sequential linkage between two
or more farm activities, of which at least one is aquaculture.
Integrated Farming System is a resource management strategy to achieve
economic and sustained agricultural production to meet diverse requirements of
farm household while preserving the resource base and maintaining high
environmental quality. This farming system seems to answer the problems of
increasing food production, increasing net farm income, improving nutritional
status, promoting natural resource management, sustainable use of land, water
and biota.
● Integrated fish farming offers tremendous potential for food security and
poverty alleviation in urban and periurban areas.
● It is an efficient way of using the same land resource to produce carbohydrate
as well as animal protein and important micronutrients concurrently or serially.
● Optimization of available natural resources use.
● Diversification of income generating activities.
● Improvement of soil fertility.
● Improved pest control with less use of chemicals (pesticides, fertilizers).
● Aquatic Biodiversity conservation and sustainable use could be enhanced.
50 Freshwater Aquaculture: A Functional Approach
● Efficient waste utilisation from different culture practice for fish production.
● It reduces the additional cost for supplementary feeding as well as fertilisation.
● It is an artificial balanced ecosystem where there is no waste.
● It provides more employment avenues.
● It reduces the input and increases output and economic efficiency.
● The integrated fish farming provides fish along with meat (chicken, duck,
beef, pork etc.), milk, vegetables, fruits, eggs, grains, fodder, mushroom etc.
● This practice has potential to increase the production and socio-economic
status of weaker section of our society.
B. Paddy-cum-Fish culture
Production of fish in paddy fields is almost as primitive as the practice of paddy
culture itself. Paddy farming with fish culture is a type of dual-culture farming
system in which paddy is the sole enterprise and fishes are taken to initiate
additional for extra income.
Paddy-cum-fish culture is practiced in many rice-growing belts of the world
mainly in the South Eastern Asian region. Rearing of fish along with paddy is a
classic traditional farming practice adopted in India. It has largely been practiced
in a primitive way in the coastal areas of the country.As a socio-economic
activity, fisheries ranks second in the world to agriculture sector. India is an agro
based country more so both rice and fish are considered as the staple and most
preferred food items and Fishery has been playing a significant and dynamic role
in terms of nutrition, employment, foreign exchange earnings, and more importantly
socio-economic stability in the rural areas.However, during the beginning of ‘green
revolution’ at least in India paddy-cum-fish culture practices declined drastically
as rice production intensified and chemical insecticides were heavily applied.
From the late 70’s on, however, less toxic chemicals, better varieties of paddy,
and the increase in availability of fish seed as aquaculture developed, all led to
Aquaculture: Types 51
renewed interest in fish production from rice fields. Though the paddy-cum-fish
culture a large number of small rural producers are benefitting from aquaculture
in their rice fields. The fish produced are either fingerlings for ongrowing in other
aquaculture systems or table fish for domestic market and house hold consumtion
(Williams, 1997).It has been reported that rice fish culture led to financial returns
that were 41% higher than rice alone. Part of the increase was due to increasing
rice yields as a result of the apparent mutualism of rice-fish production, i.e.,
adding fish to rice fields tends to increase, or at least not decrease, rice yields.India
enjoys about 4% of world’s freshwater resources ranking it among the top ten
water rich countries.It is very rich in natural water resources in the form of
rivers, reservoirs, ditches, lakes, ponds & tanks, flood plains and large areas of
rice fields etc. and in monsoon it receives every year, precipitation in the form
of rain and snowfall which provide over 4000 cu km of freshwater to India, of
which 2047 cu km return to oceans or is precipitated.The paddy (rice)-fish
farming culture (Fig.18) involves the simultaneous production of rice and fish
within irrigated rice fields to obtain an added profit multiplier in terms of value
and production. In paddy cum fish culture, initially strong attention is given on
technically feasible paddy cum fish pond bed preparation, ecologically sustainable
stocking of different species of fish along with cultivars of selected paddy variety,
addition of inputs like feed, mineral and organic fertilizers and ancillary post
stocking managements is undertaken. Fish harvesting is done after paddy is
reaped from the agrarian wetland. As the water level increases with the onset
of monsoon during June-July, the farmers release advanced fingerlings at a
modest density of about 500-1000/ha.
Fish stay in the paddy field up to December and start migrating to the actual
fish pond as the water level goes down in the paddy field (Fig.18). Paddy is
harvested during November-December followed by harvest of fish in January-
February. Farmers use organic and inorganic fertilizers during paddy field
preparation. Application of lime, to keep the alkaline state of soil and water.
52 Freshwater Aquaculture: A Functional Approach
Fig. 19: Releasing of fish seeds in paddy cum fish culture farm
Field leveling
After the completion of bund construction the base of paddy fields are leveled
with the help of spade and local made wooden plates. Manual weeding is done
during the month of February followed by construction of irrigated channel for
easy passage, storage and draining of water. There are 2-3 channels constructed
at the middle of paddy field for water management. The channel divides the
paddy field perpendicular and horizontally bisect at a point. It is important to note
that almost all paddy field have one or two inlets and more outlets. The former
serve as entry of water required for the field and the later as outlets, one which
remains at the bottom side of the dykes is meant for draining out the water for
harvesting paddy crops and fishes. The remaining outlet constructed at the middle
height of the dykes is meant for maintaining desirable water depth. Once the
dressing work is over, the paddy field is ready for transplantation of rice seedling
and fish seed stocking. However, the stocking of fish seed is done after 10-15
days of transplantation of rice seedling from its nursery bed.
Pond construction
The paddy plots are renovated suitably for the purpose of paddy cum fish culture.
These may be fresh water or, brackish water. Construction of an earthen dyke
surrounding the paddy plot is essential for retaining water and also for holding the
fish and shrimp during aquaculture. The height of the dyke is required to be
maintained between 50 and 100 cm depending upon the topography of the plot
and tidal amplitude at the site. A perimeter canal is necessary on the inner
periphery of the plot. For a one ha paddy plot, the width and depth of the canal
may be about 2 m and 1 m respectively. The earth removed from excavating the
canal is generally utilized for constructing or strengthening the dyke. In addition
to the perimeter canal, two cross trenches of about 1 m width are also constructed
at both the directions. The bottom of the trenches generally kept above the
perimeter canal so that during the course of desalination, entire water can easily
be removed to the canal. The area covered by the perimeter canal and the
trenches are about 12% of the total land area
Table 3: The most promising deep water rice varieties chosen for different states.
Table 4: The ingredients and their percentage in fish feed during Paddy cum fish culture.
Growth Rate
Monitoring of growth rate of fish in the pond is generally carried out randomly
netting the fish using a hand net. The timely weight and the measurements were
taken and the fish returned to the trenches. Feeding rates were adjusted
accordingly. Feed was used to attract the fish before each sub-sampling. The
mean growth rates (MGR) are also calculated for each fish species.
Harvesting
Gears use for harvesting fishes is simple bamboo made basket called cane/
bamboo. The fishes remain under culture conditions for the period of 3-4 months
in rice field, and a production of ± 500 Kgs/ha are achieved.
Methodology used for harvesting: The water is drained through outlet pipe,
and thus allowing fishes and water accumulated in mid channel of paddy field,
Aquaculture: Types 57
thereby the fishes are caught by hand picking, kept in large plastic bucket in live
condition. After completion of fish harvesting the paddy harvesting is followed.
Normally paddy harvesting is made last part of September and October. The
paddy production range from 3500-4500 Kgs/ha from the same plot of land.
6. Control of algae and weeds (by phytophagous fish) which compete with rice
for light and nutrients.
Disadvantages
Coche (1967) lists the following disadvantages in fish culture in paddy fields.
1. A greater supply of irrigation water and a greater water depth required for
fish culture. Especially in view of the shortage of water due to increased
anthropogenic demands might cause serious difficulty in future.
2. Extra investment and labour involved in raising and strengthening fields bunds.
3. The need for rice variety tolerant to deep water and to low temperature.
4. Fish may damage the young seedlings by uprooting them (carps) or eating
them (Tilapia sp.).
5. Certain parts of the field are lost for fish culture by the construction of
trenches and refuges for fish.
6. Additional costs are involved in fertilizing and feeding the fish.
7. In certain types of soil continuous inundation may not be possible.
General considerations
The greatest difficulty in paddy-cum-fish culture may be attributed to the
indiscriminate use of herbicides and pesticides in growing paddy seedlings - most
of these are harmful to fish. Judicious application of these, to an extent some
reduction in damage is possible, but most insecticides even in the lightest dose
may kill the fishes. The organochlorines are in this way more harmful than
organophosphorus insecticides. For example, among several insecticides viz. the
organochlorine, ‘Endosulfan’ kills carp and T. mossambica 100 – 1000 times faster
than the organophosphorus (Kutty et al, 1977). Albeit many insecticides are easily
bio-degradable and their toxicity is reduced greatly within a few days’ time.
Hence choosing some less harmful and quickly bio-degradable biocides is necessary
to protect both the paddy and the fish.
Perhaps one may control the time of application i.e. by applying the biocides
soon after transplantation before the fish are introduced, by then the potency of
the biocides would have become least. But in spite of such an approach the
possibility of accumulation of pesticides which may not kill, cannot be ruled out.
As discussed earlier it appears the whole ecosystem of each crop, is upset
drastically by the use of chemicals and biocides - the whole biological complex
is changed. And several pests have developed immunity to various chemicals
Aquaculture: Types 59
without feed or and fertilizer application. The system gives a net profit of Rs.1,
14, 000/- per year from 1ha land. Besides, cow-dung gas plant at the farm site
(Fig. 23) gives electricity at the fish farm reducing fuel cost.
Fish farming by using cattle manure has long been practiced in our country.
This promotes the fish-cum-cattle integration and is a common model of integration.
Cattle farming can save more fertilizers, cut down fish feeds and increase the
income from milk. The fish farmer not only benefitted financially butalso can
supply fish, milk and beef to the market.
Fig. 23: Cow dung gas plant at the integrated fish farm.
Aquaculture: Types 61
Stocking of Fish
● The stocking rates vary from 8, 000 – 8, 500 fingerlings / ha and a species
ratio of 40 % surface feeders, 20 % of column feeders, 30 % bottom feeders
and 10-20 % weedy feeders are preferred for high fish yields.
● Mixed culture of only Indian major carps can be taken up with a species ratio
of 40 % surface, 30 % column and 30 % bottom feeders.
● In the northern and north - western states of India, the ponds should be
stocked in the month of March and harvested in the month of October –
November. Due to severe winter the growth of fishes get affected.
● In the south, coastal and north - eastern states of India, where the winter
season is mild, the ponds should be stocked in June - September months and
harvested after rearing the fish for 12 months.
b. Selection of Pigs
● Four types of pigs are available in our country - wild pigs, domesticated pigs
or indigenous pigs, exotic pigs and upgraded stock of exotic pigs.
● The Indian varieties are small sized with a slow growth rate and produce
small litters. Its meat is of inferior quality.
● Two exotic upgraded stock of pigs such as large - White Yorkshire, Middle
- White Yorkshire, Berkshire, Hampshire and Hand Race are most suitable
for raising with fish culture. These are well known for their quick growth and
prolific breeding.
● They attain slaughter maturity size of 60 - 70 Kg within six months. They
give 6 - 12 piglets in every year.
● The age at first maturity ranges from 6 - 8 months. Thus, two crops of exotic
and upgraded pigs of six months each are raised along with one crop of fish
which are cultured for one year.
● 30 - 40 pigs are raised per hectare of water area. About two months old
weaned piglets are brought to the pig-sties and fattened for 6 months and
when they attain slaughter maturity are harvested.
c. Feeding
● The dietary requirements are similar to those of the ruminants.
● The pigs are not allowed to go out of the pig house where they are fed on
balanced pig mash of 1.4 Kg / pig / day.
● Grasses and green cattle fodder are also provided as food to pigs.
● To minimize food spoilage and to facilitate proper feeding without scrambling
and fighting, it is better to provide feeding troughs. Similar separate troughs
are also provided for drinking water.
● The composition of pig mash is a mixture of 30 Kg rice bran, 15 Kg polished
rice, 27 Kg wheat bran, 10 Kg broken rice, 10 Kg groundnut cake, 4 Kg fish
meal, 3 Kg mineral mixture and 1 Kg common salt.
● To reduce quantity of ration and also to reduce the cost, spoiled vegetables,
especially the rotten potatoes can be mixed with pig mash and fed to pigs
after boiling.
● The pigs are hardy animals. They may suffer from diseases like swine fever,
swine plague, swine pox and also infected with round worms, tapeworms,
liver flukes, etc.
Aquaculture: Types 65
● Pig - sties should be washed daily and all the excreta drained and offal into
the pond. The pigs are also washed.
● Disinfectants must be used every week while washing the pig - sites. Piglets
and pigs should be vaccinated.
d. Harvesting of fish:
● Fish attain marketable size within a few months due to the availability of
natural food in this integrated pond.
● According to the demand of fish in the local market, partial harvesting is
done.
● After the partial harvest, same numbers of fingerlings are introduced into the
pond. Final harvesting is done after 12 months of rearing.
● Fish yield ranging from 6, 000-7, 000 Kg / ha / yr is obtained.
● The pigs are sold out after rearing for six months when they attain slaughter
maturity and get 4, 200 – 4, 500 Kg pig meat.
e . Fish-cum-Duck culture system
Integrated fish-cum-duck farming system is though a common practice in China,
but in India, West Bengal, Assam, Tamilnadu, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Bihar in
particular, such culture system is gradually developing.Ducks use both land and
water as their habitat, the integration with the fish is mainly attributed to mutual
benefits of a biological relationship. It is not only useful for fattening the ducks
but also beneficial to fish farming by providing more organic manures to fish. It
is apparent that fish cum duck integration could result in a good economic
efficiency of fish farms (Fig. 25 and 26).
Benefits of fish cum duck farming
1. For an efficient utilization of pond surface waters, raising ducks is an excellent
enterprise.
2. Fish ponds provide an excellent environment to ducks which prevent them
from infection of parasites.
3. Ducks feed on aquatic predators and help the fingerlings to grow. A fish pond
being semi-closed biological system with aquatic animals and plants provide
disease free environment for ducks.
4. Ducks consume juvenile frogs, tadpoles, dragon fly making safe environment
to fish.
5. Duck raising in fish ponds reduces the demand for protein to 2 – 3 % in duck
feeds.
66 Freshwater Aquaculture: A Functional Approach
● In the south, coastal and north - eastern states of India, where the winter
season is mild, the ponds should be stocked in June - September months and
harvested after rearing the fish for 12 months.
● The feed is given either on the pond embankment or in the duck house
and the spilled feed is then drained into the pond.
● Water must be provided in the containers deep enough for the ducks to
submerge their bills, along with feed.
● The ducks are not able to eat without water. Ducks are quite susceptible
to aflatoxin contamination; therefore, moulded feeds kept for a long time
should be avoided.
● The ground nut oil cake and maize are more susceptible to Aspergilus
flavus which causes aflatoxin contamination and may be eliminated from
the feed.
6. Egg laying
● The ducks start laying the eggs after attaining the age of 24 weeks and
continue to lay eggs for two years.
● The ducks lay eggs only at night. It is always better to keep some straw
or hay in the corners of the duck house for egg laying.
● The eggs are collected every morning after the ducks are let out of the
duck house.
7. Health care
● Ducks are subjected to relatively few diseases when compared to poultry.
● The local variety of ducks is more resistant to diseases than other varieties.
● Proper sanitation and health care are as important for ducks as for
poultry.
● The transmissible diseases of ducks are duck virus, hepatitis, duck cholera,
keel disease, etc.
● Ducks should be vaccinated for diseases like duck plague. Sick birds can
be isolated by listening to the sounds of the birds and by observing any
reduction in the daily feed consumption, watery discharges from the eyes
and nostrils, sneezing and coughing.
● The sick birds should be immediately isolated, not allowed to go to the
pond and treated with medicines.
8. Harvesting
● Keeping in view the demand of the fish in the local market, partial
harvesting of the table size fish is done.
● After harvesting partially, the pond should be restocked with the same
species and the same number of fingerlings.
70 Freshwater Aquaculture: A Functional Approach
Liming
Depending upon the soil and water pH, requirement of quicklime in kg/ha
(mentioned in water and soil chemistry of water and soil in fish ponds chapter).
(1/3rd of the required liming material is applied initially to the pond and rest
amount is divided into 11 installments and applied monthly).
Fertilization
Done after 7-10 days of liming. Fertilizers used are both organic and inorganic.Cow
dung @ 5300-5500 kg/ha/year is applied as organic fertilizer.
Inorganic fertilizers used @Urea @ 100-110 kg/ha/year, Single super phosphate
@ 22-26 kg/ha/year, Murate of potash @ 95-100 kg/ha/year are applied after 7
days of application of organic fertilizer.
1/3rd of the required amount is applied initially and rest amount is divided equally
in 11 installments and applied monthly i.e. same as liming materials.
Harvesting
Indian major carps (IMC) and exotic Carps (Grass carp) attain 1 kg weight in
7-8 months.Harvesting may be done by removing only the table size fish or the
complete stock.
So, one (1) house can accommodate 250 birds. For 1 ha pond, two (2) poultry
houses with housing capacity of 250 birds may be prepared.
Selection of poultry birds: In the integration of fish and poultry farming
both egg type and meat type birds are farmed. In the cage and dip litter system
both egg type and meat type are grown. But in storied house (changhar) egg type
birds are farmed. In the dip litter and cage system any of the high yield (egg and
meat) variety of poultry birds like- Rhode island, Leg horn, etc. are suitable, but
in storied house Kisten golden breed is only preferred.
Housing of birds: Just one month prior to stocking of fish pond with fish
seed after vaccination against viral diseases and after providing all prophylactic
measures about 8 week aged poultry birds are brought to the house for farming.
Before introduction of birds into the house, the house and the utensils to be used
in the poultry raising practice should be disinfected with disinfectant like- potash.
When the poultry birds becomes 18 months aged then their egg laying capacity
will be reduced and the old stock should to be sale out and a new stock should
be introduced to the house after cleaning the house with disinfectant.
Feeding of birds: Under litter system the poultry birds are fed according
to their age. The normal feeding practices are followed.
1. Starter mash– 40- 45 gm/ day in 3- 4 times a day up to the age of 8 week
of birds.
2. Grower mash– 50- 70 gm/ day in 5- 6 times a day from 8- 18 weeks age
of birds.
3. Layers mash– 80- 120 gm/ day in 3- 4 times a day from 18 weeks age of
birds.
Along with feed there should be sufficient supply of drinking water to the
farmed poultry birds is required. For dust bath of birds an earthen pot of about
2 feet diameter filled with clean and dry earth are placed in the house. Roosting
starts from 8 weeks age of the chicken and so perches are provided in the pen
for roosting of birds at the rate of 8 inch/ perch/ bird.
Egg laying management: After the birds are 22 weeks of age, egg nests
are kept in the house. Every 5-6 birds require 1 nest.
Production: In this poultry-cum- fish farming from a hectare of water
spread area of the pond, 3500- 4000 kg fish, 650 kg chicken meat and 120000
nos. of chicken eggs can be produced per year.
Problems encountered in Poultry-Fish integrated farming: RCC work,
work shop, repair and spare parts, cost of construction materials, like- brick,
rubble, steel, cement, etc. need to be surveyed. The major item of construction
74 Freshwater Aquaculture: A Functional Approach
expenses goes for earth moving and RCC work. Earth moving can be done either
manually or mechanically depending on the cost of labour.
Marketing facilities
The farmed product can be sold either to internal market or to export market.
In both cases the taste of consumer and the provision for supplying the product
to the consumer should be observed.
Algal bloom
Sometime a thick layer of algal bloom of brown or green colour is seen over the
water surface of pond. This can be removed from fish pond by using a piece of
split bamboo followed by liming based on water PH as mentioned earlier. Chemicals
like, copper sulphate @ 0.1- 0.5 mg/lit.of water or Diuron@ 0.3- 0.5 mg/lit.of
water also helps in controlling this bloom.
water. But the water depth should be restricted to 2- 2.5 m for good production
of fish.
Phytoplankton bloom
The sudden increase of population of certain planktonic algal group as thick mass
in water is called phytoplankton bloom. This may be identified by the deep
green or blue green or reddish green colour of the pond water. During the
day time phytoplankton produces excess oxygen and during night and cloudy days
they absorb dissolved oxygen from water for their self-respiration resulting dissolved
oxygen depletion and fish mortality. The death and decay of algae also cause
dissolved oxygen depletion. The reason for this algal bloom in pond water is the
presence of excess nutrients in water. Therefore, if this problem encountered in
the fish culture pond then supply of poultry manure to the pond should immediately
be cut off and the remedial measures should be taken as mentioned in the case
of algal bloom cited in the renovation measures of a pond in case the same
cannot be dried.
Note
Apart from the above cited water quality parameters the other water quality
parameters to be noted are- total alkalinity, turbidity, micronutrients, chemical
pollutants, insecticide, organic matter, presence of aquatic vegetation, etc. are to
be checked regularly for good production from a fish pond.
76 Freshwater Aquaculture: A Functional Approach
Miscellaneous Advantages
As far as fish production is concerned, the integrated farming serves the multiple
purpose of providing cheap feedstuffs and organic manure for the fish ponds,
thereby reducing the cost and need for providing compounded fish feeds and
chemical fertilizers. By reducing the cost of fertilizers and feedstuffs the overall
cost of fish production is reduced and profits increased. It is evident that the
profit from fish culture is often increased 30-40 percent as a result of integration.
The overall income is increased by adding pig and/or poultry raising, grain and
vegetable farming, etc., which supplement the income from fish farming.
By producing grain, vegetables, fish and livestock products, the community
becomes self-sufficient in regard to food and this contributes to a high degree of
self-reliance. The silt from the ponds which is used to fertilize crops increases
the yield of crops at a lower cost and the need to buy chemical fertilizer is greatly
reduced. It is estimated that about one third of all the fertilizer required for
farming in the country comes from fish ponds.
Estimated nutrient content (%) of excreta of various animals considered for
integrateted fishculture systems:
Table 5: Nutritional status of livestock fecal matters.
Indigenous carps
Carps that are normally available in the inland waters of the Indian region are
known as indigenous fish. Indigenous carps are of two kinds, such as major and
minor carps. The carps that are big-sized cultivable fishes with rapid growth and
high demand in the market are known as major carps. The carps that are
comparatively small-sized with slow growth are known as minor carps, such as
Bata (Labeo bata), Punti (Barbus ticto) etc.
Exotic carps
Carps which have been imported from other countries and acclimatized to native
place climate are known as exotic fish. The examples are: Silver carp
(Hypophthalmichthys molitrix) grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella) and
Cyprinus carp (Cyprinus carpio).
and recommended for culture in the composite fish culture technology (Six species
culture) (Fig.29):
Table 6: Feeding habit /feeding zone of Indian Major and Exotic Carps.
Disadvantages
● Intensive polyculture of fish is very expensive and risky.
● In this system the probability of occurring diseases is most.
● This farming system gets obstructed due to lack of better facilitated artificial
farm.
● It is not possible to make the fish big sized in this system.
● Intensive polyculture needs highly experienced employees.
82 Freshwater Aquaculture: A Functional Approach
Fig. 29: The most common fishes involved in composite fish culture in India
84 Freshwater Aquaculture: A Functional Approach
[Table Contd.
86 Freshwater Aquaculture: A Functional Approach
Contd. Table]
tolerant species). Some marine species migrate to fresh water for spawning
whereas many freshwater species enter the sea for spawning (Anadromous
and catadromous fish). These widely different environmental conditions of
temperature, salinity, pressure, availability of food etc. have profound
influence on the biochemical composition.
There may be group-specific or even species-specific differences in the
biochemical composition. Even within a species, variations occur for individual
fish or lots of fish taken at different times or under different conditions. Another
type of variation in proximate composition occurs between different parts of the
same fish. There is generally an increase in the oil content of the muscle from
the tail portion towards the head. Similarly the light and red muscle will vary in
the biochemical composition. It is against this background that we have to view
the data on the biochemical composition of fish. Data available in literature for
proximate composition of individual species will only indicate the range or average
and these are not usually taken as absolute values. (Courtesy: Vikaspedia).
The percentage composition of the four major constituents of fish viz. water,
protein, lipid and ash (minerals) is referred to as proximate composition (it may
be noted that the term does not indicate any degree of inaccuracy in the analysis).
These four components account for about 96-98% of total tissue constituents in
most cases. The range of values for these constituents in the edible portion of
common fish species from Indian waters are given below (Table 10):
Carbohydrates, vitamins, nucleotides, other non-protein nitrogenous compounds
etc. are also present in small quantities. Though quantitatively minor components,
play vital roles in maintaining the system and thus are essential for growth and
development of the organisms.
