Induced Breeding of the Stinging Catfish, Heteropneustes fossilis: Comparison among Different Inducing Agents

The present study furnishes the comparison on the performance of different inducing agents in the induced breeding of the stinging catfish, Heteropneustes fossilis. During the study two experiments were conducted in two different hatcheries of Bangladesh. In the experiment 1, pituitary gland extract (PGE) was administered at 6 mg/kg body weight of females and 2 mg/kg body weight of males. In contrast, ovaprim was administered at 0.3 ml/kg and 0.1 ml/kg body weight of females and males, respectively. On the other hand, in case of experiment 2, PGE was administered at the same rate as experiment 1 while ovaprim was administered at 0.5 ml/kg and 0.1 ml/kg body weight of females and males, respectively and human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) was injected at 1000 IU/kg body weight of both male and female fishes. Breeding success was found to be higher in ovaprim treated individuals in both the experiments in all aspects including latency period, ovulation rate, fertilization rate, hatching rate and incubation period compared to that of PGE and HCG induced individuals. In the ovaprim induced individuals, the latency period was within 10 hours while in PGE and HCG induced individuals, the latency period was 15 hours. In addition, the present investigation also revealed that, ovaprim is more efficient in terms of ovulation, fertilization and hatching rates when using at a rate of 0.5 ml/kg body weight of female fishes than using at a rate of 0.3 ml/kg body weight of female fishes. Results of the present study would help the hatchery managers in managing the induced breeding programs of H. fossilis and other catfishes.