Table 8: Proximate composition of fish tissue of some Indian Fresh water fishes.
Aquaculture: Types 87
15 Pangas 72.3 10.8 14.2 0.96 180 130 0.52
16 Bata 79.0 2.48 14.3 2.0 790 200 1.09
17 Chital 75.0 2.32 18.6 1.01 180 250 2.98
18 Mahseer 70.3 2.26 25.2 1.20 130 280 3.83
19 Tilapia* 75.3 5.7 20.3 2.3 47.3 276.5 0.2
20 Chela 77.5 4.3 14.6 2.1 590 340 1.96
Source: Wealth of India. Vol-10, 1962.*Tilapia—Jour. Nat. Sci. Sri Lanka, 1996, 24(1):21-26.
Table 9: Comparative analysis of micro-nutrient contents of small Indigenous with cultured fish species (modified afterDey, et al., 2017 and
Fish have been a key source of food for humans (Ayoola, 2010) and fish
protein occupies an important position in human nutrition (Nargis, 2006). A portion
of 150 g of fish can provide about 50-60% of an adult’s daily protein requirement
(FAO, 2014). Fish are also a good source of all the essential amino acids, fatty
acids, vitamins and minerals and the consumption of fish and fish products helps
in preventing cardiovascular and other diseases (Cahu et al., 2004). Flesh texture,
protein and fat composition are usually the main factors that determine consumer
acceptance (Pal and Ghosh, 2013). Pal, et al., (2016) while working on the
proximate analyses of Indian Major Carps, emphasized the importance of different
minerals present in fish flesh (Table 10).
Water 65-90%
Protein 10-22%
Fat 1-20%
Minerals 0.5-5%
[Table Contd.
90 Freshwater Aquaculture: A Functional Approach
Contd. Table]
Table12: Water and Fat soluble vitamins essential for growth of fishes.
Fat-soluble vitamins
Dissolve in fat before they are absorbed in the blood stream to carry out their
functions. Excesses of these vitamins are stored in the liver, and are not needed
every day in the diet. The fat-soluble vitamins are absorbed from the
gastrointestinal tract in the presence of fat and can be stored within the fat
reserves of the body when ever dietary intake exceeds metabolic demands.In
this category following vitamins are grouped: Vitamin A1 (Retinol, retinal, retinoic
acid), Vitamin A2 (Dehydroretinol), Vitamin D2 (Ergocalciferol), Vitamin D3
(Cholecalciferol), Vitamin E (Tocopherol, tocotrienols), Vitamin K1 (Phylloquinone),
Vitamin K2 (Menaquinone), Vitamin K (Menadione)
Water-soluble vitamins
Dissolve in water and are not stored by the body. Since they are eliminated in
urine and require a continuous daily supply in fish/shrimp diet. Water-soluble
vitamins are easily destroyed or washed out during food storage or preparation.
92 Freshwater Aquaculture: A Functional Approach
Body stores being rapidly depleted in the absence of regular dietary water-
soluble vitamin sources.In this category following vitamins are grouped: Thiamin
(Vitamin B1), Riboflavin (Vitamin B2), Niacin (Vitamin B3) Vitamin B6 (Pyridoxol,
pyridoxal, pyridoxamine), Pantothenic acid (Vitamin B5) Biotin (Vitamin H, vitamin
B8), and Folic acid Vitamin B12 (Cobalamin), Choline (Gossypine), Vitamin C
(Ascorbic acid).
Benefits of Multivitamins
● Aids normal bone, tooth and exoskeleton development
● Maintains the health of the skin and membranes
● Helps in energy metabolism and tissue formation
● Enhances calcium and phosphorus absorption and utilization
● Promotes immune stimulation
● Decreases the diseases incidence
● Acts as antioxidant
● Acts like ‘Cement’ for connective tissues
● Helps for wound healing
● Makes iron absorption
● Benefits for healthy eye & vision
● Involve in a large number of biological processes
● Creates collagen in the body
● Makes the skin, joints, exoskeleton and bones strong
● Regulates moult phase in shrimps
Nicotinic Acid (niacin, B3): lipid, protein and amino acid metabolism
Biotin (H): enzyme secretion, purine and lipid synthesis, oxidation of lipids and
carbohydrates,
Folic Acid (B9): blood cell formation, blood glucose regulation and various
metabolism
Cyanocobalamin (B12): enzyme systems, cholesterol metabolism
Inositol: cell membrane permeability, structural component of skeletal, heart and
brain tissue, growth of liver and bone marrow cells, liver lipid (cholesterol) transport,
synthesis of RNA.
Choline: better growth and FCR, maintenance of cell structure and the transmission
of nerve impulses, transport of lipid within the body.
Cholecalciferol (Vitamin D)
Calcium and phosphorus metabolism, growth of bone tissue, synthesis of the
calcium binding protein, the conversion of organic phosphorus to inorganic
phosphorus in bone, maintenance of blood calcium level, and the deposition and
oxidation of citrate in bone.
Tocopherol: act as lipid-soluble extracellular and intracellular antioxidants, protect
the highly unsaturated fatty acids, important role in cellular respiration, biosynthesis
of DNA and coenzyme Q.
Phylloquinone (Vitamin K)
Maintenance of normal blood coagulation, electron transport and oxidative
phosphorylation in micro-organisms.
94 Freshwater Aquaculture: A Functional Approach
Vitamin C
Vitamin C probably is the most important because it is a powerful antioxidant and
immune modulator for fishes/ shrimps. The fish and shrimp body needs vitamin
C (ascorbic acid or ascorbate) to remain in proper health condition.
● Vitamin C makes various benefits to the fish/ shrimp body by holding cells
together through collagen synthesis. Collagen is a connective tissue that holds
muscles, bones, and other tissues together. Collagen is also needed for the
healing of wounds.
● Vitamin C also requires in wound healing, bone and tooth formation,
strengthening blood vessel walls, improving immune system function, increasing
absorption and utilization of iron, and acting as an antioxidant.
● Vitamin C works with vitamin E as an antioxidant and plays a crucial role
in neutralizing free radicals throughout the body.
● Vitamin C reduces the effects of toxic chemicals in water and prevent
negative effects of water temperature fluctuations.
● Vitamin C increases intestinal absorption of iron from plant-based foods.
● Vitamin C enhances in immune response.
● Vitamin C helps synthesize carnitine, adrenaline, epinephrine, the
neurotransmitter serotonin, the thyroid hormone thyroxine, bile acids, and
steroid hormones.
● Vitamin C regulates the moult phase and helps in quick formation of
exoskeleton in shrimps.
Energy
Energy can be defined as the capacity of work or ability to perform any work.
Every organism requires energy for:
(i) Mechanical work (Muscle activity for movement),
(ii) Chemical work (The chemical processes which takes place in the body),
(iii) Electrical work (For nerve activity),
(iv) Osmotic work (For maintaining the body fluids in equilibrium with each other
and with the medium, whether fresh, brackish or marine where the fishes
live.
(v) Free energy which is left available for biological activity and growth after the
energy requirements for maintaining body temperature (not necessary for
fish since, fishes are poikilotherms) is satisfied.
(vi) The excess energy is dissipated as heat (New, 1987).
Fish, prawn and shrimps require food to supply the energy that they need for
movement and all the other activities in which they engage, and the ‘building
blocks’ for growth. In this way they do not differ from any other farm animals
even the human beings.The metabolic rates of the fishes however, largely depends
on the surrounding water temperature and the optimum temperature on which
they can survive, eat and grow best.Thus, in areas where there is wide range of
water temperature seasonally, the fish will consume much more food in the
summer than in winter (New, 1987).
Fig. 30b: The common aquatic weeds (Water hyacinth, Pistia, Salvinia).
Table 14: Common indigenous weeds and the weedicides for their control.
Table 15: Common weed eating fish and the weeds of their preference.
Weed Fishes
i. These are uneconomical, small sized, naturally occurring or introduced
accidentally in ponds along with other fish seeds.
ii. They competes for food, space and dissolved oxygen.
iii. They have high fecundity and breed well before major carps breed.
iv. Many of them breed throughout the year.
v. Therefore, fish seeds from wild contain seeds of weed fishes.
Common weed fishes are: Puntius sp., Oxygaster sp., Ambassis sp.,
Amblypharyngodon mola. Colisa sp., Rasbora sp., Aplocheilus sp., Laubuca
sp., Esomus danricus, etc.
Removal of predatory and weed fishes:
1. Repeated netting:
A. Repeated netting is suitable for only those ponds having no other fishes
except carps.
B. It is not possible to catch predatory and weed fishes simply by netting.
C. Remaining fishes will breed and have sizable population in the pond.
2. Dewatering the pond is the best method:
● Dewater the pond, catch all the fish and allow the pond bottom to dry
till the bottom soil cracks.
● Summer is the best time for this.
● Poisoning the pond (in case where dewatering and drying is not possible).
users and also do not adversely affect the environment.A number of compounds
(saponins, tannins, alkaloids, alkyl phenols, di and tri-terpenoids etc.) present in
several plants belonging to different families with piscicidal activities (family
Euphorbiaceae), are used to control fish (Vimal and Das, 2015).Fish farmers
should use piscicides of botanical origin that are not hazardous to the environment
and have shorter residual affects rather that chemical pesticides that prove to be
very dangerous to the environment and to humans. The latex of many plants have
the potential to be used as piscicide which can be an alternative to harmful
chemical piscicides that are widely used today to eradicate fishes in the ponds
(Neuwinger, 2004).
Fish toxicants can be grouped into (a) Plant derivatives, (b) Chlorinated
hydrocarbons and (c) Organophosphates. Chlorinated hydrocarbons are the most
toxic and stable compounds, not metabolised and remain stored in fish tissues.
Although organophosphates are less toxic but adversely affect other aquatic
biota. These are relatively less persistent in water and rarely stored in fish body.
Prior to use of fish toxicants, certain criteria should be followed.
(1) It should be effective at minimum dosage
(2) It should be less costly
(3) The fish killed by the toxicant should be suitable for consumption
(4) The toxicity should remain only for short duration
(5) The toxicity should be non-cumulative
(6) The toxicants should be easily available.
Since the use of chlorinated hydrocarbons and organophosphates is not normally
recommended in fish culture ponds, use of plant derivative piscicides is encouraged.
Commonly used piscicides are:
a. Mahua oil cake
● It is the most commonly used fish toxicant in our country.
● It contains about 4 -6% saponin.
● It kills fish at 200-250 ppm in 6-10 hours.
● Fishes killed by this are fit for consumption.
● The toxicity lasts for 15 -20 days in water
● Mahua cake subsequently becomes the manure for the pond.
● Applied at the rate of 2000 -2500 kg/ha at one metre average depth.
● Powdered cake soaked in water and broadcast over water surface.
106 Freshwater Aquaculture: A Functional Approach
The respective doses of the plant seeds pest powder are to be mixed thoroughly in a bucketful of
water and splash over the entire pond surface.
108 Freshwater Aquaculture: A Functional Approach
1 2
3 4
5 6
7 8
9 11
10
12 13
14 15
Fig. 31: Some piscivorous and weed fishes of fresh water ponds. (1. Channa striata (Shole)
2. Oreochromis niloticus (Tilapia) 3. Anabas testudineus (Koi) 4. Channa striata (Shole)
5. Channa marulius(Shal) 6. Channa punctatus (Lata) 7. Wallago attu (Boal) 8. Notopterus
chitala (Chital) 9. Colisa fasciata (Kholse) 10. Amblypharyngodon mola (Mourala)
11. Puntius ticto (Punti) 12. Lates calcarifer (Bhetki) 13. Gudusia chapra 14. Amphipnous
cuchia (Kuche) 15. Mastacembelus sp.)
2
SOIL AND WATER QUALITY FOR
AQUACULTURE
110 Freshwater Aquaculture: A Functional Approach
1. INTRODUCTION
The living organisms and their non-living environment are inseparably connected
and they constantly interact with each other. It is therefore, obvious that the
entire dynamics as well as homeostasis of an ecosystem are largely regulated by
the interplay of various physical and chemical parameters. Physico-chemical
parameters of water viz. temperature, transparency, pH, alkalinity, dissolved gasses,
available forms of bioactive nutrients etc. not only influence the occurrence and
abundance of aquatic biota but also govern the productivity which form the
cornerstone of community metabolism.
Soil is an integral and vital part of environment and may be defined as
secrete bodies produced by interactions of climate, vegetation and surficial geologic
materials on the earth surface. The bottom soil is the substratum on which water
column stands. Obviously therefore, it plays a very significant role in influencing
the productivity of ponds. In any type of aquacultural enterprise the farmer
should have a basic idea of his pond soil. The knowledge of chemical characteristics
and the nutritional status of pond soil (pH, available phosphorus, nitrogen, organic
carbon and organic matter etc.) is a pre-requisite. Productivity of a pond is
largely depended on the chemical properties of soil. In general the slothful nature
of sandy-loam soil permits aeration and helps increasing the productivity of
microbes. Presence of organic matter and their nutrients leech easily in the sandy
soil. Mineralization process in presence of sunlight and congenial temperature
generally do occur at the soil-water interphase. Such course of activities essentially
makes available different types of minerals (both micro- and macro) in water.
This process gets hampered when the quality of soil deteriorates and the overall
pond productivity is badly affected.
An ideal pond bottom soil is that in which mineralization of organic matter
is rapid and essential nutrients are released slowly in order to maintain an optimum
trophic status.
Macan et al., (1942) classified pond bottom into three main types:
i) Inorganic bottom of gravel, sand or clay which are poor in nutrients, but can
be improved by the application of manure or sewage/sludges;
ii) Peaty bottom formed by the accumulation of undecomposed vegetable debris
which can be corrected by using heavy doses of lime to bring about
decomposition and;
iii) Mud bottom which are the most productive one.
In order to utilize and maintain its productivity, biogeochemical cycles have
to be set in involving replenishment of nutrients continuously consumed by aquatic
life. The fertility of soil refers to its nutrient releasing properties since sediment
is always a great source of minerals. As an absorber of toxic gases and as a
filter of waste waters, soil is also important for hygiene with regard to waste
water recycling.
Each and every soil type has its own history, all the conditions involved in its
formation and development must be taken into account when studying a soil.
Unfortunately, little is known about the direct or indirect relationship of soil with
fish production (Jhingran, 2000).Hickling (1971) is of the opinion that soil is
obviously the chemical laboratory where nutrients for aquatic inhabitants are
produced by chemical process from the raw materials consisting of organic
matter and mineral constituents of clay. Soil characteristics are related to
biogeochemical processes including trophic status. An understanding of the
chemistry of soil is of paramount importance in relation to fisheries (Banerjea,
1995).
It is needless to mention, sewage discharge into the water bodies carries a
lot of organic and inorganic ingredients which will bring both qualitative and
quantitative changes in the system. It is therefore, the study of important chemical
parameters like pH, organic carbon, available nitrogen and phosphorus are of
immense importance as the water quality parameters are dependant to a great
extent on the quality of pond basin soil.
Banerjea (1967) from the study of large number of fish pond soil under
different agro climatic conditions inferred that pond productivity depends on soil
qualities such as its reaction status of available nutrients and OC. He also
classified ponds into low, medium and high productive on the basis of nutrient
status as given in the table below:
112 Freshwater Aquaculture: A Functional Approach
Boyd et al., 2002 studied organic matters and dynamics of soil organic
matters and nutrients. He pointed out that pond soil containing more than 15 %
organic carbon (OC) will be considered as organic soils. Organic soils again are
divided into three different groups in connection with organic content, as low (25
25% OC) medium (26-40% OC) and high more than 40%. Pond sediments
usually contain 0.5 to 5% OC and the optimum concentration is considered to be
1-3%. Thus the following categories have been suggested by Boyd et.al, 2002
for OC in pond sediment which are constructed on mineral soil as low < 1% OC,
medium 1-3% OC and high more than 3% OC. Banerjee et.al, 2009, pointed out
critical concentration of soil nutrients are: Av.N, 200 mg kg-1, Av.P, 13mg kg-1
and K 80 mg kg-1.
In any type of aqua cultural enterprise the farmer should have a basic idea
of his pond soil. The knowledge of chemical characteristics and the nutritional
status of pond soil (pH, available phosphorus, nitrogen, organic carbon and organic
matter etc.) is a pre-requisite. Productivity of a pond is largely depended on the
chemical properties of soil. In general the slothful nature of sandy-loam soil
permits aeration and helps increasing the productivity of microbes. Presence
oforganic matter and their nutrients leech easily in the sandy soil. Mineralization
process in presence of sunlight and congenial temperature generally do occur in
the soil-water interphase. Such course of activities essentially makes available
different types of minerals (both micro- and macro) in water. This process gets
hampered when the quality of soil deteriorates and the overall pond productivity
is badly affected.
In acid-sulfate soils (Fig. 33) it is necessary to apply sufficient amount of
agricultural lime (powdered calcium carbonate, CaCO3) @ 90-100 kg/acre area
which is the most common neutralizing material in such case. There are problems
if even there is black soil (Fig. 33a). Black soil have low fertility and are poor
in organic matter, nitrogen, available phosphorous and zinc. Cracking when dry
and swelling when wet makes them difficult to manage, unless they are cultivated
at appropriate soil moisture levels. This makes black soil difficult to manage
hence should have to be carefully removed from the pond bottom. It is considered
that the range of soil pH from 7.5 to 8.5 is perfect for aqua farming. Aquatic
inhabitants (phyto- and zooplankton, fishes etc.) as a whole, are severely affected
if the soil pH is acidic. Besides, soil pH makes phosphorus availability but pH
Soil and Water Quality for Aquaculture 113
more than 9.0 also restricts purveying phosphorus availability. For a meaningful
aquaculture enterprise, available phosphorus in soil must be within 10 to 15mg/
100gmof soil. In addition to this, the available nitrogen in soil should be between
8 to 10mg/100 gm of soil (Table-18a). The organic matter present in soil which
helps in keeping the pond soil alive, effective and increase the water retention
capacity. The excessive presence of organic substances in soil may bring down
the pH of water and destroy the aquatic environment and may increase the
autochthonous turbidity. The range of Organic Carbon (OC) should be between
1.5 to 2.5% and Organic Matter (OM) between 2.5 to 4.3% to enhance fertility
and productivity of a pond. Generally it is believed that the available nitrogen in
pond soil plays a pivotal role in productivity of pond water.
The carbon-nitrogen ratio (C: N) is also a decisive factor in fish production
(Table-18b).This ratio is also playing a crucial role in the availability of various
nutrients in water. In soil, not only the organic carbon but also the ratio of carbon
and nitrogen (C: N), the decomposition of organic matter (OM) largely depends
and the various bacteria have been found to play a crucial role in the process
(Table.18c).
Table-18(a): Conditions of pond soil.
Fig. 33: Acid sulfate Soil indicating Fig. 33a: Thick layers of black soil
anaerobic condition
Acidic bottom soil is a common problem in pond aquaculture, and fish farmers
often as remedial measures apply agricultural limestone to such ponds. Aquaculture
ponds are usually limed after draining for harvest and before refilling for the next
crop (Fig.34a). However, sportfish ponds are usually not drained for liming, and
agricultural limestone is spread over the water surface from a boat (Boyd, 1982;
Boyd & Tucker, 1998).
The objective of liming is to neutralize acidity in the upper layer of bottom
soil and to increase concentrations of total alkalinity and total hardness in the
water (Thomaston & Zeller, 1961). Several studies have shown positive responses
in phytoplankton productivity and fish production following liming of acidic ponds,
and methods for determining the lime requirements of bottom soils have been
developed (Boyd, 1995).
Nevertheless, liming often is applied to ponds indiscriminately, with no concern
for bottom soil pH or total alkalinity and total hardness concentrations. It is
doubtful that liming has a large influence where soil pH is above 7 or total
alkalinity is above 50 mg L-1 (Boyd, 1995). Aquaculture ponds are ordinarily
drained for harvest, bottoms are allowed to dry, and liming materials are applied.
Lime is frequently blended with the bottom soil by tilling.
116 Freshwater Aquaculture: A Functional Approach
B. Water quality
Water quality is the totality of physical, biological and chemical parameters that
affect the growth and welfare of cultured organisms. The success of a commercial
aquaculture enterprise depends on providing the optimum environment for rapid
growth at the minimum cost of resources and capital. Water quality affects the
general condition of cultured organism as it determines the health and growth
Soil and Water Quality for Aquaculture 117
both of water and of its dissolved and particulate matter. Transparency of water
mainly depends on two factors:
i) Autochthonous production of plankton, and
ii) Allochthonous input.
Both theoretical analyses as well as a large number of empirical observations
have shown that the reduction in light transmission in relation to Secchi disc
transparency is associated to a greater extent with increased scattering by
particulate suspensoids. Reduction in transparency vis-à-vis increase in turbidity
in water, caused by clay and silt particles, is often important as a limiting factor.
However, if turbidity is the result of living organisms, measurement of transparency
becomes an index of productivity (Odum, 1971).
The pH of natural waters is governed to a large extent by the interaction of
H+ ions arising from the dissociation of carbonic acid (H2CO3), and OH- ions
produced during the hydrolysis of bicarbonates. The value of pH provides an
index of the general chemical environmental condition of any aquatic ecosystem,
viz. the concentration of H+ions, amount of available gases, alkalinity, nutrients,
dissolved salts, trace elements (Goldman and Horne, 1983). Although pH of
natural waters ranges between < 2 to 12 (Wetzel, 1983), in most unpolluted water
bodies, it is from 6 to 9 (Hutchinson, 1957). Santra and Deb (1996) while
studying the pH of sewage fed aqua system in Kolkata, revealed that pH varied
from 7.2 to 9.5.
Oxygen is the most fundamental chemical parameter of aquatic ecosystems
and its measurement can help in feeling the pulse of the aquatic environment.
DO is obviously essential to the metabolism of all aerobic aquatic organisms.
Hence, the solubility and especially the dynamics of oxygen distribution in aquatic
ecosystems are basic to the understanding of the distribution, behaviour and
growth of aquatic organisms. The balance of DO content of water is determined
by the interaction of a number of factors like, the amount of oxygen being
dissolved, the activity of producers, hydromechanical distribution of oxygen,
respiratory activity of the biota and the rate of decomposition of organic matter.
The chemical characterization of sewages used for fish culture showed a distinct
gradient, with a progressive rise in DO values (5.6-12.4mgl-1) (Jana, 1998).
Free carbon-dioxide in water like oxygen, may be present in water in highly
variable amounts but is difficult to make general statements about its role as a
limiting factor for algae (Krebs, 1985). However, very high CO2 concentration
may be definitely limiting to animals because it is associated with low oxygen
concentrations (Odum, 1971). The chief sources of CO2 in water are respiration
Soil and Water Quality for Aquaculture 119
Thus, the above reactions establish a CO2- HCO3- - CO3= buffering system
which prevents the pH from fluctuating widely and thus creates a relatively
stable condition for the sustenance of aquatic life.
Alkalinity of water refers to the quantity and kinds of compounds present,
which collectively shift the pH to the alkaline side. The property of alkalinity is
mainly imparted by the presence of bicarbonates, carbonates and hydroxides. A
mixture of bicarbonate and carbonate alkalinity is generally encountered in waters
having a pH range of 8.2 to 10.5. Bicarbonates are sharply reduced at higher pH
values while pH less than 8.2 but above 4.5 practically no carbonate is present
(Jhingran, 1983).
PO4-P is the least abundant but the most common limiting factor of biological
productivity (Wetzel, 1983). Phosphorus occurs in a number of inorganic and
organic compounds in both particulate and dissolved forms (Strickland and Parsons,
1968). The most significant form of inorganic phosphorus is orthophosphate (PO4=)
which is assimilated rapidly by the biota in aquatic ecosystems (Hutchinson,
1957). A massive biological uptake of phosphorus also occurs during the growth
120 Freshwater Aquaculture: A Functional Approach
Thus, all waters have certain content of DOM. Cole (1983) is of opinion that
DOM in an ecosystem comes from four sources:
i) Allochthonous input,
ii) Death and decay of aquatic organism,
iii) Excreted metabolites and / or photosynthates of phytoplankton,
iv) Littoral vegetation and excreted metabolites of fauna.
Since carbohydrates contribute predominantly to the major bulk of the total
DOM, carbon appears to be of paramount importance as a limiting nutrient
(King, 1970).
The BOD or biochemical oxygen demand (also known as biological oxygen
demand) is an indication of the amount of biodegradable organic materials present
in water. BOD is an essentially bacterial reaction by which organic matter
present in any effluent are broken down to simpler substances and in that process
oxygen is used up. For industrial effluents (which contain only chemical reducing
agents that take up oxygen very rapidly by purely chemical action) and sterile
effluents viz. phenols, wood pulp, saw dust etc. (which are very poor bacterial
foods and are decomposed very slowly), measurement of BOD gives less
satisfactory results. However, for sewage and other effluents containing pesticides,
oxidisable organic matters, sugars, milk wastes, etc. BOD test is very useful and
it yields highly satisfactory results (Hynes, 1960). Sewage is well inoculated with
bacteria and is adequately supplied with wide range of compounds, so it is broken
down easily. It has been found that, of all the various kinds of effluents wool
scouring, pharmaceutical products, paper pulping, smokeless fuel carbonization
and tanning industry effluents have extremely high BOD values.
Jana (1998) is of the opinion that a considerable reduction on BOD loads of
sewage is a pre-requisite before its transfer to aquaculture facilities. Generally,
the BOD load of raw domestic sewage ranges between 120 and 400mgl-1 and
primary treatment by sedimentation is likely to reduce it by 33%. In oxidation
ponds, most of the anaerobic bacteria and pathogenic forms are likely to be
reduced considerably. Jana (1998) also opined that primarily treated sewage
contains less organic loads than untreated sewage, but more nutrients than
secondary and tertiary effluents. Because of the presence of certain obnoxious
gases like un-ionized ammonia, CO2 and H2S in the treated effluents remain
anaerobic and are not suitable for direct use. As a result, dilution with fresh
water (1:1-1: 4) or proper loading of sewage provides congenial environment and
aerobic conditions for fish culture. A significant contribution to the basic
understanding on BOD is available from the works of Schreiber and Neumaier
(1987). BOD test is however, purely arbitrary and takes no difference between
122 Freshwater Aquaculture: A Functional Approach
the effluents of different kinds. Also it does not directly indicate the amount of
other non-organic pollutants. Despite these short comings the BOD test, originally
devised by Sir Edward Frankland at the beginning of the nineteenth century, is
undoubtedly the most important contribution so far made to the study of water
pollution.
1. Source of Water
Source of water is essentially important, if a pond is considered to be only a rain
fed and if the pond is sandy in nature, there is every possibility of the same to
be a temporary one. Quality of pond water seems to be a better one and
productive, if the same is situated beside a canal with running water and by
excavating a small drain or by passing the pond water may show a better
productivity. The fish farms which are situated near a town or city, and the waste
water when passes through a drain are pumped in also exhibit much better
production. Since, the domestic waste water are enriched with essential nutrients.
But a fish pond/farm situated near agriculture land may not be always suitable
for farming since agricultural runoff might contain insecticides/pesticides.
Aquafarming is not at all suitable for higher alkaline or acidic waters since the
production of natural food for fishes is at a question.
2. Depth of Water
Depth of water plays an important role in fish culture /pond farming. In general
both ponds having a stock of Indian and exotic carps should have a depth of 6
– 7 feet since the sunlight can reach upto that depth in fresh water. It is an
absolute truth that so long the sunrays can penetrate in water is a photic zone
and both phyto and zooplankton develops rapidly in this zone. The depth beyond
this specified zone is aphotic zone and comparatively less productive.
In the following table (Table -20), the desired area and depth is given which
shows better result:
Soil and Water Quality for Aquaculture 123
(e) Even with adequate dissolved oxygen, there is a maximum temperature that
each species of fish or other organism can tolerate. Higher temperatures
accelerates rate of death. The maximum temperatures that adult fish can
tolerate vary with the species of fish, prior acclimatization, oxygen availability
and the synergistic effects of other pollutants. Fish are generally categorized
into warm water, cool water, and cold water species based on optimal growth
temperatures (Table 21).
Table 21. General temperature ranges for coldwater, cool water and warm water species.
4. Transparency of water
Transparency of water or, conversely turbidity of water plays an important role
in ponds and tanks. Turbidity of water is the resultant of higher growth of
autochthonous planktonic production and surface run off from the catchment
area i.e., allochthonous source. Due to turbid nature of natural waters, temperature
also shows higher trend so also there is a reduction of penetration of sunlight.
As a result photosynthetic activities of phytoplankton are greatly affected followed
by the decrease of dissolved oxygen content of water.
Transparency of water plays an important role on the natural growth of
fishes; Turbidity of pond water depends mainly on:
i) Autochthonus matter: Excessive growth of both phyto and Zooplankton.
ii) Allocthonus matter: Washing from the catchment area. The ponds where
allochthonus turbidity is high, penetration of sunlight get obstructed affecting
Soil and Water Quality for Aquaculture 125
T1 + T2
Pond transparency (T) =
2
5. Suspended matters
Presence of debris, individual wastes, and domestic sewage sometimes may not
be congenial for fish and fisheries. Ponds having an inlet connection from a
waste fed canal should have to be drained in a separate sedimentation tank for
settling the suspended matter for about 24 -48 hours the supernatant water is to
be drained in culture ponds. The acceptability of suspended matter is < 300 Gms.
6. pH of pond water
The term “pH” is a mathematical transformation of the hydrogen ion (H+)
concentration; it conveniently expresses the acidity or basicity of water. The
lower case letter “p” refers to “power” or exponent, and pH is defined as the
negative logarithm of the hydrogen ion concentration. Each change of one pH
unit represents a ten-fold change in hydrogen ion concentration. The pH scale is
usually represented as ranging from 0 to 14, but pH can extend beyond those
values. At 25°C, pH 7.0 describes the neutral point of water at which the
concentrations of hydrogen and hydroxyl ions (OH-) are equal (each at 10-7
moles/L). Conditions become more acidic as pH decreases and more basic as pH
increases (Tucker and D’Abramo, 2008).The objective of liming of pond water
is to neutralize acidity in the upper layer of bottom soil and to increase
concentrations of total alkalinity and total hardness of the water (Thomaston &
Zeller, 1961). Several studies have shown positive responses in phytoplankton
productivity and fish production following liming of acidic ponds, and methods for
determining the lime requirements of bottom soils have been developed (Boyd,
1995). Nevertheless, liming often is applied to ponds indiscriminately, with no
concern for bottom soil pH or total alkalinity and total hardness concentrations.
It is doubtful that liming has a large influence where soil pH is above 7 or total
alkalinity is above 50 mg L-1 (Boyd, 1995).An optimal pH range is between 6.5
and 9 however this will alter slightly depending on the culture species. Aquaculture
ponds are ordinarily drained for harvest, bottoms are allowed to dry, and liming
materials are applied. Lime is frequently blended with the bottom soil by tilling. The
pH is the measure of the hydrogen ion (H+) concentration in soil or water. The
pH scale ranges from 0 to 14 with a pH of 7 being neutral. A pH below 7 is
acidic and a pH of above 7 is basic. An optimal pH range is between 6.5 and
9 however, this will alter slightly depending on the culture species (Fig. 37).
pH will vary depending on a number of factors. Firstly pH levels of the pond
water will change depending on the aquatic life within the pond. Carbon dioxide
Soil and Water Quality for Aquaculture 127
produced by aquatic organisms when they respire has an acidic reaction in the
water. The pH in ponds will rise during the day as phytoplankton and other
aquatic plants remove CO2 from the water during photosynthesis. The pH
decreases at night because of respiration and production of CO2 by all organisms.
The fluctuation of pH levels will depend on algae levels within the pond.
Sub-optimal pH has a number of adverse effects on culture animals. It can
cause stress, increase susceptibility to disease, low production levels and poor
growth. Signs of sub-optimal pH include increase mucus on the gill surfaces of
fish, damage to the eye lens, abnormal swimming behaviour, fin fray, poor
phytoplankton and zooplankton growth and can even cause death. In the case of
freshwater crayfish low pH levels will cause the shell to become soft. This is due
to the shell of the cray fish being composed of calcium carbonate which reacts
with acid. Sub-optimal pH levels are usually caused by acidic water and soils,
poorly buffered water (will be discussed further on) and increased CO2 production.
Treatment methods will depend on whether there is a high pH problem or a low
pH problem. To treat a pond with low pH, a pond can be limed with agricultural
limestone or fertilized to promote plant growth. To decrease a high pH, the pond
can be flushed with fresh water, feeding rates can be reduced to decrease
nutrient input into the pond, gypsum (CaSO4) can be added to increase the
calcium concentration, or alum (AlSO4) can be added in extreme cases.
From the useful effects of liming given above, it is concluded that liming is
an essential and successful tool for pond manuring. A pond containing lime is
likely to be more fertile than the one without it (Fig. 41 and 42). The dose of lime
depending on the characteristics of water is given below (Table-23 and 24):
Soil and Water Quality for Aquaculture 129
Table 24: The doses of lime depending on acidic water (pH < 7.0).*
pH Kg/acre/month Kg/ha/month
4.0-4.5 1500 4500
4.5-5.0 1135 3400
5.0-5.5 818 2450
5.5-6.0 485 1450
6.0-6.5 318 950
*The quantity may however, be increased by 50%, if the bottom is clayey and reduced by 50% for
a sandy bottom):
Fig. 39: Liming pond bottom Fig. 40: Liming over pond surface
light
CO 2 2H 2 O
green plants
o (CH 2O) O2 H 2 O
maximum rate of oxygen transfer into water occurs when the dissolved oxygen
concentration in water is 0 mg/L, the point at which the maximum difference in
oxygen partial pressures between water and air occurs (Tucker, 2006).As dissolved
oxygen concentrations increase from 0 mg/L, the oxygen partial pressure
difference between air and water steadily decreases up to the point where the
dissolved oxygen concentration equals the saturation concentration. At that point,
there is no difference in oxygen partial pressure between water and air (super
saturation of oxygen).Because there is no driving force compelling oxygen molecules
to leave or enter water, no oxygen can be added to water no matter how much
effort is made to increase turbulence or air water border area. When the dissolved
oxygen concentration is greater than the saturation concentration (the water is
supersaturated with oxygen), the oxygen partial pressure in water is greater than
in air and, oxygen moves out from water to air. In other words, aeration causes
the dissolved oxygen concentration to decrease. This process is called degassing.
Fig. 43a
Fig. 43b
Fig. 44a
Fig. 44b
Fig. 43a and b: Aeration of pond water through pumps.
Fig. 44a and b: Multi-wheel and four wheel aerator for oxygenation in ponds.
134 Freshwater Aquaculture: A Functional Approach
Fig. 45: Surfacing of fishes due to severe depletion of dissolved oxygen in water.
8. Ammonia
Ammonia is toxic to fish if allowed to accumulate in aquaculture production
systems. When ammonia accumulates to toxic levels, fish cannot extract energy
from feed efficiently. If the ammonia concentration gets high enough, the fish will
become lethargic and eventually fall into a coma and die. Even in properly
managed fish ponds, ammonia may accumulate to sub lethal concentrations
resulting reduced growth, poor feed conversion, and reduced disease resistance—
even might at lower than lethal concentrations (Hargreaves and Tucker, 2004).
Ammonia in ponds is produced from the decomposition of organic wastes
resulting in the breakdown of decaying organic matter such as algae, plants,
animals and uneaten food. Ammonia is also produced by fish and crayfish as an
excretory product.
Ammonia is present in two forms in water: as a gas NH3 or as the ammonium
ion (NH4+). Ammonia is toxic to culture animals in the gaseous form and can
cause gill irritation and respiratory problems.
Ammonia levels will depend on the temperature of the pond’s water and its
pH. For example at a higher temperature and pH, a greater number of ammonium
ions are converted into ammonia gas thus causes an increase in toxic ammonia
levels within the freshwater pond.
If high levels of ammonia is present within the pond’s water, a number of
measures can be taken. These include:
Soil and Water Quality for Aquaculture 135
Ammonia sources
Fish excretion is principally accounted for the source of ammonia in fish ponds.
The rate at which fish excrete ammonia is directly related to the feeding rate and
the protein level in feed. As dietary protein is broken down in the body, some of
the nitrogen is used to form protein (including muscle), some is used for energy,
and some is excreted through the gills as ammonia. Thus, protein in feed is the
ultimate source of most ammonia in ponds, where fish are fed.
Another main source of ammonia in fish ponds is diffusion from the sediment.
Large quantities of organic matter are produced by algae or added to ponds as
feed. Fecal solids excreted by fish and dead algae settle to the pond bottom,
where they decompose. The decomposition of this organic matter produces
ammonia, which diffuses from the sediment into the water column (Hargreaves
and Tucker, 2004).
Ammonia Management
Even though practical ammonia management actions may be limited in a large
pond aquaculture setting there may be some ways to reduce ammonia levels but
others may exacerbate the situation - no method is a complete long-term solution
in and of itself.
Increase aeration
Aeration can be ineffective at reducing overall pond ammonia concentrations due
to the relatively small area of the pond being aerated. However, it does increase
DO levels causing fish to be less stressed. Avoid vigorous aeration to prevent
stirring bottom sediment which can actually increase ammonia concentrations.
Lime
Using lime agents such as hydrated lime or quick lime could actually make a
potentially bad situation much worse by causing an abrupt and large increase in
pH. Increasing pH will shift ammonia toward the form that is toxic to fish. In
addition, the calcium in lime can react with soluble phosphorus, removing it from
water and making it unavailable to algae.
Remedies
1. Liming at higher doses, suspending use of fertilizers, removal of non-
biodegradable / floating organic matter from the pond surface, aeration,
screening or skimming to reduce BOD level.
2. Before stocking, pondwater may be allowed to stabilize for few days (5-15
days).
3. Add safe quantities of manure accordingly local conditions of pond in terms
of differences in type of manure, water temperature and normal dissolved
oxygen.
organic matter in pond soils is beneficial. However, too much organic matter in
pond soils can be detrimental because microbial decomposition can lead to the
development of anaerobic conditions at the sediment-water interface, under which
organic compounds are often decomposed to reduce substances such as NO2,
H2S, NH3, and CH4, which are toxic to fish at relatively low concentrations
(Boyd and Bowman, 1997). It is of primary importance to prevent such situations
in fish ponds. Two methods commonly practiced by fish farmers are: 1) polyculture
with detritivorous fish and 2) pond drying between cycles of production.
Detritivores consume organic matter, but also disturb bottom sediment while
feeding, which may increase turbidity and reduce water quality (Pillay, 1992).
The drying process enhances oxidation of organic material as well as nutrient
regeneration in pond soils, and also allows photo-oxidation and microbial
decomposition of organic matter (Fast, 1986).
The colloidal fraction of measured DOM is probably small in most water
bodies. In fish ponds, organic matter is present as living plankton, suspended
particles of decaying organic matter (detritus) and DOM. The organic matter
present in natural waters is organic phosphorus, organic nitrogen, carbohydrate,
vitamin etc. The organic matter in a water body may be either allochthonous or
autochthonous in origin and may be in either dissolved or suspended states. The
presence of organisms ensures a more or less continual addition of organic
materials to the water body, some of which immediately or later go into solution.
Thus, all waters have certain content of DOM. Cole (1983) is of opinion that
DOM in an ecosystem comes from four sources:
i) Allochthonous input,
ii) Death and decay of aquatic organism,
iii) Excreted metabolites and / or photosynthates of phytoplankton,
iv) Littoral vegetation and excreted metabolites of fauna.
Since carbohydrates contribute predominantly to the major bulk of the total
DOM, carbon appears to be of paramount importance as a limiting nutrient.
CO3-, NO3- and PO4-), temperature and on the variations of dissolved solids.
Distilled water has a conductivity of about 1 P mhos/cm and natural waters have
conductivity of 20-1500 P mhos/cm (Abowei, 2010). Conductivity of freshwater
varies between 50 - 1500 hs/cm (Boyd, 1979), but in some polluted waters it may
reach 10, 000 hs/cm and seawater has conductivity around 35, 000 hs/cm and
above (Bhatnagar and Devi, 2013).
Desirable limits
As fish differ in their ability to maintain osmotic pressure therefore, the optimum
conductivity for fish production differs from one species to another. Sikoki and
Veen (2004) described a conductivity range of 3.8 -10 hs/cm as extremely poor
in chemicals. Stone and Thomforde (2004) recommended the desirable range
100-2, 000 mSiemens/cm and acceptable range 30-5, 000 mSiemens/cm for pond
fish culture.
productivity research was traced by Leith (1975) and according to him there are
at least three major periods in the history of primary productivity study. These
are:
(1) Before Liebig
(2) From Liebig to International Biological Programme (IBP)
(3) IBP to consequence.
[Table Contd.
Contd. Table]
[Table Contd.
Contd. Table]
[Table Contd.
Contd. Table]
b. Phytoplankton
Blue-green algae or, Myxophyceae or Cyanophyceae
These occur in unicellular, filamentous, and colonial forms, and most are enclosed
in mucilaginous sheaths either individually or in colonies. A majority of the planktonic
blue-greens consists of members of the coccoid family Chroococcaceae (e.g.,
Anacystis = Microcystis, Gomphosphaeri= Coelosphaerium, and Coccochloris)
and filamentous families belonging to Oscillatoriaceae, Nostocaceae , and
Rivulariaceae (e.g., Oscillatoria, Lyngbya, Aphanizomenon, Anabaena).
Blue-green algae, also known as Cyanobacteria, are a group of photosynthetic
bacteria that many people refer to as “pond scum.” Blue-green algae are most
often blue-green in color, but can also be blue, green, reddish-purple, or brown.
Blue-green algae generally grow in ponds, and slow-moving streams when the
water is warm and enriched with nutrients like phosphorus or nitrogen.When a
blue-green algae bloom dies off, the blue-green algae cells sink and are broken
down by microbes. This breakdown process requires oxygen and can create an
increase in biological oxygen demand resulting in decrease in oxygen concentration
in the water, and this can adversely affect fish and other aquatic life, and can
even result in fish kills.
Blue-green algal toxins are naturally produced chemical compounds that
sometimes are produced inside the cells of certain species of blue-green algae.
These chemicals are not produced all of the time and there is no easy way to
tell when blue-green algae are producing them and when they are not. When the
cells are broken, the toxins may be released. Sometimes this occurs when the
cells die off naturally and they break open as they sink and decay in a pond. Cells
Soil and Water Quality for Aquaculture 151
may also be broken when the water is treated with chemicals meant to kill algae,
and when cells are swallowed and mixed with digestive acids in the stomachs of
animals.
Many different species of blue-green algae occur in waters, but the most
commonly detected include Anabaena sp., Aphanizomenon sp., Microcystis sp.,
and Planktothrix sp. It is not always the same species that blooms in a given
waterbody, and the dominant species present can change over the course of the
season.This group of algae is harmful to shrimp. Some of the algae cause scum
on the water surface, like Microcytis sp., it makes shrimp smell fishy and foul;
discharges gel through cell membrane, and cause blockage in shrimp’s gills.
Diatoms or Bacillariophyceae
They are a most important group of phytoplankton even though most species are
sessile and associated with littoral substrata. Both unicellular and colonial forms
are common.The group is commonly divided into the centric diatoms (Centrales),
Soil and Water Quality for Aquaculture 153
which have radial symmetry, and the pennate diatoms (Pennales) which exhibit
essentially bilateral symmetry.The four major groups of pennate diatoms are
differentiated on the basis of cell thickenings and dilations:
a. the Araphidineae (e.g., Asterionella, Diatoma, Fragilaria, Synedra) possess
a pseudoraphe (i.e., a depression in the axial areas of the cell wall).
b. the Raphidioidineae (e.g., Actinella, Eunotia) in which a rudimentary raphe
(i.e., a slit traversing all or part of the cell wall) occurs at the cell ends.
c. Monoraphidineae (e.g., Achnanthes [10 Pm], Cocconeis [10 Pm]) which
have a raphe on one valve and pseudoraphe on the other, and
d. The Biraphidineae (e.g., Amphora, Cymbella, Gomphonema, Navicula,
Nitzschia, Pinnularai, Surirella) in which the raphe occurs on both valves.
Diatoms are a major group of algae, specifically microalgae, found in the oceans,
waterways and soils. Living diatoms number in the trillions: they generate about
20 percent of the oxygen produced on the planet each year; take in over 6.7
billion metric tons of silicon each year from the waters in which they live; and
contribute nearly half of the organic material found in the oceans. The shells
of dead diatoms can reach as much as a half mile deep on the ocean floor.
Movement in diatoms primarily occurs passively as a result of both water
currents and wind-induced water turbulance however, male gametes of centric
diatoms have flagella, permitting active movement for seeking female gametes.
Similarly to plants, diatoms convert light energy to chemical energy by
photosynthesis, although this shared autotrophy evolved independently in both
lineages. Unusually for autotrophic organisms, diatoms possess a urea cycle, a
feature that they share with animals, although this cycle is used to different
metabolic ends in diatoms.
Aquaculture ponds with significant levels of diatoms are desirable for shrimp
production because of the diatoms’ high nutritional value, particularly for younger
shrimp.
Silicon is second only to oxygen in abundance in the earth’s crust. Much sand
consists of silica (silicon dioxide or SiO2), and clay minerals are hydrous aluminum
silicates. Natural waters contain silicon because of the dissolution of silicate
minerals with which they come in contact. For example, silicon dioxide reacts in
water to form silicic acid, a weak acid that is largely unionized within the pH
range of most natural waters. When calcium silicate reacts with carbon dioxide
in water, the resulting dissolved substances are calcium ions, bicarbonate ions
(alkalinity) and silicic acid.
154 Freshwater Aquaculture: A Functional Approach
Cryptomonads or Cryptomonadinae
Most of these algae are naked, unicellular, and motile. This class is very small
and most of the planktonic members belong to the Cryptomonadineae (e.g.,
Cryptomonas, Rhodomonas, and Chroomonas). Dense populations of these algae
often develop during cold periods of the year under relatively low light conditions.
Dinoflagellates
They are unicellular flagellated algae, many of which are motile. A few species
of the order Gymnodiniales (e.g., Gymnodinium) are naked or without a cell wall;
but most develop a conspicuous cell wall, the Peridiniales (e.g., Ceratium,
Glenodinium, Peridinium). Although many of this group may change in size and
pattern seasonally, only a few undergo seasonal polymorphism or cyclomorphosis
e.g. dinoflagellate ceratium. Presumably, these changes are of adaptive significance
in that they reduce the rate of sinking out of the photic zone.
The dinoflagellates (Greek GLQR9 dinos “whirling” and Latin flagellum “whip,
scourge”) are a large group of flagellate eukaryotes that constitute the phylum
Dinoflagellata. Most are marine plankton, but they also are common in freshwater
habitats. Their populations are distributed depending on sea surface temperature,
salinity, or depth. Many dinoflagellates are known to be photosynthetic, but a
Soil and Water Quality for Aquaculture 155
Euglenoids or Euglenophyceae
Few species are truly planktonic. Almost all are unicellular, lack a distinct cell
wall, and possess one, two, or three flagella. Their development in the
phytoplankton occurs most often in seasons, strata, or lake/pond systems in
which concentrations of ammonia and especially dissolved organic matter are
high. However, these algae are found most often in shallow water rich in organic
matter such as farm ponds.
c. Zooplankton
Fresh water zooplankton is extremely diverse, and includes representatives
suspended in water with limited powers of locomotion. Like phytoplankton, they
are usually denser than water, and constantly sink by gravity to lower depths.
The distinction between suspended zooplankton having limited powers of
locomotion, and animals capable of swimming independently of turbulence-the
latter referred to as nekton- is often diffuse. Freshwater zooplankton is dominated
by four major groups of animals: protozoa, rotifers, and two subclasses of the
crustacea, the cladocerans and copepods. The planktonic protozoa have limited
locomotion, but the rotifers, cladoceran and copepod microcrustaceans, and certain
immature insect larvae often move extensively in quiescent water. Many pelagial
protozoa (5-300 Pm) are meroplanktonic, in that only a portion, usually in the
summer, of their life cycle is planktonic. These forms spend the rest of their life
cycle in the sediments, often encysted throughout the winter period. Many
protozoans feed on bacteria-sized particles (most cells <2Pm), and thereby utilize
a size class of bacteria and detritus generally not utilized by large zooplankton.
Although most rotifers (150Pm-1mm) are sessile and are associated with the
littoral zone, some are completely planktonic; these species can form major
components of the zooplankton. Most rotifers are nonpredatory, and omnivorously
feed on bacteria, small algae, and detrital particulate organic matter. Most food
particles eaten are small (<12Pm in diameter). Most cladoceran zooplankton are
small (0.2 to 3.0 mm) and have a distinct head; the body is covered by a bivalve
carapace. Locomotion is accomplished mainly by means of the large second
antennae. Planktonic copepods (2-4 mm) consist of two major groups, the calanoids
and the cyclopoids. These two groups are separated on the basis of body structure,
length of antennae, and legs.
Types of Zooplankton
Zooplankton may be classified according to their size or by the length of time
they are planktonic (largely immobile). Some terms that are used to refer to
plankton include:
● Microplankton: organisms that are 2-20 Pm in size — this includes some
copepods and other zooplankton.
● Mesoplankton: organisms that are 200 Pm-2 mm in size, which includes
larval crustaceans.
● Macroplankton: organisms 2-20 mm in size, which includes euphasiids (e.g.,
krill) - an important food source for many organisms, including baleen whales.
● Micronekton: organisms 20-200 mm in size. Examples include some
euphasiids and cephalopods.
Soil and Water Quality for Aquaculture 159
Rotifera
Rotifers also called as rotatoria or wheel animalcules are a group of small,
usually microscopic, pseudocoelomate animals which have been variously regarded
as a separate phylum.The species of rotifers are very common in summer and
monsoon.The importat species are: Brachionus calyciflorus, Brachionus
angularis, Brachionus caudatus, Kertella tropica, Kertella cochlearis, Kertella
Spp., Filina Spp., Filina longiseta, Rotaria, Monostyla bulla, Trichocerca
Spp.
160 Freshwater Aquaculture: A Functional Approach
Cladocera
Cladocerans popularly called as “water flea” prefer to live in deep water and
constitute a major item of food for fish. Thus they hold key position in food chain
and energy transformation (Uttangi, 2001).Alona rectangula, Chydorus
reticulata, Daphina carinata, Daphnia magna, Moina Spp., Bosminopsis
deitersi.
Copepoda
Fresh water copepods constitute one of the major zooplankton communities
occurring in all types of water bodies and ranging from free living to parasitic
forms. They serve as food to several fishes and play a major role in ecological
pyramids. Water temperature and availability of food organisms affect the
copepoda population. Naupli, Cyclops viridis, Paracyclops Spp., Mesocyclops
Spp., Diaptomus Spp.
Ostracoda
Ostracodes are small crustaceans having the bivalve carapace enclosing the
laterally compressed body. The freshwater ostracodes occur in lakes, tanks,
swamps, streams, and even polluted waters. The higher population of ostracodes
during monsoon may be due to the abundance of fine detritus to which omnivorous
organisms switch over form their natural benthic habitat and bacteria, mould and
algae as food (Allen, 1955). Cypris, Metacypris, Cyprinotus, Stenocypris etc.
are the common examples.
Benthic fauna: Benthos is the organisms that live in the benthic zone,
constitute an integral part of an aquatic ecosystem and are different from those
in the water column. Many have adapted to live on the substrate (bottom). In
their habitats they can be considered as dominant creatures. Many organisms
adapted to deep-water pressure cannot survive in the upper parts of the water
column. The pressure difference can be very significant.
Benthic macro fauna are those organisms that live on or inside the bottom
deposits of a water body. Large benthic animals, those readily visible through
naked eye are collectively referred to as macrozoobenthos or macro-invertebrates.
They are important and integral component of all aquatic ecosystems. These
organisms also play a vital role in the circulation and recirculation of nutrients in
aquatic environments. They constitute the linkage between the unavailable nutrients
162 Freshwater Aquaculture: A Functional Approach
Fig. 48: Top row:Mesocyclops leuckarti (female), M. leuckarti (male) and Cyclops sp. Second
row: Mesocyclops hyalinus , Ectocyclops sp. andNauplius larva.
in detritus and useful protein materials in fish (Covich et al., 1999). Most benthic
organisms feed on debris that settle on the bottom of the water and in turn serve
as food for a wide range of fishes (Chakma et al., 2015)
Because light can penetrate only upto 2meters in fresh water and does not
penetrate very deep, the energy source for the benthic ecosystem is often constitute
of organic matters from higher up in the water column that drifts down to the
depths. This dead and decaying matter sustains the benthic food chain; most
organisms in the benthic zone are scavengers or detritivores. Some micro
organisms use chemosynthesis to produce biomass.
Soil and Water Quality for Aquaculture 163
Fig. 49: Top row: Moina flagellata, M.brachiata and M.micrura, Middle row: Daphnia
magna, D.dubia and D.lumholtzi, third row: Juvenile cladocera, Ceriodaphnia
regaudii and Cyprinotus sp.
164 Freshwater Aquaculture: A Functional Approach
Benthic organisms can be divided into two categories based on where they
make their home: floor or an inch or two into the floor. Those living on the
surface of the bottom floor are known as epifauna. Those who live burrowed into
the mud floor are known as infauna.A number of soil constituents such as colloidal
clay, organic matter, nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium etc.and also trace elements
get distributed in different proportions at various parts of fish ponds which ultimately
determines the physico-chemical and biological characteristics of the water of
fish pond (Banerjee and Lal, 1990).
Micro-organisms play an important role in determining the physico-chemical
properties of soil beneath the water.Soil microbes are highly sensitive to the soil
reaction. Soil pH at and around neutral is favourable for healthy growth of soil
micro organisms and microbial activity. Atmosphere is a rich source of nitrogen
(>79%) but can not be utilized by terrestrial crops, until and unless it is somhow
trapped by the microbial activity in the soil.Several forms of microorganisms are
present in soil and are of great importance as they help in the decomposition of
organic wastes and release of nutrients. Nitrogen cycle is the best example for
bacterial activity in the soil (Banerjee and Lal, 1990).
3
DIVERSIFICATION AND
ALTERNATIVES OF CARP CULTURE
166 Freshwater Aquaculture: A Functional Approach
1. INTRODUCTION
Understanding the fact of saturations in the fresh water Indian major carp farming,
it is now become imperative to diversify from Indian Major Carp culture to
various other major and minor species of importance in fresh water culture since
these have high nutrient value in terms of protein, micronutrients, vitamins and
minerals. The fishes like:
i) Pangassius hypopthalmus the Pangus, ii) Chanos chanos, the milk fish,
iii) Clarius batrachus, the Magur, iv) Heterpneustes fossilis the Singhi, v) Puntius
sarana, the Olive barb, the Sar Punti, vi) Oreochromis niloticus, the nile tilapia
monosex culture, vii) Climbing perch (Anabas testudineus), the Koi (Vietnam strain),
viii) Notopterus notopterus, the Bronz Feather Back (Folui), ix) Amblypharyngodon
mola, the Mourala x) Mystus vittatus xi) Nandus nandus the Gangetic leaffish.
Among these fishes N .notopterus, A.mola, M. vittatus and N. nandus may well
be cultured with Indian Major Carps in fresh water ponds and last but not the least,
xii) the culture possibilities of Pacu – the Piaractus brachypomus, xiii) the fresh
water giant prawn Macrobrachium rosenbergiiand xiv) the slim bellied cyprinus
carpio haematopterus and last but not the least xv) the delicacy of Loktak lake of
Manipur – the Pengba, Osteobrama belangeri. The culture possibilities of these
fishes are given here for the interest of farmers.
Apropos the need of diversification of Indian Major Carp farming, it may be
mentioned here that an enormous possibility do exist in the farming of exotic Amur-
China type of wild carp, Cyprinus carpio haematopterus. There is an increasing
trend of interest among some sector of farmers who are able to procure seed of
this particular species unlike the traditional common carp Cyprinus carpio. The
speciality of this species is that it is a slim bellied one, unlike traditional common
carp Cyprinus carpio as well as, has a very fast growth rate. An attempt has also
been made to discuss the breeding biology, food and feeding and growth performance
of this species since this has been newly introduced in India.
lowland areas, wetlands and paddy fields. Although rural population depend highly
on indigenous species of fish for nutrition in many parts of India, very little
attention has been paid on their role in aquaculture enhancement, nutrition,
processing, biology, captive breeding, livelihood security and conservation needs.
Consequently, many small indigenous fishes have become threatened and
endangered due to pollution, over exploitation coupled with habitat destruction,
water abstraction, siltation, channel fragmentation, diseases and introduction of
exotic varieties. In order to achieve sustainable utilization, appropriate planning
for conservation and management strategies are of utmost importance. This
article addresses the untapped potential of the small indigenous fishes of India
and challenging issues for sustaining biodiversity, management, aquaculture, nutrition
and livelihood security and highlights the future priorities.
A large diversity of small indigenous fish species are found in freshwater
systems in Indian sub-continent. These small indigenous freshwater fish species
(SIFFS) form a major component of food consumed by families, especially those
living closer to freshwater resources. Among traditional communities indigenous
knowledge about the health benefits of such species exists, for example, mola
(Amblypharyngodon mola), commonly found in eastern and northeast India, is
often included in the diet of pregnant and lactating mothers, for their nutritive
values.
the average production are found to be higher than IMC production in some of
the areas. Pangassius is an air-breathing fish that can tolerate low Dissolved
Oxygen (DO) content in the water and can be cultured in ponds, concrete tanks,
fish cages or pens.
The systematic position and other necessary details of the species is given
here under.
Phylum- Chordatata.
Class- Actinopterygii [which is a characteristic feature of all Ray-finned fishes]
Order- Siluriformes [this is a characteristic feature of all catfishes]
Family- Pangassidae [this character goes to all shark cat fishes]
Diversification and Alternatives of Carp Culture 169
Genus- Pangassius.
Species- Pangassius.
Binomial name: Pangassius pangassius (Hamilton, 1822).
Morhology
The body is elongated and laterally compressed.The upper surface of the head
remains unpolished and the snout obtusely rounded.The upper jaw is lower than
the lower jaw and the gape of the mouth is moderate.Two pairs of barbells are
present. The dorsal spine is serrated anteteriorly. The pectoral spine is
comparatively strong than dorsal spine and serrated internally. Caudal fin is
deeply forked. The lateral line is complete.
The colour on the abdominal side of the fish is silvery, side of the head
contains golden tinge while the above portion of the lateral line is whitish grey
and on the flanks it is silvery purple. The back porion of the fish is however, dark
or yellosish green.
Habitats
The fish is found to inhabit both in fresh and brackish waters. Some of the
common habitats are big rivers, flood plains, estuaries and canals etc. Usually
inhibits at the lower portion of the large rivers and estuaries.
the same day water soaked MOC (preferably 24 hours before) has also to be
sprayed over the top soil. Next day morning liming@ 50-60kg/acre area has to
be made and kept as such for a day, while in the evening water is allowed to
fill the pond area.Utmost care is to be taken while allowing water from outside
reservoir/ponds. The inlet pipe is to be opened in a hapa made up of fine meshed
bolting cloth in order to trap larger zooplankton viz. Cyclops sp, Diaptomus sp.
etc. inside the hapa (Fig.52). This larger copepod zooplankton has a tendency to
predate the fish spawn stocked in the nursery ponds. As many as twenty lakhs
spawn of P. hypopthalmus may be stocked in a nursery pond covering an area
of 1.0 acre meter size.
Milkfish (Chanos chanos) is euryhaline in nature and can tolerate the salinity
of water ranging from 0 to 80 ppt. The larvae are to be slowly acclimatized from
brackish water to fresh waters where the salinity is 0.0 ppt. After acclimatization
the fry can well be reared in fresh waters.
172 Freshwater Aquaculture: A Functional Approach
Systematic Position:
Phylum-Chordata
Class- Actinopterygii.
Order- Siluriformes.
Family- Clariidae.
Genus- Clarias.
Species- Batrachus.
Binomial name: Clarius batrachus (Linnaeus, 1758)
Clarias batrachus is a black, slippery fish with mustache to aid it in swimming.
The availability of wild-caught magur seed is insufficient to meet demand due to
a combination of over-exploitation, aquatic pollution, spread of disease, uncontrolled
introduction of exotic fishes and habitat modification (Mahapatra B.K
2004:Conservation of the Asiatic catfish, Clarias batrachus through artificial
propagation and larval rearing technique in India . Sustainable Aquaculture Vol.
IX No. 4: Clarias batrachus (Linnaeus, 1758).
174 Freshwater Aquaculture: A Functional Approach
Habitat
Catfish are usually found in marshes, rice fields, swamps, streams, rivers, lakes
irrigation canals, or in any body or fresh water. Size of the ponds depends. The
minimum size is 50 square meter (sq. m) and should be located in low and flat
areas. Land where pesticides have been regularly used should be avoided. A
shady area where the fish will have shade when the sun is intense and lumut or
moss will grow easily. The area should also have a good supply of water either
from wells, spring or run-off ponds.
Characteristics of air breathing fishes
1) The hardy nature and tolerance to adverse environmental conditions particularly
low oxygen level.
2) Intensive culture with high production rate.
Sexual Dimorphism
In the wild form, male fish show spotting in the dorsal fin. This distinction cannot
be made for the aquarium varieties but sexing can be determined by examining
the genital papillae of the fish. This is elongate and pointed in the male, and
shorter and blunted in the female. Female fish are also much more rounded in
the belly than males (Fig. 56a&b).
Table 32: Food preferences and natural food source of Clarias batrachus.
Spawning season
Between May and October. In natural condition, the female makes a small round
hollow nest with grassy bottom abouy 30cm deep in shallow waters. The eggs
are deposited in the nest and attached to the roots of aquatic vegetation in the
nest. The males take charge of these eggs until they are hatched out within
twenty (20) hours at temperature between the ranges of 25-300C. Female
weighing300-800gms can produce between 5000-10, 000 eggs.
The latency period of 16-18 hours after the injection of the inducing hormonal
agent (dose: 1-2 ml/kg body weight in case of female and 0.5-1.0 ml/kg body
weight of male) found to be suitable for the ovulation of magur.
Table 33: The range of the abiotic factors of water suitable for ovulation of C.batrachus.
(a) (b)
(c)
Fig. 56 :(a) Well matured magur, (b) Mature male and female magur (c) Stripping method
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
(e)
Figs. 57: (a) Healthy fish eggs (b) Mixing of eggs & sperm (c) Production of hatchling
(d) Early fry (e) Advanced fry.
Table34: Diseases and remedial measures of Clarias batrachus.
Fig. 58
Morhology
The body is elongated and compressed. The head is depressed and covered with
osseous plate at the top and the sides of the head. Four pairs of barbels in which
the the maxillary pairs extended to end of the pectorals or to the commencement
to anal and the mandibular pairs extended upto the base of pelvis but the nasal
184 Freshwater Aquaculture: A Functional Approach
pair is comparatively shorter than the mandibular pairs. The presence of air sac
or the accessory respiratory organs which extends backward from the gill chamber
on either side of the vertebral column.The caudal is rounded.The body colour is
reddish brown or purplish brown but during mature conditions it appears to be
black in colour.
It may be mentioned here that Heteropneustes fossilisis protein enriched
fish species. Each 100 gm of fish contains 23.0 gm of protein, the fat is
comparatively low (0.6gm) while the Calcium content is about 670 mg and the
Phosphorus content is 650 mg and the water content is about 79.3%.
These fishes breed in confined waters during monsoon months. Spawning
has been observed in swampy patches falling within the flood prone regions of
rivers. It is capable of breeding in ponds, derelict water-bodies and ditches when
sufficient rainwater accumulates. Sexual maturity is attained when both male and
female are one year old and are about 5.5 cm and 12 cm in length, respectively.
Induced spawning is successful using homoplastic pituitary glands. Fertilized eggs
are adhesive, demersal and spherical in form. The fish, which attains a length of
30 cm, is in great demand because of its medicinal value. Fishermen generally
stock singhi in ponds during the rainy season. The fish is much dreaded because
of its aggressive behavior and can inflict painful wounds with its potentially
dangerous pectoral spines (Nayak et al., 2000).The fish is omnivorous in feeding
habit and also have a distinct sexual dimorphism like Clarias batrachus. The
female H. fossilis has well-rounded abdomen filled with matured ova. The males,
on the other hand, look lean. In a mature female, the genital papilla, refrains in
the form of a raised prominent structure, looking round and blunt with a slit-like
opening in the middle while in males. it remains in the form of a pointed
structure.Fecundity varies from fish to fish depending upon size and growth.
Generally, one gram of ovary contains 1500 - 2000 eggs. H. fossilis can be
successfully induced to breed under controlled conditions through administration
of hormones or inducing agents.
Systematic position:
Phylum- Chordata.
Class- Actinopterygii.
Order- Cypriniformes.
Superfamily- Cyprinoides.
Family- Cyprinidae.
Sub family- Barbinae.
Genus- Puntius.
Species- Sarana
Binomial name: Puntius sarana (Hamilton, 1822).
Diversification and Alternatives of Carp Culture 187
This barb is very widely distributed all over India in rivers and tanks. It
attains a length of 31 cm. It breeds during monsoon in running waters amongst
submerged boulders and vegetation. Spawning occurs in two stages once between
May to Mid-September but prominent in June and the second spawning time in
the months of August and September.
Morphology
The body of this minor carp is elongated and laterally compressed with a small
head.The head is 4-4.7 times shorter than the standard length of the body. The
mouth and eyes are moderate. There exist two pairs of barbells: the maxillary
and the rostral. The maxillary barbells are longer than the rostrals.The scales are
medium and the lateral line is complete.
The body colour is olive on the back and flanks silvery with golden reflections.
Barbels are reddish –brown. Fins are dusky brown to orange. A dull blotch
appears to be on the lateral line before the caudal base.
Feeding habit
It normally forms groups of four or five to several dozen. The species is omnivorous
and feeds on aquatic insects, fish, algae and small prawns. Food of P. sarana is
27% algae, 45% higher plants, 20% protozoan, 8% mud and sand. The food
groups Chlorophyceae, Bacillariophyceae and Cyanophyceae were recorded highly
dominant in the gut content of all the size groups of fish by both average indexes
of fullness and average points per fish.
Among the phytoplankton groups Chlorophyceae was the most dominant
food group (22.39%). Next to the Bacillariophyceae (21.85%), Cyanophyceae
(19.28%), Euglenophyceae (16.17%), Rotifera (10.03%), Crustacea (9.38%)
occupied the successive position. These findings indicate that the phytoplankton
is the most important food item of fish.
Economic importance
Flesh of olive barb contains 17.5% crude protein, 2% fat and 74% water. The
digestibility and biological value of flesh of this species is very high. Though it
is with inter-muscular bones yet it is highly esteemed as food both in eastern and
north eastern part of India including Bangladesh. It can grow up to 400-500 gm
in a year and fetches around Rs. 100-150 per kg. This species can also be used
as an ornamental species due to its attractive silver-coloured body and hardy
nature. This species is considered as the “biological control” in aquacultural
practices, since it can be used for eradication of aquatic weeds (Lemna species)
from the water bodies like ponds and tanks.
188 Freshwater Aquaculture: A Functional Approach
Cultural importance
The olive barb, P.sarana that attain 100-200 gm. is comparatively smaller species
when compared to Indian Major Carps. Due to high consumer preference, makes
the species a suitable candidate for diversifying the carp culture and also for short-
term culture in seasonal water bodies. Even the species were available in plenty in
the natural waters in entire South East Asian countries but the poor seed survival
and over-exploitation over the years have reduced its natural population to the
extent of placing it under vulnerable group. Since the species possesses culture
potential, its introduction into the carp polyculture system would not only help in
diversification of culture practices, but also can serve for its conservation. Study
reveals the compatibility of this species is high with other major carps and the
production to the tune of 4200—4819 kg ha–1 from polyculture using olive barb at
30—35% of the stocked density of 9980 fingerling ha– 1 with four other major
carps.
Breeding behavior
P. sarana is a prolific breeder and breeds during monsoon in running waters
amongst submerged boulders and vegetation. Spawning of this barb occurs in two
stages, once between May to Mid-September but prominent in June and the
second spawning time in the months of August and September.
Fecundity
It has been reported that the average fecundity of P. saranais 3, 20, 438 Nos.
/Kg body weight. As the eggs of P. sarana are adhesive in nature, massive
aeration is needed in the hatching unit followed by suitable egg collectors.
Harvesting of spawn
In general, the yolk sac starts absorbing after 60 to 65 hours of hatching. After
the absorption of yolk, the spawn are harvested and randomly counted from
different locations of the pond. However, continuous aeration in the pond is
suggested for the uniform distribution of spawn. The quantity of spawn is calculated
by using the following formula:
No. of spawn harvested = No. of spawn per litre X volume of water in spawning
tank.
Hatching rate is calculated after harvesting of spawn on third day after
hatching. The hatching rate is calculated by using the following formulae.
Total no of eggs in sample
No. of spawn hatching percentage = u100
No. of fertilized eggs
The egg custard may be stored in a refrigerator until further use. The protein
content of the egg custard is found to be 45.2%. The egg custard is passed
through 0.2 to 1.0 mm size sieves to feed various larval stages.
Rearing of spawn
The yolk sac after absorption, fry are harvested and stocked in ponds for further
rearing. The fry are grown to 12 to 15 mm in 18days.
Biological features
Body compressed; caudal peduncle depth equal to length. Scales cycloid. A
knob-like protuberance absent on dorsal surface of snout. Upper jaw length
showing no sexual dimorphism. First gill arch with 27 to 33 gill rakers. Lateral
line interrupted. Spinous and soft ray parts of dorsal fin continuous. Dorsal fin
with 16 - 17 spines and 11 to 15 soft rays. Anal fin with 3 spines and 10-11 rays.
Caudal fin truncated. Colour in spawning season, pectoral, dorsal and caudal fins
becoming reddish; caudal fin with numerous black bars.
Nile tilapia is a tropical species that prefers to live in shallow pond water.
All tilapia species are nest builders (Fig. 63a); fertilized eggs are guarded in the
nest by a brood parent. These are are mouth brooders; eggs are fertilized in the
nest but the parents immediately pick up the eggs in their mouths (Fig. 63b) and
hold them through incubation (Fig. 63c) for several days even after hatching (Fig.
63d). Only females are mouth brooders.
Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Aquaculture (RGCA), the R&D arm of Marine
Products Export Development Authority, has established a facility in Vijayawada
to produce mono-sex tilapia in two strains. This project involves the establishment
of a satellite nucleus for the GIFT strain of tilapia in India, the design and conduct
of a genetic improvement program for this strain, the development of dissemination
strategies, and the enhancement of local capacity in the areas of selective breeding
and genetics. The development and dissemination of a high yielding tilapia strain
possessing desirable production characteristics is expected to bring about notable
economic benefits for the country.
Diversification and Alternatives of Carp Culture 193
Fig. 63a: The male tilapia digs nest at Fig. 63b. Eggs within the mouth.
the pond bottom.
Fig. 63c: Incubation of tilapia eggs. Fig. 63d.Yolk laden early fry. (Clockwise)
Morphology
The body is laterally compressed. The mouth is anterior and the lower jaw is
slightly longer.
Villiform teeth present on the jaw. Long dorsal and anal fin is found. The
body colour is dark to pale greenish, fading to pale yellow on belly where as
dorsal and caudal fin is dark grey, anal and pectoral fins are pale yellow, pelvic
fin pale orange colour.Pectoral and caudal fin is rounded.Dorsal, pelvic and anal
fin rays are modified to spine. Scales are cycloid, lateral line is interrupted.
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
Fig. 65: (a) Brooder (b) Hypophysation process (c) Spawn and (d) early fry of Anabas sp.
Diversification and Alternatives of Carp Culture 199
Diseases
The Bronze Feather back does not have scales which make it more prone to
disease. Knife fish are normally the first fish in a pond/tank to show signs of ick
and will go into spasm and rub around the tank. They respond well to most
medication and normally heal quickly. Overall these fish are hardy and disease
is not usually a problem in a well maintained tank. That being said there is no
guarantee that you won’t have to deal with health problems or disease.
Breeding: Preferably in rainy season.
Morphology
Body of this species is laterally compressed and the dorsal profile is more convex
than that of the ventral.Barbels absent. Caudal fin is deeply forked and the lobes
Diversification and Alternatives of Carp Culture 201
are pointed. Dark margins present in dorsal and anal fins. Body colour light
greenish on the back and silvery at the sides and beneath.
Amblypharyngodon mola, commonly known as Morala or Mola Carplet or
Pale Carplet and is a popular food fish mainly in Indian sub-continent due to its
high nutritional value with high protein, vitamin and mineral content and also rich
in Fe, Zn and Calcium. Amblypharyngodon mola (Cypriniformes: Cyprinidae) is
a freshwater fish species (Fig.67); a natural inhabitant of ponds, canals, beels,
slow moving streams, ditches, baors, reservoirs and inundated fields.
Feeding biology
Phytoplankton as the basic food and Chlorophyceae as the mostly preferred food
class for this fish species. Chlorophyceae followed by Myxophyceae,
Bacillariophyceae, Cyanophyceae and Euglenophyceae are dominant in the guts
of this fish.The farmers are suggested to apply multi micronutrient mineral mixtures
@ 6kg/acre/meter at least once in a couple of months in order to maintain a
steady abundance of phytoplankton in the ponds.
gained first maturation within 4 to 5 months although all of them may not breed.
Male attained maturity earlier than female. During this stage it is preferred to
keep a provision of keeping some floating weeds at the corner of the ponds
which provide the shelter to the fertilized eggs as well as the early fry of the
fishes.
Male
Female
Fig. 67: The matured male and female and hypophysation of Amblypharyngodon mola.
Higher percentage of gravid females are found during the month from April
to October and fecundity values suggests that the reproductive cycle of A. Mola
is from April to October with two peaks, one in May and other in September i.e.,
it breeds twice in a year in both ponds (closed) and beels (open) water
environments.
Major threats of A. mola: Over fishing of this species is the major threat
now-a-days.
Superfamily- Bagridea.
Family- Bagridae.
Genus- Mystus.
Species- Vittatus
Binomial name: Mystus vittatus (Blotch, 1794).
Morphology
Fig. 69a: Mature ( ) and ( ) Fig. 69b. Male genital Fig. 69c. Female genital
M. vittatus. papilla papilla.
Fig. 70a: Ovary of M. vittatus. Fig. 70b: Testis of M. vittatus. Fig. 70c: Injecting male
M. vittatus
Fig. 70d: Fertilized Fig. 70e: Fertilized and Fig. 70f: Early fry
eggs unfertilized eggs
(b)
Figs. 71a and 71b: The young and adult Nandus nandus.
Systematic position:
Phylum-Chordata.
Class- Actinopterygii.
Order- Characiformes.
Family- Serrasalmidae.
Genus- Piaractus
Species- Brachypomus
Binomial name: Piaractus brachypomus (G.Cuvier, 1818).
Pacu (Piaractus sp.) (Fig. 74) is a freshwater fish of the order Cypriniformes,
suborder Characoidei, and family Serrasalmidae. Pacu is a herbivorous fish,
which preferentially feeds on leaves, flowers, fruits, and seeds of superior
plants.Introductions of alien fish species are an important part of human activities
concerning aquatic ecosystems. In India, over 300 exotic fish species including
291 ornamental species, 31 aquaculture species and 3 larvicidal fishes are recorded.
These introductions are human mediated, which may be intentional or
unintentional.Pacu the Piaractus brachypomus habe been recently included in
aquaculture activities in India. It is now understood that over 0.1 million tonnes
of pacu are produced in the country.
It has small scales and weighs between 3 and 7 Kg at normal growth. Water
temperature is the single most important factor, other than food, affecting fish
growth. In most warm water fishes, feeding activity starts when the temperature
reaches 17 - 18o C and attains its maximum rate at 28 - 30o C. The water
temperature ranging from 23-280C, the pH ranging between7.5-8.5 are found to
be ideal. Pacu is an obligate gill breather which can survive low oxygen
concentrations of less than 0.5 mg l - 1.Stomach analyses of wild specimens
show it to be primarily a herbivorous species, feeding on fruits, nuts and seeds.
It is an opportunist, feeder and also takes insects, zooplankton and small fish.
Behavior and Compatibility: Small fish will likely be eaten but in general it’s
quite peaceful with bigger species. It’s a shoaling species when juvenile, becoming
more solitary as it matures.
Reproduction: A single 5 Kg female pacu can produce between 0.5 - 1 million
larvae under natural conditions. The reason is that the ripening of the gonads
requires a synergistic stimulus of several environmental factors, such as
conductivity, water level and rainfall. Pacu spawn usually during the months of
November - March when the water temperatures are 26oC.
Diversification and Alternatives of Carp Culture 209
Physical Characteristics
Pabda fishes are small sized freshwater fish species. The physical characteristics
of the Pabda fishes are described below:
● The body of Pabda fishes is flat in both sides.
● The caudal side is narrower than head side.
● Pabda has similarity in look with Boal fish (Wallago attu) when young.
● There are no scales in their body.
Diversification and Alternatives of Carp Culture 211
Morphology
Body elongated and strongly compressed.Head depressed and the snout is
rounded.The mouth is superior. The lower jaw is longer than the upper. Two pairs
of barbels are present. The maxillary barbels extends posterior to anal fin
base.Nostrils are widely separated with each other. Teeth are found on the jaws
and on the vomer.The caudal fin is deeply forked and its upper lobe is long.
Dorsal side of the body is grey, a traverse blackish spot is present behind the
operculum and on the lateral line. Caudal stripped with black spots.There are
purple and yellowish spots throughout the body. The anal fin is with 57 or 58
finrays.
This fish is of great demand with a high market price because of its good
taste, flavor and invigorating effects.
Sexual Dimorphism
In male pectoral fin is with a strong internally serrated spine while in female it
is feebly serrated. In male, pectoral fin is strong and hard, laterally flattened,
212 Freshwater Aquaculture: A Functional Approach
broad and somewhat thick along the entire length, abruptly tapering into blunt
spine, inner edge of the spine with strong and prominent serration; in female,
pectoral fin is weak and flexible, thin and narrow along the entire length, gradually
tapering into sharp spine, inner edge of the spine feebly serrated or nearly
smooth. They also have reported that in male, genital papilla is a small outgrowth
but in female, it is some what fleshy and comparatively larger in size and almost
double in size that of the male. In male, it is visible only during the breeding
season.
Even after its high demand as a food fish and tolerant nature; Ompok
bimaculatus has not received that much attention in aquaculture due to
unavailability gravid brood stock for experimentation, lack of information on its
feeding and breeding biology, larval rearing and culture technology. High mortality
rate during the period of larval rearing is the most serious problem as has been
reported for commercial production of this catfish species. Success achieved so
far in its induced breeding experiments can be considered as a line but further
study is needed to get success in larval rearing. Further investigations of this
delicious species on its suitability for commercial culture are immediately needed
because of its fine adaptation to confinement and good tolerance to captive
environment.
Systematic position:
Phylum- Chordata.
Class-Actinopterygii.
Order- Siluriformes.
Family-Bagridae.
Genus-Mystus
Species-Cavasius.
Binomial name: Mystus cavasius (Hamilton, 1822).
Reproductive biology
Sexual dimorphism has been documented and the sexes of Mystus cavasius can
be identified externally by the presence of genital papilla; which is present only
in males. The papilla becomes very prominent during the breeding season.
Sex ratio
It is reported that females dominate over male in Mystus cavasius population.
214 Freshwater Aquaculture: A Functional Approach
Scope of culture
Except few scattered works, not much information is available on the scope of
culture of Mystus cavasius, and it is documented that a stocking density of 2,
00, 000 fry/ha is the best one to get highest growth, production and net benefits.
The experiments on the culture of Mystus cavasius with Indian Major Carps and
Ompok pabda have concluded that it can be cultured effectively in low input
carp polyculture management while in monoculture management practice, the
production to the tune of 1, 370 to 1, 535 kg/ha in six months of culture of Mystus
cavasius (Fig.76) has been obtained.
4. Female lobsters carry their eggs with them while shrimps disperse their eggs
to the sea.
5. Lobster types include clawed lobsters, spiny lobsters, and slipper lobsters.
6. Lobsters have 10 legs or five pairs, and the first pair has claws. Lobsters can
be as long as 50 centimeters while prawns can be maximum up to 33
centimeters long.
7. Lobsters mostly live in muddy, rocky, or sandy bottoms. Their carapace is
harder than the exoskeleton of prawns.
8. Each segment in the body of the prawn overlaps the one after it. That is, the
first segment overlaps the second and the second segment overlaps the third.
9. In shrimps, the second segment overlaps the first and the third segment. Also,
the legs of prawns are longer than those of shrimp. The front pincers of
shrimp are the largest, while the second pincers are larger than those in
prawns.
Macrobrachium rosenbergii is an economically important cultured freshwater
prawn throughout the world. It is the most favoured species for farming and
farmed on a large scale in many countries including India. Considering its high
export potential, the giant freshwater prawn enjoys immense potential for culture
in India. About 4 million hectares of impounded freshwater bodies in India offer
great potential for freshwater prawn culture.
Due to certain constraints such as shortage of quality seeds and differential
growth rates, freshwater prawn farming in the country has not spread to the
extent it deserves. The virtual collapse of shrimp farming due to viral disease out
breaks, the ban imposed by the Supreme Court for shrimp culture in the Costal
Regulation Zone (CRZ) and the persistent decline in profitability of carp culture
in recent years has forced the aquaculture entrepreneurs to look for an equally
remunerative alternative species. The giant freshwater prawn is a profitable and
viable alternative species. In India too, it has gained importance as an aquacultural
crop. But, problem of differential growth which is also known as heterogenous
individual growth (HIG) is still continued to be a major problem in scampi culture.
Males of M. rosenbergii grow faster and reach higher weights at harvest than
females. Hence, culture of all-male population is desirable since sexual dimorphic
growth patterns are common among decapod crustaceans. To overcome this
problem, many techniques like monosex culture, size grading, production of
neomales and different management techniques were adopted in freshwater
prawn farming.It has been noticed that the prawns and shrimps show some
specialized regional characteristics. Both males and females grow with molting
processes. This molting takes place in every three to eight weeks.
Diversification and Alternatives of Carp Culture 217
Culture techniques
(A) Extensive Technique: Extensive culture means rearing in ponds with a
production target of less than 500 kg/ha/yr. Stocking density of PL’s or
juveniles @ 1-4/m2. There is no control of water quality; the growth or
mortality of the prawns is not normally monitored.
(B) Semi-intensive Technique: Semi-intensive systems involve stocking PL or
juveniles @ 4-20/m2 in ponds, with a production target of more than 500 kg/
ha/yr. Fertilization of ponds and a balanced feed ration is mandatory.
Surveillance on predators and competitors are minimized, controlled and the
water quality, prawn health and growth rate are monitored. This form of
culture is the most common in India, West Bengal in particular.
(C) Intensive culture Technique: Intensive culture refers to small earthen or
concrete ponds (up to 0.2 ha) provided with high water exchange and continuous
aeration, stocking density @ 20/m2 and above with a production target of
more than 5 000 kg/ha/yr. Construction and maintenance costs are high and
a high degree of management is required, which includes the use of a
nutritionally balanced complete feed, the elimination of predators and
competitors, and strict control over all aspects of water quality. This technique
however, is not popular in India.
Release of Scampi seeds in ponds: It is always necessary to acclimatize
the post larval stages of prawn brought from outside. Sudden changes in
temperature and pH can cause mortalities when PL’s are stocked. Before their
release, the bags containing the postlarvae should be floated in the ponds to bring
the temperature within them gradually to that of the pond. Any adjustments to the
pH of the transport water should have been made in the hatchery, before transport
(Fig. 78a, b).
Molting
In general, fresh water prawns molt at regular interval to grow.Hard external
shell of prawns is incapable of expanding, so to grow, prawns must periodically
shed their entire shell.
The shell is composed mainly of protein, calcium carbonate and a stiffening
agent, called chitin. Prior to shedding its shell, the prawn re-absorbs most of the
protein and chitin from the old shell as the new one forms underneath, and
increases its water intake to create a space between the body and the new shell.
At molting, the soft shelled prawn emerges from the old shell via a split between
the carapace and tail. During this process the entire shell including the part
Diversification and Alternatives of Carp Culture 218
covering the long feelers or antennae, eyes, legs, gut and associated structures
is renewed. After molting the new shell hardens and the prawn grows into the
space between the body and the shell. The frequency of molting is dependent
upon many factors including size, gender and species of prawn and water
temperature. The process is controlled by hormones which are released by
glands located in the eyestalks. Small prawns grow more rapidly and hence need
to molt more frequently than larger ones and these growth rates are usually
highest during the warm, summer months. Numbers of soft shelled individuals of
some species peak around the time of the full moon. Molting may be inhibited
by low water temperatures, whilst higher temperatures may stimulate its onset.
Hideouts
During pre -molt stage, the prawns search for places to hide themselves to avoid
attacks from other prawns that are not on molting phase since prawns are in
general, cannibalistic in nature. To provide shelter, broken pipes, unused tiers
etc. are unevenly distributed throughout the pond bottom so that during molting
when the prawns become weak should not be a victim of cannibalism. Prawns
are cannibalistic and display aggressive and territorial behaviour especially when
stocking densities are high, such as in nursery systems and food is insufficient.
Cannibalistic behaviour causes stress and mortality especially on moulting individuals
which are vulnerable to these attacks.
substrates are placed in the ponds (Fig.78c and d), which makes it feasible to
increase stocking rates above the level recommended earlier for ponds without
substrates. PVC fencing forms an ideal substrate (Fig.78 c, d and Fig.79).
Table 36: Ideal ranges of physico-chemical parameters suitable for rearing M. rosenbergii
Feed management
There can be no exact general recommendation for daily feeding rates, because
these depend on the size and number of prawns (and, in a polyculture system,
Diversification and Alternatives of Carp Culture 221
fish) in the pond, the water quality, and the nature of the feed. The feed should
be broadcasted in the pond as mentioned above. Spread the feed around the
periphery of the pond in the shallows, which are good feeding zones. Check trays
3-4 nos. may be kept in different corners of the pond to check the consumption
of food in the gut of the prawn.
(b)
(a)
Fig. 80.a and b: Check tray and its lifting. (It is always necessary using Check tray for
periodical evaluation of consumption of feed and health monitoring).
(a) (b)
Fig. 81a and b: Young and adult maturing and matured fresh water prawn Macrobrachium
rosenbergii.
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
Fig. 82a, b, c and d: Gravid (maturing) and matured Fresh water prawn M.rosenbergii.
(Clock wise).
222 Freshwater Aquaculture: A Functional Approach
● Have good all-weather road access for incoming materials and outgoing PL;
● Be on a plot of land with an area appropriate to the scale of the hatchery
that has access to the quantity of seawater and freshwater supplies required
without excessive pumping. The cost of pumping water to a site elevated
high above sea level, for example, may be an important factor in the economics
of the project;
● Not be close to cities, harbors, mines and industrial centers, or to other
activities that may pollute the water supply;
● Be situated in a climate which will maintain water in the optimum range of
28-31°C, without costly environmental manipulation;
● Have access to food supplies for larvae;
● Employ a high level of technical and managerial skills;
● Have access to professional biological assistance from government or other
sources;
● Have its own indoor/outdoor nursery facilities, or be close to other nursery
facilities; and
● Be as close as possible to the market for its PL. In the extreme case, it
should not more than 16 hours total transport time from the furthest farm it
will be supplying.
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
(e) (f)
Fig.83 (a-f): Fresh water prawn hatchery and their developmental stages. [Early spawn (3
days, 7-days, 10-days, 15-days and 50-days old Fresh water prawn Macrobrachium
rosenbergii].
Diversification and Alternatives of Carp Culture 225
● Availability of adequate physical access to the site for the provision of supplies
and the movement of harvested animals;
● Availability of supplies of other necessary inputs, including post larval and/or
juvenile prawns, equipment, aqua feeds or feed ingredients, and power supplies;
● Availability of good skilled (managerial) and unskilled labor;
● Presence of favorable legislation; and
● Availability of adequate investment.
M. rosenbergii is a freshwater prawn, but since its larvae require
brackishwater for survival, hatchery operations are usually conducted using 12
parts per thousand (12 ppt) salinity. This species regulates its hemolymph osmolarity
to be equivalent to that of brackishwater (12 ppt or 450 mOsm). In both freshwater
and brackishwater, M. rosenbergii is able to maintain hemolymph osmolarity
(based on ionic and free amino acid concentrations on the hemolymph), but at
higher salinities, the prawn loses this ability (Huong et al., 2001).
Table 38: Water quality requirements for freshwater prawn nursery and grow-out facilities.
Among various environmental parameters, salinity plays a vital role for hatching
and survival of hatchlings in Macrobrachium rosenbergii. The brooders of
Macrobrachium sp. which are usually from freshwater in habitat they show
higher rate of hatching in 0 ppt. The brooders acclimatized in freshwater did not
show any stress during hatching (Jayalakshmy and Natarajan, 1996).The water
quality parameters for brooder prawns and larval rearing are depicted in the
Tables-38 and 39.
Larvae hatched very well from M. rosenbergii brooders kept in slightly
brackish (0.5 ppt) rather than brooders kept in 2-10 ppt. brackish water (Rao,
1986 and John Samuel et al., 1997). Whereas hatching took two to four batches
from the brooders kept in 10, 15 and 20 ppt salinities.
Hatching rhythm: Complete hatching of eggs in a single batch was noted
from the brooders kept in 0 ppt and 5 ppt.
Hatching rate: The hatching rate was significantly higher in the brooders
kept in 0 ppt (98.66 %) and 5 ppt (97.33 %), than that of 10 ppt (95.00 %), 15
ppt (93.66 %) and 20 ppt (91.00 %).
Table 39: Water quality parameters for the brooders (Saundarapandian et al., 2009).
Post-larval appearance: Post larvae become visible from the brooders kept
in different salinities (Soundarapandian et al., 2009) appeared significantly in
shorter period where brooders, maintained in 0 ppt (22.66 days) and 5 ppt (24.66
days) than brooders kept in other salinities viz., 10 ppt (27.33 days), 15 ppt (29.66
days) and 20 ppt (31.33 days). However, the brooders kept in 0 ppt (22.66 days)
and 5 ppt (24.66 days) and also in 15 ppt (29.66 days) and 20 ppt (31.33 days)
salinities did not show any significant difference between their first post larval
appearances.
228 Freshwater Aquaculture: A Functional Approach
Table 40: Water quality parameters of the larval rearing (Saundarapandian et al., 2009).
Rearing periods
The larval cycle was completed significantly quicker in brooders kept in 0 ppt
salinity (35.33 days) rather than the brooders kept in other salinities viz., 5 ppt
(37.66 days), 10 ppt (41.33days), 15 ppt (44.66 days) and 20 ppt (47.66 days).
The brooders kept in 20 ppt salinity took 47.66 days to complete their larval
cycle.
Survival rate
The survival rate of hatchlings was significantly higher from the brooders placed
in 0 ppt (82.66 %). It shows significant discrepancy with other brooders kept in
different salinities viz., 5 ppt (79.33 %), 10 ppt (70.66 %), 15 ppt (68.33 %) and
20 ppt (59.66 %). The lowest survival rate of hatchlings was seen in the brooders
kept in 20 ppt (59.66 %).
Water exchange
On every morning, left over feed, detritus and dead larvae were removed by
turning off the aeration and siphoning the settled particles from the tank bottoms.
Fifty percent of the water was exchanged each day.
Diversification and Alternatives of Carp Culture 229
Feeding
Both live Artemia nauplii and formulated feed (Table 41) may be fed to the
larvae. The ingredients were dried and powdered separately. The pellets were
prepared by mixing together; the required quantities of the finely powered materials
and the mixture were kneaded or moulded well by adding minimum quantity of
water to form dough. The dough was cooked in a pressure cooker for 30 minutes
and the cooked material was extruded through a hand pelletizer with required
perforation in the form of noodles (Fig. 94) on a filter paper and oven dried at
60 ºC. The dried pellets were broken into pieces of required length and stored
in polythene bags for future use (John Samuel et al., 1997).
Table 41: Composition and nutritive value of the formulated feed. (Saundarapandian et
al., 2009).
Cyprinus carpio (German strain): These have become mixed over many
generations to give the current stock. This stock of common carp is characterized
by early sexual maturation (at an age of approximately six months and sometimes
at a weight below 100 g) and slow growth rate. Further the damaging nature of
the dykes is also a serious problem of stocking this species (Mandal, 2017). The
morphological appearance as well as the taste of the fish flesh of this flattened
bellied Cyprinus carpio (Fig.85), usually refuge to accept in their food dish by
majority of the fish lovers if other carps are available in the market. This is
considered as the serious problem in the culture of this species (Mahanta et al.,
(2010).For faster growth and successful aquaculture of this species, it is imperative
to replace the stock with improved strain e.g., Amur-China type of wild carp,
Cyprinus carpio haematopterus (Fig. 84).
the gene bank of Fisheries College and Research Institute (FCRI), Thoothukudi,
Tamil Nadu in 1982 from the Russian National Fisheries Research Institute. It
has no breeding history as it is an ancient wild fish. Carp is native to areas from
the Black Sea to Manchuria in China, but has been spread by humans to many
parts of the world (Pethon, 1994). It was introduced to Europe by the Romans.
The common carp (Cyprinus carpio Linnaeus, 1758) is an introduced fish
species in India and today has a scattered distribution throughout the country.
The species is well being adopted in Indian waters and encouraged in the polyculture
especially in composite fish culture, so as to utilize the food as produced in all
the entire ecological niche of the ecosystem.
Food and feeding habit of this species differs with the situations of pond
water and pond bottom sediment qualities. The ponds after due fertilization usually
prefer artificial feed over benthic macro invertebrates, followed by zooplankton.
The species prefer to graze individually and never graze on phytoplankton. They
are mainly benthic in habitat; feed on available macro invertebrates in the system.
In the absence of benthic macro invertebrates, their feeding niche shifted from
near the bottom of the tanks to the water column and fed principally on zooplankton.
The species readily switched to artificial feed when available, which led to better
growth.However, the principal disadvantage of culture Cyprinus in an earthen
pond is that they use to dig the bottom soil especially the lower portion of the
dykes resulting serious damage to the entire pond. The pond become useless for
pisciculture until and unless it is repaired (Mandal, 2017).Almost everywhere else
the common carp is considered invasive and destructive of both native fish (also
other wildlife effected by the links in the entire ecosystem) and native habitats
with its tendency to stir up sediments, eat, destroy and uproot vegetation thereby
severely disrupt the natural balances of water nutrition which in turn creates
algae covered water sucking out oxygen, killing fish and water plants and having
a knock on effect to ducks and water fowl and their predators. The constant
grubbing around of the carp schools churning up the sediment can lead to
permanent turbidity in waters that otherwise would be clear. This turbidity of the
water and eventual blocking of light leads to dead vegetation and loss of habitat
then in-turn loss of native fauna.
The Amur strain (Cyprinus carpio haematopterus) showed about 40%
faster growth over earlier local strain in mono and polyculture systems, respectively.
There was no significant difference in the survival rate of Amur and existing
strain under monoculture (74.47 and 70.85%) and polyculture systems (74.16 and
75.30%). Although, the production performance varied with type of water body,
Amur strain consistently showed its superiority over existing strain in all the trials.
It may be inferred that Amur strain of common carp (Cyprinus carpio
haematopterus) has greater potential in low-input aquaculture systems due to its
better growth than the existing strain.
234 Freshwater Aquaculture: A Functional Approach
It is one of the most important food fishes and has a ready demand not only
in Manipur but also in the entire NE region of India. However, the fish has almost
disappeared from the Loktak Lake (the species is reported to have represented
up to 40% of the total fishery of Loktak Lake) and other water bodies of the
central plain of the state. Hence intensification of the induced breeding and
attempt to culture this particular fish species has been given high priority (Basudha
and Viswanath, 1993).The species is originally a riverine in habitat, naturally
breed and spawn in the running waters and is very difficult to bred in captivity
without using synthetic hormone (Devi et al., 2009).
Very recently, Central Institute of Fresh Water Aquaculture (CIFA),
Kausalyaganga, Bhubaneswar after a couple of years of study could have
successfully bred the species in captivity and started distributing the spawns and
fry/fingerlings of the species to the interested farmers to introduce the same as
a candidate species and also a suitable alternative of Indian Major Carps.
1. INTRODUCTION
Aquaculture also known as aqua farming, which evidently means “the farming of
fish, and brackish water populations under controlled conditions”. India is blessed
with large number of rivers, lakes and many natural water resources. Along with
good pond environment to the fish starting from spawn, fry to fingerling and
advanced fingerlings to adult form, fishes do need good quality of nutritionally
balanced quality feed and a bit of care and management. The test of pH level
(7.5 to 8.5), adequate dissolved oxygen as well as minimal ammonia content in
water and soil beneath the water column is necessary for suitable fish farming.
The prevention of entrance of various types of predators are necessary, so as the
steps to be taken against various types of fish diseases. It is said that preventing
diseases is better than curing it. Various management practices involved in nursery,
rearing and stocking ponds have been described in the following paragraphs.
Weed clearance
Weed plants and grasses not only absorb nutrients from the soil but also provide
shelter to the predatory insects and serve as their breeding ground and impose
difficulty in fry harvesting.
Therefore, they should be eradicated carefully. Since nurseries are small and
shallow, the clearance of the same may be done by employing manual labour
preferably during late spring or early summer when there is no water or at
minimum water level. Marginal grasses also give a low survival rate of spawn.
The film will create an obstacle in the respiratory processes to the back
swimmers, water bugs; water scorpion, dragon fly nymph etc. and majority of
them will die. Some of them will try to jump to the pond dyke, hence it is
necessary to spray the emulsion also at the water and dyke surface.To overcome
this dilemma, Phenitrathion 50EC (Sumithion) @300ml per acre may be sprayed
over the pond surface at least 48 hours before stocking of spawn.
Pond fertilization: Manuring is done with a view to increase the plankton
volumes particularly the zooplankton (rotifers and crustaceans) which form the
natural food of the spawn. For this purpose, seasonal nurseries are manured with
only dried cow dung as organic manure @ 10, 000kg/ha about 15 days before
the anticipated stocking date. In the perennial ponds where MOC has been used
earlier do not require cow dung as manure instead, good quality organic manure@
150kg/Acre should be applied. At these stage i.e., before stocking of spawn
sometimes both in soil and water there is a probability of generating some
undesirable pathogenic bacteria and fungi which may cause loss of appetite
followed by mortality as well. It may be mentioned in this context that during this
period application of Humic grannules@ 4kg/Acre of pond water or soil area
followed by Water probiotics @600gms.not only turn the pond water congenial
242 Freshwater Aquaculture: A Functional Approach
for raising fish spawn stage to fry and fingerling stage but also help to increase
the survival rate considerably augmenting appetite and growth of spawn.
Stocking of Spawn: Stocking of spawn should always be done in the early
morning or late evening when the water temperature remains low (preferably
below 280C). It is always advisable to acclimatize the spawn in the poly bag with
the pond water temperature. Stocking of spawn may vary pond to pond. But in
general the moderate stocking densities ranges from 3-5 million/ha/meter for
carps and 6-9 million /ha/meter for cat fishes.
Natural and Supplementary feeding to spawn and fry stages: Spawn
starts external feeding from the 3rd day. Even after proper manuring of the pond,
sometime it is difficult to maintain the usual development of natural food items
(Plankton) for growing the fishs pawn/fry. Hence it is absolutely essential to
provide extra feed. A mixture of finely powdered ground nut or mustered oil cake
and rice bran or rice polish in equal proportion by weight is to be supplied to the
fish spawn fry.
Pond fertilization
The ponds already treated with Mahua Oil Cake (MOC) need no further
fertilization since the same acts as organic manure after detoxification of the
saponin (the toxicant) present in it. However, the following fertilization module is
framed before stocking of fry in rearing ponds. In case of seasonal perennial
ponds fertilization of water and pond bed, may be done by superior quality
organic manure@ 500kg/Acre, dried cow dung@200kg./Acre may be applied in
4 equal installments fortified with 75kg of Mustered Oil Cake, 30kg of ground nut
oilcake and 10kg of Humic granules in the rearing pond before stocking fry/
fingerlings. This mixture is to be done at the pond site in a rectangular cemented
tank measuring about 10’x6’x3’ (Fig. 91). Where provision of cement tank is not
available by simple excavation of soil up to desired depth, a HDPE sheet has to
be laid on the soil on which the entire mixture is dumped to avoid seepage in the
soil (Fig. 91a).These ingredients together, should be mixed thoroughly and kept
under bright sunlight for a period of 7-8 days. It is necessary to agitate this
mixture at least once or twice a day manually. This compost together with
organic manure will enhance the abundance of quantity of plankton, the natural
food for fish fry and fingerlings. It is necessary to apply zeolite powder at this
stage @15kg/acre since sometimes some undesirable gases like ammonia, sulfur
248 Freshwater Aquaculture: A Functional Approach
Fry Stocking
After complete detoxification and fertilization, the rearing ponds are stocked with
15-day old fry (20-25mm) at a density of 2, 00, 000-3, 00, 000/ha. (Table-49).
Table 49: Stocking density of fry in rearing ponds.
If the provision of additional oxygen may be supplied in the rearing ponds the
stocking of fry might be increased to the tune of the following (Table 50):
The rearing ponds whose depth of water is about a meter only, it is advisable
not to stock exotic carps instead, stock only Indian Major Carps. After stocking
of fry and fingerlings in the rearing pond it is strictly advised that, to the stocked
fishes the farmer should not apply any external food immediately (i.e.,
supplementary feed) in order to allow them to acclimatize with the new
environment for a couple of days.
Species Ratio
1. Catla+Rohu+Mrigal 2:4:4
2. Silver Carp+Grass Carp 1:1
3. Silver carp+GrassCarp+Common Carp 4:3:3 or 5:1.25:3.75
4. Catla+Rohu+Mrigal+Common Carp 3:4:1:2
5. Catla+Rohu+Mrigal+Grass Carp 3:3:3:1
6. SilverC+GrassC+CommonC+Rohu 4:2:2:2 or 3:1.5:2.5:3
The rate of application of crumble 7-8% i.e., per day requirement is 7-8kg
for 100kg of the stock. It is always better if the farmer use multivitamin powder
(Vitamin mixture) with it.The purpose of stocking higher quantity of fry in the
rearing pond is to keep them with restricted growth. The fishes are not allowed
to grow beyond 100-150 gms of weight. The water is kept lighter by the application
of Zeolite with sufficient oxygen and nutritional support. The growth of fishes will
remain stunted even after 7-8 months.
Market survey on the demand of cultured fish in West Bengal reveals that
the demand of Rohu (Labeo rohita) is maximum followed by Catla (Catla
252 Freshwater Aquaculture: A Functional Approach
In general the stocking ponds are comparatively bigger (Fig. 32) where the
technique of releasing advanced fingerlings are also different as depicted in the
figure (Fig. 92).The stocking density is also strictly maintained at a lower level
to avoid inter and intra specific competition for both food and space. Fishes
ranged from 6-8 inches are generally released from the rearing ponds where they
were kept yearlong under stress and naturally the growth remains stunted.
Depending on the fertility status and the depth, the release of fish fingerlings
maximum to the tune of 3000 pieces/acre/6ft depth of water should be stocked
in the stocking ponds. Before releasing, a pinch of KMnO4 is desirable to be
added in the container (hundi) so as to avoid pathogenic infections, if any. It will
be advantageous to keep a time gap in releasing the catla and silver carp, since
both the species inhabit at the same ecological niche and prefer similar type of
feed. This time gap will help to reduce the interspecific competition for food.
Generally, after release of Catla there should be a minimum 40-50 days’ time gap
for silver carp dispense in the pond.
The ponds where fresh water giant prawn (Macrobrachium rosenbergii) is
cultured along with carps, under no circumstances Mrigal (Cirrhinus mrigala) and
common carp (Cyprinus carpio) should be released since all these three species
are the inhabitants of the bottom of the pond. The reason, if stocked together there
will be every possibility of competition for both food and space resulting extensive
decline in the production of the giant prawn. It is advisable that before release of
the PL’s of prawn in the pond multimicronutrient mineral fertilizer @6kg/acre/meter
and Humic grannules @ 6kg / acre/ meter together should have to be broadcasted
after thorough mixing over the pond water. The chemical constituents which are
Management of Nursery, Rearing and Stocking Ponds 253
Adult fishes, according to the character of diet they thrive on, have been
classified into herbivores if they feed on vegetable matter, carnivores, if their
food comprises animal matters and omnivores, if’ they subsist on a mixed diet
composed of both vegetable and animal matter. Hora and Pillay (1962) put
plankton and detritus feeding fish into a separate group, including therein fishes
like Catla catla, Hypopthalonichthys molirrix, Labeo fimbriatus, Cirrhinus
mrigala, C. reba etc., which consume phyto - and zooplankton, decayed
microvegetation and detritus. Nikolskii (1963) grouped fishes into:
1. Herbivores and detrito-phagic, including in the group, species which feed on
vegetable matter and detritus,
2. Carnivores, which feed on invertebrates, and
3. Predators which prey on fish.
Most of the culturable fishes are omnivorous in their feeding habit. Carnivorous
species often behave as predators and vice-versa. Nikolskii (1963) categorised
fishes according to the extent of variation in the types of food consumed by them,
such as:
1. Euryphagic, feeding on a variety of foods;
2. Stenophagic, feeding on a few selected types of food, and
3. Monophagic, feeding on a single type of food.
The feeding behaviour is species - characteristic. Cultured fishes are often
classified according to thc trophic niche they occupy in a water body. Following
this system, fishes have been grouped into:
1. Plankton eating surface feeders, such as Catla catla and Hypopthalmichthys
molitrix,
2. Column or mid-feeders, such as Labeo rohita and
3. Bottom feeders, such as Cirrhinus mrigala, C, reba, Labeo calbasu and
others.
In the bottom feeder category, sand and mud are very common in the guts
along with the detritus. Fishes belonging to surface, column and bottom feeding
categories have been sub-grouped according to character of food they consume
into herbivores, carnivores and omnivores (Das and Moitra, 1955). Feeding habits
of adult fishes vary according to the amount and type of food present in a
particular environment. Food spectrum of fish varies in different seasons, depending
on maturity stages and ‘the quantum of food supply. Herbivores and carnivores
are recorded to show always definite peak periods in feeding, while omnivores
show little variation throughout the year (Das and Moitra, 1956). For any species,
256 Freshwater Aquaculture: A Functional Approach
food habits may change seasonally with the type of food available and vary with
life history stages. Most fishes are omnivorous even in early life, ingesting and
digesting both plant and animal tissues. As fish grow towards adult hood however,
specific adaptations develop and the diet varieties become slightly or highly
restricted. Many fishes remain largely omnivorous throughout life (bluegill sunfishes
and others). A few become plankton feeders at an early stage and remain so
throughout their life, (carps, gizzard shad and paddle fish). Pangasius pangasius
is an omnivore, feeding on a variety of food such as insects, molluscs, crustaceans,
offal etc. (David, 1963) but according to Ramakrishnaiah (1986) the fish showed
a preference to molluscs when they are available. Some become highly herbivorous
(grass carp, ), others carnivorous (Perches, Bhekti etc.are Piscivorous while the
trouts are insectivorous).Cannibalistic (Murrels, Pike, Large mouth bass) fishes
are also common.
In addition to the natural food items what ever is available in the culture
ponds only a small fragment of the farmers use supplementary feed for the
fishes.
6. SUPPLEMENTARY FEEDING
Throughout India, at present there is a tremendous incitement for aquaculture. It
is evident from a survey that about 80% of the fish farmers in our country are
not aware of water and soil quality management so also the feeding management.
It is no denying that who rear cattle in his house do not hesitate twice to serve
food to them, so also in case of poultry and ducks but miraculously enough
majority of fish farmers in our country remain reluctant to feed the fish in his
pond. Nevertheless, to produce quality fish at least in commercial segment,
supplementary feed for the fishes is inevitable.It is needless to mention, up to the
stage of fingerlings state, application of sinking feed does not hold good and to
avoid the wastage, it is recommended to broadcast only mash type of feed with
comparatively higher protein, fat content and at least 3000 kcal energy can
support good growth. It has been estimated that the state West Bengal has more
than 2.80 lakhs ha of fresh water ponds and tanks. Out of these, not even 70%
is utilized for commercial pisciculture. Majority of the fish farmers even now, are
reluctant to understand the necessity of using feed for the farmed animals, since
the fishes are aquatic and do not shout for the food, even they are hungry. Facts
remain; no one will deny that cost of feed in the working capital cost in any
farming operation is about 60% of the total culture cost. Even today, fish farmers
who are not using the processed food due to higher cost and only with the locally
available feed ingredients they prepared the feed what so ever the quantity they
require. This effort even remains to be better and they are also achieving much
more production than those who do not. Earlier, the practice of broadcasting the
Management of Nursery, Rearing and Stocking Ponds 257
feed ingredients over the ponds, which again very often deteriorate the environment
resulting additional operation cost for rectification of water and soil quality, is also
a question to point out.
The farmers who prefer to feed the fishes with the farm made food, generally
use pelletizer (Fig. 94). Before pelletizing a thorough grinding and pulverizing of
the food ingredients in a fine manner is to be made (Pulverizing), then after
pelletizing, instead of broad casting, use of duly perforated polythene bags which
is otherwise named as feed bags (Fig. 95) are to be hanged at a definite distance
(preferably 6-7meters). To restore the quality of soil and the environment as a
whole, the technique of feeding fishes in bags is scientific since this does not
damage the pond system. The technique of feeding the fishes in feed bags does
not damage the environment at least the soil frequently. In prawns and shrimp
culture however, the importance of supplementary feed has opened a new
dimension in feed quality improvement and marketing.
Fig. 96: Pelletized sinking and globular floating feed for the fishes
Management of Nursery, Rearing and Stocking Ponds 259
It has been observed that the food conversion ratio (FCR) of this farm made
fish is good enough and economically feasible. FCR evidently means, the extent
and amount of feed convert into fish flesh. It is experimentally proved in many
parts of the state. The FCR of the feed prepared following above, ranged from
1:1.5 to 1:2.This indicates to produce 1kg of fish the total feed requirement is only
one and half kilogram to two kilogram. This result obviously depends on the
management of the water and soil quality and the good farm management practices.
Formulation of feed
Easy availability, low cost, high digestibility and high nutrient contents are the
major considerations in selecting the fish feed ingredients for feed formulation
(Table 54). Feed constitute the major, about 60% of the operating cost in un
drainable ponds fish culture and therefore, the objective is to supply essential
nutrients at the minimum possible cost. Formulated feeds may be either a complete
feed with optimum level of all the essential nutrients and energy to provide
complete nutrition or a supplementary feed - a diet basically to supplement
energy and a portion of protein and other essential nutrients. In undrainable pond
culture systems where natural feed are made available by pond fertilization, feed
is required only to supplement the natural feed. The initial step involves surveying
market prices of the locally available feed ingredients (Table-55).
Table 55: A directive of on farm feed preparation technology with locally available
ingredients (Kg/MT of feed) in poly culture.
* Aqua Strong Bond: it is a certified feed binder from the house of ARCL, Kolkata. **Proximate
values given may vary from place to place and the product quality.
Table 56: Locally available ingredients from plant and animal origin
Usually the crude protein level of the supplementary feed is fixed at about at about 5-10% below the dietary protein requirement of the fish to be fed. Vitamin,
minerals and trace elements are added as and when it is required. (CP=Crude protein; CL=Crude lipid; CF=Crude fibre).
262 Freshwater Aquaculture: A Functional Approach
It is a convention that the FCR is written as 1.4 which means that 1.4 units
of feed has been utilized by 5000 metric tonnes of fish together. The higher the
value of the FCR, the less efficient the feed is. To explain this, suppose the feed
which has aFCR of 2.5:1 is considered as less efficient than which shows 1.4.
5
SEWAGE-FED FRESHWATER
AQUACULTURE:
(WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO EAST KOLKATA
WETLANDS- A RAMSAR SITE)
1. INTRODUCTION
It was Lord Bentinck in the year 1830, who first visualized the need of reclamation
of urban development. Disposal of wastes from a city like Kolkata, was a
chronic problem since its establishment.Initially sewage from Kolkata metropolis
was used to be drained into the river Hoogly but subsequently found to be
defective both from the civilian’s general health and the river Hoogly as well. It
was felt necessary to construct a system where from sewage as produced in
Kolkata area should have been carried through a disposal drain since there do
exist much naturally slope towards the east. But the idea did not come to fruition
because of the calculated cost involved in the process. Finally in 1857, the
drainage committee considered Mr. William Clarke’s recommendations for
conveying the city sewage to the eastern part of the city with some modifications
in the levels and escalating the number of pumping stations. In 1891, the Kolkata
Municipal Corporation compelled to extend the drainage system to the far suburbs
to alleviate the sewage and rain water disposal due to high boom of population
vis-à-vis increasing rate of the water supply so as the wastes.
Vegetable production continues in the East Kolkata Wetland area and is
centred in and around Dhapa, with an estimated 320 ha under horticulture producing
370mt ha-1 yr-1 in intensively cropped plots (Bunting et al., 2002). Further
downstream, enhanced productivity of 18, 260 ha of integrated brackish water
rice, fish and shrimp farming over 50 km from the city in the Kulti-Minakhan
areas of the Sundarbans Delta was attributed to irrigation with untreated wastewater
discharged to the Kulti estuary otherwise named as Kulti gong (Naskar 1985;
Bunting et al., 2010).
During 1860’s, sewage fed fish farming was tried to be introduced but the
attempt was not successful in the area.However, it was Mr.Bidhu Bhusan Sarkar
who was very serious and undertook the first formal effort of sewage-fed aqua
farming in 1918.
Later after a century of years in 1945 since 1857 of recommendations of
Mr.Clarke, a decision was taken by the then Government of West Bengal in 1953
to reclaim a part of the northern salt lakes for urban expansion (Bunting et al.,
2010) to support the development of agriculture, horticulture and aquaculture in
the other parts (Ghosh and Sen, 1987).That was probably the first to begin with
the organized farming of fishes in sewage-fed ponds although reports are available
on unorganized approach and fragmentary basis of fish farming in sewage fed
ponds which began since 1930 (Nandeesha, 2002).
This particular system used to carry the city sewage to the south east into
river Bidyadhari, from there into river Matla and finally to Bay of Bengal.Over
the time, within about twenty years or so River Bidyadhari started silting because
of the establishment of the lockgate at Dhapa area which was constructed
Sewage-fed Freshwater Aquaculture 265
principally for the release the city sewage at low tide. Finally the river was
declared as dead.
East Kolkata Wetlands (EKW) is a unique example of innovative recource
reuse system through productive activities.According to Kundu et al., (2008), the
area is stretching over two districts 24-Parganas South and North covering 12,
500 hectares of area and includes around 254 sewage-fed fisheries, agriculture
land, garbage farming fields and some built up area. The resource recovery
system, developed by the local people through ages using waste water from the
city, is the largest in the world and unique of its type. Long back the area was
used as a buffer zone, later the urban waste, both solid garbage and sewage
started to be dumped here. Consequently the sewage fed pisciculture and
agriculture made this area a natural waste recycling region.The waste water
flows through the fish ponds covering about 4000 hactares and the ponds facilitate
a wide range of physical, chemical and biological processes which help improve
the quality of the water and congenial for the fishes to thrive in. Consequently
the wetland system is named as the “Kidney of the City of Joy—the Kolkata”
and has been described as “one of the rare examples of environmental
protection and development management where a complex ecological process
which has been adopted by the local farmers for mastering the resource
recovery activities” by the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands.In august 2002, the
East KolkataWetlands area has been included in the ‘list’ maintained under the
Ramsar Bureau established under the article 8 of the Ramsar convention that has
given this wetland the recognition of a “Wetland of International
Importance”Kundu et al., (op.cit).
2. DEFINITION OF WETLANDS
Wetlands are defined as “areas of marsh, fen, peatland or water whether natural
or artificial, permanent or temporary, with water that is static or flowing, fresh,
brackish or salt including areas of marine water the depth of which at low tides
does not exceed six metres” (This definition is included in the text of Ramsar
Convention, Article 1.1).
from the river towards the east, the original and natural backyard of the city. The
entire drainage and sewage networks of whole Kolkata depends heavily on those
natural networks of low lying waterlogged areas, ponds, bheries, ditches, nullahs
and tidal creeks connecting with estuarine networks of Hoogly Mathla estuarine
complex of Mangrove Ecosystems i.e. the Sunderbans . The uniqueness of East
Kolkata - Wetland networks are used for its water recycling system and in the
development of sewage fed fisheries on 2500 ha of low lying land supplying 20
tones of fishes daily and employing about thousand of peoples. It’s resource
recovery system, developed by local peoples through cooperative societies, provided
employment for a large number of people by way of producing a significant
amount of edible biological components as valuable resources for human
consumption in the form of fishes of various kinds (Sanyal et al., 2015).
Realising what had happened, Mr. Sarkar expected disaster. Instead of killing his
fish however, the water doubled his yields. When fishermen from the surrounding
area came to find out more, they discovered that the combination of sewage in
the water and sunshine broke down the effluent and allowed plankton, which fish
feed on, to grow exponentially. Soon thousands of fish farmers had set up bheris,
or fishponds, across 12, 500 hectares on the eastern fringes of the city.
The wetlands to the east of Kolkata comprises of many water bodies from
north and south 24 Parganas. The hydrological setup of these wetlands is completely
different from any other wetlands in India. There is no catchment for these water
bodies and suspended or balanced aquifer is found to occur below these water
bodies at depth greater than 400 feet. These wetlands are well known over the
world for their multiple uses. The wetlands are manmade and the system of
wastewater treatment is the largest in the world. It has saved the city from
constructing and maintaining a wastewater treatment plant. The wetland comprises
of intertidal marshes including salt marshes, salt meadows with significant waste
water treatment areas like sewage farms, settling ponds and oxidation basins. In
these wetlands a wise use of ecosystem is done whereby 250 million gallons of
sewage of the city and after due treatments via sewage pumping station flows to
these water bodies and is used for traditional fishing and agriculture (Figs.99&99a).
It is one of the largest multipart of sewage fed fish ponds in the world.
Currently there are about 300 large fish farms and ponds covering a total area
of 3, 500 ha. There do exist some very large ponds with an area of as much as
70 ha and about 13, 000 tonnes of fish and 150 tonnes of vegetables per hectare
per year are produced in these wetlands.
The total area of the East Kolkata Wetlands is 12, 500 ha of which
approximately 45.93 % is the water body and 38.92 % is the agricultural land.
The remaining portion is occupied by urban and rural settlements and sites for
garbage disposal (Kundu et al., 2008).
4. COMPONENTS OF SEWAGE
Fig. 101 &101a: The sewage induced ponds after the treatments of sewage water.
Sewage-fed Freshwater Aquaculture 269
Threats
The two most important threats in these wetlands are that of encroachment due
to urban development and siltation. The constant change of land use pattern has
affected the ecology of these wetlands. Many large pisciculture ponds have been
Fig. 102: Waste water channel in between two grow out ponds.
converted to paddy fields. The industries in the adjacent areas have made
unauthorized connection to the sewers to empty their untreated wastewater. The
sewers on the other hand empty the water into the channels that later on join the
wetlands. This is causing a deposition of the heavy metals in the canals and
ultimately the quality of fish and vegetables produced in the wetlands is far below
the edible standard.
6. DEFINITION OF SEWAGE
Sewage is defined as a cloudy fluid arising out of domestic, municipal and
industrial waste, containing mineral and organic matter in solution or having
particles of solid matter floating, in suspension, or in colloidal and pseudo-colloidal
form in a dispersed state. Sludge differs from sewage in that it is the solid portion
of waste and does not include fecal matter and urine.
The organic and inorganic constituents of sewage waters also contain various
living matters including a variety of bacteria and protozoans.
Composition of sewage
Sewage may vary considerably in composition and strength from place to place
owing to marked differences in the dietary habit of the people, composition of
trade waste and water consumption. The strength of sewage is determined by
272 Freshwater Aquaculture: A Functional Approach
the amount of O2 required to oxidize completely the organic matter and ammonia
present in it.
There is also a variation in composition between between domestic and
industrial sewage (Fig.100), the later containing more pollutants in terms of heavy
metals and bacterial load and other toxic ingredients.While the sewage is very
rich in anaerobes when it is raw but gradually transforms to an enriched freshwater
when undergoes treatment.Sewage contains living matter especially bacteria and
protozoa.The water content of sewage may be 99% the rest being the solid
matters.The C:N ratio of domestic sewage is around 3:1, while the industrial
sewage may contain more organic carbon and hence may have a higher C:N
ratio. Nitrogen in sewage is present partly as organically bound element and
partly as ammoniacal nitrogen. Following are the common characteristics of
Kolkata City sewage:
Gases like CO2, H2S, and NH3 etc. are in dissolved state. The raw sewage
is detrimental to fish and to make it suitable for aquaculture or for usual
disposal to the river, treatment is necessary.
Problems related to sewage fed culture system
● Accumulation of silt and high organic matter at the pond bottom.
● Incidence of parasites and fish diseases.
● Possibilities of pathogens being transferred to humans.
● Accumulation of heavy metals in the system.
Sewage-fed Freshwater Aquaculture 273
Mechanical Treatment
This step is required to remove suspended and floating solids from the raw
sewage. The solids are removed first by using screens and then by skimming.
Finally they are removed by sedimentation. The mechanical treatment is comprised
of:
(a) The screening of sewage water and use of filtration devices
(b) Skimming of floating matters which is lighter than sewage water, and
(c) Sedimentation of suspended solids which are heavier than the sewage water.
8. MANAGEMENT OF SEWAGE
1. Primary management: This is mostly the physical removal of solids by
mechanical means. The solid material is removed by screening (for larger
coarse particles), skimming (for floating solids) and sedimentation (for
suspended particles whose density is greater than that of liquid) techniques.
2. Secondary management: Soluble organic and inorganic matter, namely the
carbohydrates, proteins, fats, hydrocarbons and other nitrogenous materials
which are degraded mostly biologically, using microorganisms into the smaller
constituents i.e. CO2, H2O, NO3, NO2, SO4, PO4 etc.which can be easily
disposed. Sometime chemical and physical removal of substances is combined
with this to increase the effectiveness. There are three basic methods for
secondary treatments: activated sludge (flocculation), biological filtration and
waste stabilization (in oxidation ponds). In the activated sludge or flocculation
process, the sewage is aerated by diffused air or by mechanical means. The
activated sludge (or biological floc) contains the microorganisms that remove
the soluble and insoluble organic matter in the sewage by a combination of
adsorption and oxidation or assimilation. Aeration supplies the sludge
microorganisms with oxygen and keeps the floc in suspension. After a suitable
contact time (1-20hrs) the sludge is separated from the sewage effluent in
a settling tank. Some of the settled sludge is returned for aeration along with
new sewage but most of it is treated separately in a sludge treatment plant.
9. SEDIMENTATION PONDS
The function of sedimentation is to remove suspended solids from sewage to the
maximum possible extent. It is done by letting sewage into a pond/tank at a high
velocity of flow (Fig. 99 and 99b). Sedimentation results due to sudden drop in
velocity when sewage enters a large pond from sewage channel (DWF, Fig.102)
Sedimentation is best carried out by in two successive stages i.e. primary and
secondary.The primary stage is intended to settle down most of the heavier solids
while the secondary stages serves two purposes: (a). Provision of additional
period to help to mix and homogenize variations in the flow, and (b). Promotion
of natural purification process.
Sewage-fed Freshwater Aquaculture 275
It has been estimated that about 33% BOD is got rid of by sedimentation
process, which may affect with 90% settlement of suspendedsolids and about
25% reduction in albuminoid ammonia.
condition prevailed throughout the pond. Such ponds are 2.5 – 3.7 m deep.
End products are CH4, H2S, and NH3.
ii) Aerobic ponds: These are shallow, having a depth of 0.3m or less, so
designed that growth of algae through photosynthetic action is maximized.
Waste material is stabilized through microorganisms only and aerobic condition
is always maintained. End products are CO2, H2O, NO3, SO4, PO4 etc.
iii) Facultative ponds: These are 0.9 – 1.5 m deep and are aerobic during day
hours as well as for some hours at night. Only for few remaining hours of
night, bottom layer become anaerobic. Aerobic, anaerobic and facultative
may all be found in a facultative pond. In India, most of the waste stabilization
ponds are of facultative type. The village ponds and natural depressions in
rural areas are example of waste stabilization ponds.
A conventional oxidation pond retains the settled sewage at a depth of 1 to
2 m (facultative ponds) for a period of 25 to 30 days. This pond contains the
algal-bacterial cultures, which oxidizes the organic matter into CO2, H2O, H2S,
NH3 and other decomposition products that are used asnutrients (e.g. NO3, SO4,
PO4). If this type of ponds are designed well and operated effectively, well over
90% of the BOD is removed and the micro flora is much reduced.
the pond rendered suitable for stocking and rearing fish seed. The stocking
density in such pond varies from 70.000 to 1,50,000 perha. The density is depended
mostly on the size of the spawn or fry. An experimental pond of 0.11 ha at
Khardah, West Bengal, having a density of 60, 000 fry/ha with the ratio of the
following:
Table 58: The size of the fishes after 25days of stocking.
Types Stock% Initial length Initial wt. Final length Final wt.
Catla 40% 72 mm 6gm 133mm 30gm
Rohu 6% 72 mm 5gm 147mm 37gm
Mrigal 45% 74 mm 4gm 126mm 24gm
Common Carp 9% 54 mm 3gm 135mm 50gm
After 25 days when they attained the above-mentioned sizes, were transferred
to a bigger stocking pond @ 10000/ha. This pond needed the additional fertilization,
which was carried out every month with sewage effluent in small doses. For
raising the juveniles, stocking pond was fertilized with raw sewage @ 45, 00,
000 lit/ha. Production in stocking pond was recorded 2500 kg to 3000 kg/ha. It
was reported that at a stocking density of 50000 fingerlings/ha at ratio of Rohu,
Catla, Mrigal =1:2:1 gave a production of 7076 Kg/ha in 7 months.
For raising Tilapia seed more or less the same techniques as that of carp
seed are adopted. However, instead of Tilapia spawn/fry, adult Tilapia of both
sexes is stocked together in the ratio of 6 males: 4 females at about 20, 000/ha.
They bred profusely in the pond. The harvesting of fingerlings is initiated two
months after stocking of adults and is continued periodically either fortnightly or
monthly depending on the density of harvestable size tilapia. Normally 30 – 40
gms tilapia are harvested. Under this system of culture a production as high as
8 – 10 tons/ha/year were obtained by CICFRI.
Pond Preparation
Pond preparation is undertaken generally in winter (Nov – Feb) when the fish
growth is reported slowest. Ponds are drained, desilted, tilled and dried in sun.
The pond dikes are consolidated. Silt traps (perimeter canal along the dikes) 2
3 meter wide and 30-40 cm. deep are dug, as they get filled during regular
harvesting of fishes. Aquatic weeds as water hyacinth (Eichhornia) is grown
along the pond dikes, which save the dikes from wave, and give shelter to fishes
against high temperature and poaching and above all it extracts heavy metals
from the sewage, supplies oxygen by photosynthetic activity. The bamboo sluice
gate is repaired which helps to prevent the entry of unwanted fishes and escape
of cultured fishes.
Primary fertilization
After pond preparation, sewage is passed in to the pond from the feeder canal
through bamboo sluice. It is left to stabilize for 15 – 20 days. The self-purification
of sewage takes place inpresence of atmospheric oxygen and sunlight. When the
water turns green due to photosynthetic activity, the pond is considered ready for
stocking.
Species cultured
Although both Indian and exotic carps are grown, farmers have specific preference
for the Indian carps, namely catla (Catla catla), rohu (Labeo rohita), mrigal
(Cirrhinus mrigala) and bata (Labeo bata) with bulk of the stocking consisting
of mrigal. Exotic fish like silver carp (Hypophthalmichthys molitrix), grass
carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella) and common carp (Cyprinus carpio) are
stocked as a small percentage. However, the popularity of tilapias (Oreochromis
niloticus and O. mossambicus) is increasing and they constitute 5-30% of the
species stocked in different farms. There is also a tendency for some farmers
to stock Pangasius hypophthalmus to control molluscan populations and some
are attempting to culture high value species like giant freshwater prawn,
Macrobrachium rosenbergii.
The following Table 59 depicts the abundance of fishes generally found in the
East Kolkata Wetland areas (Partly modified from Kundu et al., 2008).
Sl.no. Scientific name of the fish Local name of the fish Abundance
01. Catla catla Katla Common
02. Labeo rohita Rui Common
03. Cirrihinus mrigala Mrigel Common
04. Labeo bata Bata Common
05. Labeo calbasu Kalbaus Rare
06. Hypopthalmichthys molitrix Silver carp Sporadic
07. Ctenopharyngodon idella Grass carp Rare
08. Aristichthys nobilis Bighead carp Common
09. Oreochromis mossambica Tilapia Common
10. Oreochromis niloticus Nilotica Common
11. Cyprinus carpio Cyprinus Common
12. Lates calcarifer Bhetki Rare
13. Liza parsia Parshey Rare
14. Puntius ticto Punti Rare
15. Puntius javonicus Japani punti Rare
17. Amblypharyngodon mola Mourala Rare
18. Glossogobius guiris Beley Sporadic
19. Apocheilus panchax Techokha Common
20. Mystus vittatus Tyangra Rare
21. M.gulio Nona tyangra Sporadic
22. Channa striatus Shole Rare
23. C. gachua Chang Rare
24. Clarias batrachus Desi Magur Rare
25. C.garipinus African magur Rare
26. Heteropneustes fossilis Singhi Rare
27. Anguiliformis sp. Pankal Sporadic
28. M.armatus Baan Sporadic
29. Pisodonophis cancrivorus Kucho Rare
30. Chanda nama Chanda Rare
31. Chanda ranga Ranga chanda Rare
32. Notopterus notopterus Folui Rare
33. Anabas testudineus Koi Sporadic
34. Badis badis Banda Rare
280 Freshwater Aquaculture: A Functional Approach
stocking and regular harvest. In larger ponds, harvesting takes place continuously
for almost fifteen days in a month. After completion of one cycle of harvest in
a large pond, fishes are restocked at the rate of one kg of fingerlings for every
five kg of fish harvested. After restocking, fishes are left undisturbed for the
subsequent fortnight and harvesting will start again after that period. Drag nets
are commonly used for harvesting fishes through an encircling technique. However,
for the bottom burrowing and difficult to catch species like common carp and
tilapia, encircling with the net and hand picking are adopted as common techniques.
There are specialized people to harvest fishes using these strategies.
Fig. 109: Transport of fishes from the Fig. 110: Eichhornia cressipes lined to
bheri to the market. protect the dyke from erosion.
cleaning of these silt traps instead of digging the entire pond. Silt rich in nutrients
is used for various purposes, including strengthening of dykes.
The uniqueness that the East Kolkata Wetlands deserves proper conservation
and management measures including the following:
1. Proper management of the wetlands complying the Ramsar Convention
guidelines,
2. Conservation of biodiversity and,
3. Improvement of livelihood of local people
6
FISH HEALTH MANAGEMENT
1. INTRODUCTION
A successful aquaculture depends on the quality of soil, water, seed, feed and a
skillful Fish health (disease) management practice.The term fish health management
eventually means the technique of preventing fish disease.It is no exaggeration
that once fish get unwell it is very difficult to recover them.
of diseases. The incubation period may range from a day or two for virulent
pathogens, to prolonged periods of several months.
Aquaculture has a long history, originating at least in the year 475 B.C. in China,
but became important in the late nineteen-forties, since the methods of aquaculture
could be used to restock the waters as a complement to natural spawning.
Nowadays, aquaculture is a lucrative industry. However, the intensification of
aquaculture practices requires cultivation at high densities, which has caused
significant damage to the environment due to discharges of concentrated organic
wastes, that deplete dissolved oxygen in ponds, giving rise to toxic metabolites
(such as hydrogen sulfide, methane, ammonia, and nitrites), that often are
responsible for mortality. Additionally, aquaculture has appropriated of water
bodies used for recreational purpose, and sometimes makes water’s waste because
this natural resource is not reused in extensive aquaculture systems. Moreover,
under these conditions of intensive production, aquatic species are subjected to
high-stress conditions, increasing the incidence of diseases and causing a decrease
in productivity.
Outbreaks of viral, bacterial, and fungal infections have caused devastating
economic losses worldwide, that is, China reported disease-associated losses
of $750 million in 1993, while India reported $210 million losses from 1995
to 1996.
Added to this, significant stock mortality has been reported due to poor
environmental conditions on farms, unbalanced nutrition, generation of toxins, and
genetic factors. In recent decades, prevention and control of animal diseases has
focused on the use of chemical additives and veterinary medicines, especially
antibiotics, which generate significant risks to public health by promoting the
selection, propagation, and persistence of bacterial-resistant strains.
Most of the diseases encountered in fishes and prawns are principally due
to the quality deterioration (pollution) of water and soil as well as faulty (unscientific)
farm management practices. Besides, subject to the fluctuation of air and water
temperature there is a marked variation of depth of water in the ponds and tanks.
The significant increase in the pathogenic organisms due to the decomposition of
organic matters in the perennial ponds especially where the drying of pond water
is not possible at least once in a couple of years. As a result fishes do suffer due
to some of the infectious diseases. The epidemics sometime incur severe financial
loss to the farmers. It is also true in case of Faulty Management Practices
(FMP).
284 Freshwater Aquaculture: A Functional Approach
Brett (1958) while defining the stress of fish pointed out that “Stress is a
state produced by environmental or other factors which extends the adaptive
responses of an animal beyond the normal range or which disturns the
normal functioning to such an extent that, in either case, the chances of
survival are significantly reduced”.Management practices directed at limiting
stress are likely to be most effective in preventing disease outbreak.
2. CAUSES OF DISEASE
286 Freshwater Aquaculture: A Functional Approach
Three factors must be considered in any fish disease investigation. These are
the susceptible host, the virulent pathogen, and the environment in which they
encounter one another. Even though all three may be present, a host and pathogen
may interact without resultant disease. However, if a disturbance in any of the
three factors disrupts the relationship, disease can appear and spread.
Both fish and its pathogen maintain equilibrium during their existence in a
common environment.But sudden a minute change in the environment can break
this condition when either fish or pathogen gets an upperhand. If the environment
is more congenial for fish then it grows better; when the reverse is true then the
pathogen causes harm to fish making it ill.This may be either in subclinical or in
clinical level. Most of chronic cases remain in subclinical stages for a considerable
period where as the acute cases are easy to detect by clinical signs (Pal and
Ghosh, 1990).
3. HOST-PATHOGEN-ENVIRONMENT RELATIONSHIP.
a. The consequence of fish disease to aquaculture: The occurrence of
disease in the fishes very often incurr substantial financial loss to the
aquaculture farmers. This includes the loss in the dead fish, cost of treatment
and decreased growth during convalescence.Disease is infrequently a straight
forward relationship between a pathogen and a host fish (Fig.111).
b. Classification of diseases of fishes
Fish disease can be grouped into five different categories:
1. Diseases of fish and the environmental stress
Fish Health Management 287
crustacean exoparasites viz. Argulus, Ergasilus and Lernea are very common in
tropical water bodies.
[Table Contd.
290 Freshwater Aquaculture: A Functional Approach
Contd. Table]
Pillay (1993) pointed out that the minimum water quality standards necessary
to maintain congenial fish health are:
Table 58: Minimum water quality standars for maintaining good fish health.
Pesticides, insecticides, herbicides and also there are many botanicals exert
profound adverse effect even mortality of fishes.The maximum permissible limits
of tolerance has been worked out by EPA (Environmental Protection Agency,
USA and is depicted in Table-59:
Geosmin produced by actinomycetes and a number of blue-green algae
belonging to various species of the genus Oscillatoria very often generate off
flavor in fishes and the water body as well. All these organism grow on the soil-
water interface, decompose, causing reduction of the mud. This off flavor
phenomenon may seriously affect the economics of culture.
Another source of off-flavour in fish is industrial wastes. The odour and taste
of these wastes are usually concentrated in the fat deposits of the fish’s body.
The most important chemicals that impart off-flavour are phenols, tars and mineral
oils. Chlorinated phenols, such as o-chlorophenol and p-chlorophenol, impart a
distinct flavor to carp even in low concentrations of 0.015 and 0.06 mg/l. respectively
(Pillay, 1993).
Fish Health Management 291
Table 59: Maximum permissible pesticides concentrations which may be tolerated by fish
Pesticide Concentration
Organochlorine Pesticides:
Aldrin 0.01
DDT 0.003
Dieldrin 0.005
Chlordane 0.004
Endrin 0.003
Lindane 0.02
Tozaphene 0.01
Organophosphate insecticides
Diszinon 0.002
Dursban 0.001
Malathion 0.008
Parathion 0.001
TEPP 0.3
Carbamate insecticides
Caebary 0.02
Zectran 0.1
Herbicides, fungicides and defoliants
Aminotriazole 300.0
Diquat 0.5
Diuron 1.5
2.4-D 4.0
Silvex 2.0
Simazine 10.0
Botanicals
Pyrethrum 0.01
Rotenone 10.0
cause of disease outbreak and can increase disease dispersion among fresh
water prawn, shrimp and fish.Fresh water prawns and fish become ill and die
from diseases when they are exposed to pathogens in an aggressive way, in
which their natural defenses, potentially already weakened by intensive rearing
conditions and/or abrupt changes in environmental factors, are not able to cope
with the aggressiveness of this exposure.
Penetration into the host is the first step for a microbial agent to multiply and
invade the vital organs of the host fish. This normally happens through the
ingestion by rupturing the skin, gill lamellae and play a decisive role on the
virulence of the microbe. The skin when infected invites fungus as secondary
invadors and may become numerous enough to weaken the fish (Pillay, 1993).
However, it is needless to say like all other animals, the fishes too, shows a
distinct defensive mechanism against its pathogens. Firstly, the body of a fish is
covered with the scales and the skin secrets a lot of mucous to drive away the
pathgens surrounding it and even when the immune system may, including the
phage cells can also acts against them.Secondly, the anterior part of the alimentary
canal is acidic in nature while the rest is alkaline and in this course the pathogen
has to thrive against these two type of environment, and it is very uncertain
whether they can thrive.
a. Bacterial diseases
There are several bacterial diseases of cultured fin fishes and sometimes they
appear in association with fungal diseases, as secondary infections. Bacterial
diseases have worldwide distribution and occur in both tropical and temperate
conditions (Pillay, 1990).
Myxobacters cause tail and fin rot disease. Aeromonas spp.and Pseudomonas
spp. very often cause the following diseases:
i) Cataract in both the eyes, in any kind of fish,
ii) Staphyllococcus causes blindness especially in the snake head fishes,
iii) Putrification and loss of barbels together with tail rot and ulcers, especially
in the catfishes,
iv) Accumulation of water in the body cavity or scale pockets, otherwise named
as Dropsy in fishes, this may happen in variety of fishes,
v) Tumors have been identified in Anabas testudineus caused by Clostridium
sp.
Fish Health Management 293
vi) Epizootic ulcerative disease syndrome was a major issue even a few years
back caused by Micrococcus sp (EUDS).
b. Viral diseases
Fresh water fishes and prawns are seldom being affected by viral infections
albeit trouts, salmon and eels are found to be infested with pancreatic necrosis
(Infectious pancreatic necrosis, IPN) especially in fry and fingerlings. When the
mortality rate is high the infectected individuals swim in a rotating manner and
the death occurs within an hour or two. There is no proven effective treatment
when the fishes suffer from IPN.
Infectious haematopoietic necrosis (IHN) is another viral disease encounterd
in the fries of trout and salmon manifested by the occurrence of dark colouration
followed by weakness, abdominal swelling and pale gills. A thereapeutic treatment
of this disease is not known so far.
Again Viral Haemorrgic Septicaemia (VHS) is an acute and chronic viral
disease of the salmonids under culture. It is reported that the stress during
transportation or mishandling may be one of the major issue for outburstanding
the disease followed by high rate of mortality.
c. Protozoan disease
Trichodinosis cause by the ciliateprotozoa is one of the parasitic diseases
encountered among the fin fishes. This is represented by the family Trichodinidae
in which the most common of 6 genera is Trichodina sp. This protozoon is
probably the most frequently encountered external obligate parasite in cultured
fresh water fish’s world wide. Some species in this family also parasitize fish and
when abundant, irritate the skin and gill surfaces causing hyperplasia of the
epithelium. Fish parasitized by Trichodina often have a white patches and/or
moulting of the skin and fins. Excessive mucus is produced causing a white to
bluish shed of the skin. Fins are generally frayed and the infected fish exhibit
flashing behavoiur of water and scrapping their bodies against the hard surfaces.
If the gills are heavily infested the opercular movement becomes rapid.
Myxobolus bengalensis frequently cause gill spot disease with noticeable
white spot on gills. Pale gills followed by excessive secretion of mucus are the
other symptoms. Scale spot disease is generally caused by Myxobolus shericum
and Myxobolus rohitae causing reformations on the scale which is followed by
the excessive secretion of mucus by the epidermal cells. The resultant is loosening
of the scales and drop off from the body.
294 Freshwater Aquaculture: A Functional Approach
e. Whirling disease
Whirling disease caused by the protozoan Myxosoma cerebralis. A common
sign of the disease is rapid, tail chasing behaviour when the fish are frightened
or trying to feed.This caused by the parasite feeding on the cartilage of young
host fish. In advanced stages of the disease, skeletal deformation, including
deforme heads, jaws, operculum as well as spinal curvature, can be observed.
Infected fish contaminate water and mud associated with the fish are known to
be the reservoirs of infection.
f. Helminth disease
Monogenetic and Digenetic trematodes are common parasites in fishes. Among
the Monogenetic trematodes Dactylogyrus spp. and Gyrodactylus elegans
indicus are very frequent resulting fading of colours, dropping of scales and
excessive secretion of mucus from the epidermal cells.
Among the Digeneans, Diplostomum, Neodiplostomum, Clinostum etc. are
very common. Eye disease is very frequent upon infestation of digenian
trematodes.
Cestode tapeworms as for example, Ligula intestinalis when infected result
bulging abdomen and in exreme conditions, burrow through stomach into body
cavity causing death.
g. Copepod infections
Copepod parasites of the family Argulidae, Ergasilidae and Larnaedae very often
infect several species of cultured fishes especially both Indian major, minor and
Fish Health Management 295
the Chinese carps. Argulosis caused by the species of Argulus (Popularly known
as fish lice) are represented by A. foliaceous, A.japonicus, A.bengalensis etc.
is a branchiuran parasite may easily be recognized by the naked eye. These are
transparent but have two dark spots at the anterior end, round shaped and an
attaching organ.
Lernaeosis, another anchor worm disease in fresh water ponds with high
organic load. The parasite is not found in brackish waters since they can not
tolerate even minute concentration of salt in the medium.These are easily
recognized by their thin thread like small structures and the females generally
carries two small egg sacs.
Ergasilosis caused by the parasite Ergasilus and are found in both fresh and
brackish waters. The parasite is found mainly attaching at the gills of the host.
When the host is severely infected, symptom of erratic movement and sluggishness
is a common phenomenon followed by death.
At the beginning, a symbolic question was asked regarding whether or not
the presence of “the characteristic microbe of a disease might be a symptom
instead of the cause.” In many situations, cultured fish live healthy, normal lives
in the continuous presence of pathogens. However, when environmental stresses
occur and the balance tips in favor of disease, the characteristic microbes flourish.
If the fish cannot adequately adjust or, if fish cultural corrections are not made,
disease may occur. If losses increase in typical patterns, the fish culturist must
act. By resolving environmental problems and applying effective therapeutants, a
balance between the host and the pathogen can be restored. The question still
remains; was the disease caused by the microbe or were the microbes and the
fish merely players in a larger environmental scenario? A microbial infection can
often be the symptom of environmental failure and an urgent signal that conditions
must be changed. Successful fish culture often hinges on whether correction of
adverse environmental conditions can be achieved in time to prevent losses
(Snieszko, 1973; Snieszko and Bullock 1975). The skills related to fish culture
which are required to maintain the balance between the host and the pathogen
in the face of changing environmental conditions indicate that there is still a great
deal of “art” in the “science” of fish culture (Warren, 1983).
the dietary lipids. One percent linolenic acid (18:3w3) in the diet is required
by rainbow trout to avoid such deficiency signs as loss of pigmentation, fin
erosion, cardiac myopathy, fatty infiltration of the liver, and shock syndrome
(Castel et al., 1972). Salmonids utilize lipids as a major source of energy and
digest complex carbohydrates very poorly. Diets for salmonids therefore,
should contain very high levels of lipids (10-18%) in comparison to diets for
other animals. Because of the high level of use, lipid quality is critical since
marine fish oil is very susceptible to oxidation. In all circumstances, rancid
oil must be avoided in fish feed. Fish suffering from lipoid liver disease have
extreme anemia, a bronzed, rounded heart and a swollen liver with rounded
edges. Histologically, the main feature is the extreme lipoid infiltration of
hepatocytes and associated loss of cytoplasmic staining and distortion of
hepatic muralia (Cowey and Roberts 1978). All salmonids are suceptible to
lipoid degeneration of the liver, but it is a particularly significant problem in
rainbow trout. Slightly affected fish are usually capable of recovery, but if
severe anemia and hepatic ceroidosis have developed, the fish are rarely
capable of recovery to an acceptable feed efficiency (Cowey and Roberts
1978).
iv. Vitamins: Vitamins are a chemically diverse group of organic substances
that are required for normal growth, but either not synthesized by organisms
or is synthesized at rates insufficient to meet the organism’s needs. They
constitute a minute part of the diet and also play a catalytic role in their
function. Further more vitamins are more vital for the maintenance of normal
metabolic and physiological functions. Vitamin deficiency in fish which may
cause various diseases and the symptoms there of is given in Table 60.
Vitamins may be classified in two groups, viz:
(a) Water soluble vitamins; principally include eight members of the Vitamin
B-complex, Thiamin, Riboflavin, and Pyridoxine, Pantothenic acid, Niacicin,
Biotin, Folic acid and Vitamin B12. These vitamins take an active
participation in nutritional factors choline, inositol, ascorbic acid and,
(b) Fat soluble vitamins principally include VitaminA, D3, E and K.
In order to avoid the diseases and the concerned symptoms among the fishes
under culture it is imperative to provide them the proper nutritionally balanced
feed at different stages, so that optimum production at minimum cost may be
achieved.Supplementation of Vitamins in the fish diet may be used by
commercially available Vitamin premixes. Algal meal and brewers yeast are
excellent source of vitamins. Table-61 gives a fairly good idea of the vitamin
premixes made specifically for fish feeds (Hastings, 1979). Flavour, colour,
Table 60: Vitamin deficiency symptoms in fish (after Halver, 1979)
odour, texture and water stability are the important characteristics related to
the acceptance and consumption in case of fish diets. It is needless to
mention in this contexct that the basic composition of fish feed, depends on
the levels of crude protein, energy, specific amino acids, minerals and vitamins,
crude fibre and ashes (Pillay, 1993 and Hastings, 1979).
Table 61: Vitamin and mineral premixes for fish diet. (Modified from Hastings, 1979).
v. Minerals: Minerals are required by all animals either in their elemental form
or incorporated into specific compounds for various biological functions such
as formation of skeletal tissue formation, respiration, digestion, osmoregulation
etc.Of the 26-naturally occurring essential elements which are said to be
important for the animals, only nine have been shown to be required by the
finfish (Pillay, 1993) (Table-62).
300 Freshwater Aquaculture: A Functional Approach
In view of the fact that, water generally in enriched with different types of
minerals, supplementation of diets may not be necessary, except in the case
of those that are required in relatively high concentrations, especially in fresh
water fish.
In fish, minerals perform important roles in osmoregulation, intermediary
metabolism, and in formation of the skeleton and scales (Lall 1981). Mineral
requirements of fish are difficult to study because many minerals are required
in only trace amounts and others are absorbed from water in significant
quantities through the gills as well as from the diet. It is also very difficult
to obtain mineral free feed ingredients for experimental diets. Most practical
diets for salmonids provide the major mineral requirements through fish meal
which is also a major source of protein. However, diets which rely heavily
on plant protein sources must be supplemented with carefully balanced mineral
premixes. The minerals required in finfish diets include calcium, zinc,
manganese, cobalt, selenium, iodone and fluorine. The functions of some of
these have been described in detail (Nutrition Research Council, NRC 1977).
The recommended dietary levels of minerals and related deficiency signs are
shown in Table: 62. The potential for toxicity of minerals must also be
carefully assessed since fish are very sensitive to excess amounts of minerals.
Table 62: Mineral deficiency syndrome in fishes (after Castell et al., 1986)
All nutrients required for the well-being and normal growth of the fish must
be supplied in formulated diets as available (digestible) nutrients. Otherwise,
the fish cannot utilize the nutrients present in the feed ingredients. The
formulated diets also must be pelletized and processed in such a manner that
they are durable and water stable.Proper feeding of a quality diet should be
Fish Health Management 301
due to the efficiency and proven benefits so far but mainly restricted to
ponds’ bioremediation and water treatment. The common use of these live
bacteria helps to promote a more efficient mineralization of the organic
matter, and thus a better balance of the physico-chemical and hydrobiological
parameters of the water.
Now-a-days, besides their proven benefits for treating pond bottoms and
helping to maintain water quality at acceptable levels, there is a consensus
that probiotics (bacteria and yeast) can also promote the competitive exclusion
of harmful bacteria in animal bodies, especially in the gut. Unfortunately,
probiotic bacteria alone are not always able to prevent (neither treat) disease
outbreaks (Borba, 2018).
Hence, the aquaculture industry has started paraprobiotics utilization. They
are prophylactic effective compounds with accessible and easy to incorporate
in industrial feed, cost-effective, but still incomprehensible is the low adoption
of this technology in India.Such solutions are still in the process of
implementation and dissemination among aquaculture farmers.
Fortunately, there are already successful cases with the use of yeast cell wall
paraprobiotics in highly productive commercial aqua farms. These could serve
as an incentive and reference for many other fish and shrimp producers who
often are not sure about what paraprobiotics are, how they act and how to
use them.
Intestinal bacteria pathogens cause damage to the host by binding and
colonizing the intestinal epithelium and even sometimes crossing the intestinal
barrier and spreading to inner organs and tissues. Paraprobiotics, such as
yeast cell wall, contain complex carbohydrate molecules that interfere directly
with the binding ability of pathogenic bacteria in the gut, thereby reducing the
ability of pathogen bacteria to bind to the intestinal epithelium of the animals.
One of these complex carbohydrates is ‘Mannan Oligosaccharides’, also
known as MOS. MOS are non-digestible carbohydrates that when in transit
into the intestinal lumen, can bind bacteria due to their strong affinity for
lectins (molecules present on the outside of the plasmatic membrane of
Gram-negative bacteria cells). Mannans binding to these compounds (lectins)
lead to the neutralization of the harmful bacteria and with their subsequent
excretion through the feces, thereby decreasing harmful bacteria concentration
in the host’s body.
Another complex carbohydrate found in the yeast cell walls are E-glucans
(1, 3; 1, 6), which present a distinct mode of action generating other benefits.
Once “sensed” by the gastrointestinal tract of the fish or shrimp, they are
identified as a “warning signal”, allowing the activation of macrophages.
Fish Health Management 303
Macrophages are highly specialized cells of the immune system that possess
the ability to ‘eat” microorganisms such as bacteria (phenomena called
phagocytosis). After phagocytosis, the pathogen is trapped within the
macrophage in a structure called phagosome. The phagosome fuses with a
vacuole containing enzymes and peroxides to help digest the pathogen.
In addition to phagocytosis, macrophages are of great importance for
immunomodulation, producing and secreting a large number of molecules
named chemokines that attract other defense cells to specific sites where
inflammatory processes are occurring.
Paraprobiotics therefore, have synergistic effects with probiotics. Probiotic
bacteria and yeast promote beneficial effects on animal’s gut health, competing
with pathogenic bacteria for nutrients and oxygen, for adhesion sites on
intestinal epithelium, and producing antimicrobial substances. On the other
hand, paraprobiotics can be understood as “traps” to capture, inactivate and
eliminate, in an effective way the harmful bacteria in the gut, thus opening
space for a better and more effective colonization of the digestive tract of
fish and shrimp by beneficial microorganisms.
viii.Probiotics-there use in Aquaculture: The term “probiotic” comes from
Greek pro and bios meaning “prolife” and the term probiotics was first used
by Lilly & Stillwell in 1965 and has been defined as the microbiological origin
factor that stimulates the growth of other organisms. In 1989, Roy Fuller
introduced the idea that probiotics generate a beneficial effect to the host (in
this case it is Fish). Probiotics are defined by Food and Agriculture
Organization/World Health Organization as “live microorganisms which when
administered in adequate amounts confer a health benefit on the host”.
ix. Effects of application of probiotics in aquaculture: Probiotc microorganisms
have an antimicrobial effect through modifying the intestinal microbiota,
secreting antibacterial substances (bacteriocins and organic acids),
competing with pathogens to prevent their adhesion to the intestine, competing
for nutrients necessary for pathogen survival, and producing an antitoxin
effect. Probiotics are also capable of modulating the immune system, regulating
allergic response of the body, and reducing proliferation of cancer in mammals.
Because of this, when provided at certain concentration and viability, probiotics
favorably affect host health. In fact, terms such as “friendly bacteria, ”
“friendly, ” or “healthy” are commonly used to describe probiotics.
x. Mechanism of action of the probiotic bacteria:
1. Probiotic bacteria may competitively exclude the pathogenic bacteria or
produce substances that inhibit the growth of the pathogenic bacteria.
304 Freshwater Aquaculture: A Functional Approach
Intensive farming systems utilize high stocking densities, among other stressors
(e.g. management), which often end up resulting in poor growth and feed
efficiency rates, besides of weakness in the immune system, making these
animals susceptible to the presence of opportunistic pathogens present in the
environment. In this sense, the effect of probiotics on the immune system has
led to a large number of researches with beneficial results on the health of
aquatic organisms, although it has not yet been clarified how they act. In
addition, probiotics can also be used to promote the growth of aquatic
organisms, whether by direct aid in the absorption of nutrients, or by their
supply.
Probiotics which are most used in aquaculture are those belonging to the
genus Bacillus spp. (B. subtilis, B. licheniformis and B. circulans),
Bifidobacterium spp. (B. bifidum, B. lactis, and B. thermophilum), lactic-
acid bacteria (Lactobacillus spp., Carnobacterium spp.) and yeast
Saccharomyces cerevisiae.
The benefits observed in the supplementation of probiotics in aquaculture
include:
1. Improvement of the nutritional value of food;
2. Enzymatic contribution to digestion;
3. Inhibition of pathogens;
4. Growth promoting factors;
5. Improvement in immune response; and
6. Farming water quality.
Among the most recent studies that point to the effect of the use of probiotics
for various aquatic organisms stand those for fish, shrimps, mollusks and
frogs.
f. Results of probiotics in fish farming:
Immune system: Larvae of some fishes feed on the rotifers, enriched with
lactic-acid bacteria increased resistance against infection by Vibrio spp. The
joint administration of Lactobacillus fructivorans and Lactobacillus
plantarum through dry or live feed promoted the colonization of the intestine
resulting decrease in mortality during larviculture in nursery management.
Use of Pseudomonas fluorescens as probiotics decreased the mortality of
juveniles of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus sp.) exposed to Vibrio
anguillarum. Higher survival rate of carp Labeo rohita is witnessed fed
with Bacillus subtilis, during Aeromonas hydrophila infection.
Fish Health Management 307
iii) Less water exchange: Less pumping rates and costs and in some instances
completely closed pumps lessening the risk of inducing problems during the
production cycle from the outside.
iv) Eliminating the use of antibiotics: Compete against many types of bacterial
infestations and the farmers stop using antibiotics.
v) Reduction in Vibrio levels: Significant reduction in vibrio levels.
vi) Increased Growth Rate: Healthy fish/shrimps grow better in cleaner ponds
with less organic loads.
● Reduction in overall vibrio loads (the Bacillus compete against the vibrios for
nutrients)
● Reduction in ammonia levels (broken down by the bacteria in our products)
● Reduction in disease outbreaks (a result of a change in the microbial flora)
● Better feed efficiency (a result of a cleaner environment)
● Healthier shrimp and fishes.
● Increased profits
Probiotics are defined as live microbial preparations that when fed to an
animal colonize the animal’s intestinal tract and positively impact the animal’s
health. This term is widely misused in aquaculture and an analysis of the literature
(gray and peer reviewed) suggests that the term may be largely inaccurate.
There are very few accounts of bacterial attachment to the intestinal wall of fish
or shrimp demonstrating the inhibition of pathogenic bacteria.
However, fish farmers at least who are engaged commercial intensive farming
especially Indian major, minor and exotic carps generally do not favour the
presence of these molluscan populations due to the fact that:
i) Excessive presence generally bring down dissolved oxygen content of
the pond water,
ii) Molluscan populations are the principal carrier of different types of
pathogenic trematodes and nematode larvae and so also the leeches.
iii) Continuously feed on various planktonic millieu of the pond and,
iv) Decrease the overall productivity status of the pond.
Based on these four basic points the farmers express unhappiness throughout
the growout phases of carps.
It is now the concern of all aquaculture scientists and technicians to find out
the possible measures of eradication of the molluscan population, even if the
fishes do exist in the ponds. Opportunities in this direction still remain open.
Application of Mahua Oil Cake mixed with Urea or Bleaching powder ofcourse
eradicate the infestation at least in part but complete eradication seems to be
impossible.
3. Sometimes it is noted that the fishermen refuse to step in to the pond water
due to severe itching on the skin. This itching ultimately results in swellings
on the skin. This is simply a case of ‘allergy’ that develops in the body.
Insuch conditions, it is to be understood that there is a massive development
of raphides in the culture water. To come out with a solution for such
conditions it is advised that 3kg of Bleaching powder and Potassium
permanganate each per acre are to be mixed and broadcasted over the pond
water. Besides, the fishermen are to be provided with an anti-allergic tablet
(viz. Cetzine, Lezynlet, Allegra etc.) before they step in the pond water.
4. Very often it is noticed that in carp culture ponds, massive appearance of fry
stages of Tilapia spp. These weed fishes occupy both food and space
allotted for the carps of economic importance, resulting a drastic decease in
the ultimate production.
To come across this situation it is advisable to use Forate powder, which is
available in granular form in the market. It is advised that Forate granules
@2kg/acre/6ft depth of pond water is to be mixed approximately with 10
liters of water thoroughly. This mixture is then to be filtered through a clean
cloth and the filtered water is collected in a tub or in a boat. The waste
powder which remains undissolved in the cloth is to be collected carefully
and to be merged in a hole sufficiently far away from the pond. The hole to
Fish Health Management 311
(Clockwise) Figs: 112a, b: Tailrot(a, b), Figs. 113: Finrot(a, b), Figs.114: Epizootic Ulcerative
Disease syndrome (a, b, c, d), Figs.115: Dropsy (a, b), Figs.116. Gill rot
(a, b), Figs.117: Saprolegniasis (a , b, c), Figs. 118: White spot on body, Fig.119: White spot
on scales, Fig.120: Costiasis, Fig.121: Septicemic disease, Fig. 122: Edwardsielosis disease.
312 Freshwater Aquaculture: A Functional Approach
(Clockwise) Fig.123: Eye disease, Fig.124a, b: Cotton wool disease in fishes, Fig.125:
Trichodina sp. Fig.126: Trichodineasis, Fig.127a, b: Myxobolus infection in fish gills, Fig.
128: Algal toxicity, Fig. 129a, b: Gas bubble disease in fishes, Fig.130: Brownish spot
disease, Fig.131: Leech infection, Fig.132a, b: Mortality of fishes due to oxygen depletion,
Fig. 133: Ligulosis infection, Fig.134: a, b, c, d: Argulus sp. and its infection.
Fish Health Management 313
6. Very often cultured fishes do not accept supplementary feed which poses a
great concern to the farmers. In such situation Ostovet Forte@200ml per
100kg of supplementary feed for a week is advocated. This will increase the
appetite to the stocked fishes.
7. It is sometime observed that the gills of the stocked fishes turn pale instead
of reddish. The major reason attributes to the problems in blood circulation.
In such situation the natural movement of fishes ceases down. To overcome
these situations apply Zinc sulphate 21% @750gms/acre/6feet depth of water
in the pond. It is further advocated that vitamin premix @250gms/100kg of
supplementary feed is to be mixed together at least for a period of 30-45
days for fry and fingerling stages and 20-30 days in case of adult stage of
fishes.
8. In nursery ponds very often it is noticed that the fry stages of IMC are
sharply cut into two pieces at a large scale and the pieces start floating on
the surface of the pond water. This attributes a massive development of
Dytisid larvae, which have sharp mandibular appendages. By the help of
these mandibles, fry are being cut in two pieces randomly. To overcome this
situation, it is advised to broadcast tobacco dust @ 8-10 kg/acre area of the
nursery ponds in dry condition. The toxic effect of tobacco powder will kill
316 Freshwater Aquaculture: A Functional Approach
the larvae within 2-3 days. After netting out the semi-decomposed larval
remnants thoroughly from the ponds apply Zeolite powder @ 10-15kg/acre/
meter within 48-hours.
9. After excavation of the soil in sewage-fed ponds, a thick mat (Fig.144&144a)
of algal bloomis found, and even the water is also do not favour stocking of
advanced fingerlings for further growing at least for a month. Application of
Gypsum (Calcium sulfate) and Zeolite powder@30kg/acre is advocated and
after 3-4 days Chelated copper and Potassium permanganate@ 500gms each
is to be broadcasted after thorough mixing. The pond water will be lighter
and fit for stocking of fish fingerlings.
10. Very often it is reported that the pond water turned blackish or to that of the
color of snuff. The abundance of both phyto- and zooplankton are in question.
In such situation 16% aqueous solution of humic acid @4-6 liters/acre/meter
and Soil probiotic @ 1 liters/acre/meter together with 600gms of Water
probiotic respectively is to be applied. The blackish snuffy nature of water
color turn light green within a couple of days and even the stocked fishes will
enjoy the turned environment.
11. Sometime in eutrophicated (nutrient enriched) tropical ponds free floating and
filamentous blue green algae which are otherwise designated as Cyanobacteria
pose constant problem. These algal bloom very often compete with fishes
stocked in such ponds for:
i) Dissolved Oxygen
ii) Various nutrients present in soil and water
iii) Dominate over other phytoplankton and compete for available nitrogen
iv) The blue greens can regulate the cell buoyancy in the water column and
gain additional benefit over other organisms for photosynthetic activities.
To control these blue-greens, application of chelated copper in soft water
ponds to prevent copper poisoning in fishes stocked. It is further reported
that the toxicity of chelated copper compound is very less than those of the
equal concentration of copper in Copper sulphate (CuSO4). It is further
emphasized that the species with a high susceptibility to copper are not
harmed in waters of low alkalinity (Boyd, 1979). Application of chelated
copper and Potassium permanganate as oxidizing agent together at the ratio
of (3:1) may reduce filamentous algae to a great extent from the pond.
(Water containing little or no dissolved salts of calcium or magnesium,
especially water which contain less than about 85 parts per million of
calcium carbonate is regarded as ‘Soft Water’. On the contrary, the
Fish Health Management 317
(a)
(b)
12. To control filamentous algae from the pond some of the farmers also use
different algaecides of chemical origin@ the quantity specified by the
aquaculture consultants. However, to achieve a good result freshly prepared
solution of copper sulfate (500gm of CuSO4 in one liter of water) @ 300
400 ml. per 33 decimal of pond water area may be broadcasted.
13. Faulty managerial practice of a fish hatchery also pose serious problem to the
farmers, who are raising fish in ponds and tanks. It is noted sometimes that
318 Freshwater Aquaculture: A Functional Approach
the seed (Fingerlings) procured from the source (Hatchery) are of the same
size and weight ranges (Genetically dwarf). When released, these genetically
stunted fishes do not grow equally with who do not, even after maintaining
the similar environmental conditions, food and feeding etc. Dwarfism, of the
stock creates a severe crisis to the concerned farmer. The actual reason may
be attributed to the “inbreeding of fishes”. It is assumed that F2 and F3
generation from the same parental stock may attaind warfism. The farmers
(the fish growers) should always carefully check the up to date”
ACCRIDITATION CERTIFICATE” issued to the concerned hatchery by
the Department of Fisheries of the state.
14. Fluctuation in weather condition (generally during end of winter and beginning
of spring) coupled with foggy morning hours, sometimes there is a heavy toll
of fish fry and fingerlings including advanced fingerlings, till the weather is
stable. Continuous aeration (Figs. 43 and 44) and bathing of advanced
fingerlings with Potassium permanganate for primary disinfection before
releasing to stocking ponds during this season is advocated.
15. Another problem in the fish ponds where jute retting, is observed. During
retting of Jute, excessive liberation of plant fluid (organic substances) as
secreted undergo oxidation followed by putrification, turn the water color
blackish and it may so happen, the BOD of water increases followed by
massive destruction of planktonic milieu. This natural suffering of fishes is
unavoidable. It is justified to apply Zeolite powder@15-20kg/acre/meter at
least once in a fort night; so long the retting procedures are in vogue.
16. Mass scale mortality of fishes especially who are engaged in semi-intensive
culture of Indian Major and Minor Carps during the onset of monsoon every
year.What happens, during summer months (April to last week of June) there
remains scorching air and water temperature. The rate of feeding
(supplementary feed) is also at a higher rate by the fishes followed by the
concurrent higher decomposition of the organic matters present at the soil-
water interphase. This decomposition stimulates production of ammonia and
other toxic gases which generally tend to remain little above the level of the
substratum. Fact remain, immediately after the first or second day of the fall
after a long cloudy day, these toxic gases starts coming at the upper level
along with the stocked fishes resulting massive suffocation followed by death.It
is evident that the ponds with more than 10 feet depth due to oxygen tension
die and the ponds which are within 6-7 feet depth they are surfaced through
out the day egulfing oxygen from the air. Professional farmer’s starts aeration
Fish Health Management 319
soil if can not be removed completely from the pond it should be ploughed
repeatedly during the summer season.
e . Dry and plough the pond bottom: Sun drying kills weed fish/crustacean
and their eggs in the pond soil. Drying helps in oxidizing the organic matter
thus reducing the sludge. The pond should dry under hot sun for 20 to 30
days till the soil cracks. Plough the pond 2 to 3 times with the gap of 2 to
3 days which will help in oxidizing the organic matter and also help in
reducing gastropods. After ploughing compact the pond bottom to reduce the
turbidity and seepage.When the ponds cannot be dried farmers can follow
wet pond preparation as given below:
● Apply mohua oil cake or chlorine at a dose mentioned earlier before, take
out all dead fishes and other animals if any,
● Use the tractor with gauge wheels to plough the pond with 15 to 20 cm
water,
● After the ploughing drain out the water from the pond if possible.
b. Fertilization and liming of the pond bottom:
● This will help in improving mineral content of the pond bottom especially
in ponds with low soil fertility and ponds which are in culture for more
than 10 years.
● Apply dry vermicompost 250-1000kg/ha or compost manure
● Spread the compost manure all along the pond bottom.
● Do not use raw cow dung or broiler poultry manure for fertilizing the
pond bottom.Application of these may turn the pond soil toxic to fishes.
Application of Lime
Use a soil pH meter to test the soil pH. Soil should be wet while using the
equipment. The levels of lime application during pond preparation depend on the
pH of the soil. Spread the lime all along the pond bottom and along the slopes
of the pond bund. A large proportion of the lime needs to be applied along the
feeding areas and on the wet portions of the pond. When applying lime farmers/
workers should wear face mask.
If the soil pH is more than 7, there is no need of Lime application.
Water screening: It is very important in keeping the disease carriers away.
If good water screening is followed, no need for further disinfectants. Use double
layer of fine mesh filter net (60#) at water inlet point. The filter nets to the
Fish Health Management 323
delivery pipe and it should be supported properly. Provide additional two layers
of 80 mesh hapa below the inlet. Pond should be filled with water within 4 days.
Foot valve should be placed in bamboo basket or metal cage and it should be
covered with 20# mesh to prevent large animals getting in to inlet mesh.
Water Fertilization
Phytoplankton abundance is essential to successful culture. It shades the pond
bottom and prevents the growth of benthic algae; provide the darker environment
which the fishes and prawns/shrimps find less stressful. One week after the
water is filled, normally development of phytoplankton starts especially where
manure is applied.
If the color of the pond water is clear i.e the transparency is higher (exceeds
50 cm or higher), chain dragging once a week helps in stabilizing the planktonic
abundance. Add 200kg of Dolomite per ha during sunny period. Apply 2 days
fermented mixture of rice bran, jaggery and quality brewers yeast @ of
25kg+10kg+0.25 kg/ ha in doses for three days during the morning period. Spread
the fermented mixture across the pond using floating device.When the color of
the water is green the pond is ready for stocking. If there are benthic or floating
algae in the pond, remove them manually.
i) Stabilization of the plankton bloom: Do not heavily fertilize the water to
get dark green water. It will reduce the oxygen in water during night time
thus suffocating the cultured animals. It is one of the reasons for lower
survival rate of fish and prawn seeds. During the first month of culture
whenever the water color intensity reduces (Secchi disc reading of more
than 50 cm), add fermented mixture of rice bran, jaggery and yeast @ of
25kg+10kg+0.25 kg/ha. Chain dragging from the very first day of seed stocking
is not recommended. In case of fish nursery ponds when the spawn attains
early fry stage at the end of 7 or 10 days may be harvested for selling to
other fish farmers using dense meshed net with a gentle operation. In case
of shrimps after 45 DOC follow chain dragging of entire pond phased over
3 to 4 days at least once a week. Wherever possible run the aerators two
hours every day at least at late night. Instead of using crumbled, sinking
pelletized feed, preference to be given for the floating feed in case of fish
culture.
ii) Biosecurity practices: Biosecurity in fish and shrimp farming involves
stocking disease free seed, pond preparation, and water screening and
prevention of entry of disease carriers, personal hygiene and sanitation. General
324 Freshwater Aquaculture: A Functional Approach
to 6 weeks) if the color of the pond water is clear, add fermented mixture of
jaggery, rice bran and yeast @ of 25 kg+10kg+025 kg/ha to get bloom. If the
water color is too dark, do not use any chemicals to kill the algae; instead
change 10cm of top water, if you can during afternoon and intake during the
night preferably at high tide. If you cannot, reduce/stop feeding during this
period. To control water pH within the optimum range of 7.5-8.3, and limit
diurnal pH fluctuation to less than 0.5. If the pH is lower than 7.5 apply shell
lime to increase the pH. High pH results from over liming and excess plankton
bloom. If the pH is higher than 8.3, apply 50 litres of molasses or fermented
juice of rice powder, jaggery and yeast to reduce the pH.
After every water intake / exchange and after rains, use agricultural lime.
Agri lime (100 Kg/Ha) should be mixed with water and applied throughout the
pond. It acts as a buffering agent for water.
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