The aim of this study was to check the growth performance of the Mystus vittatus in captive condition for 45 days upon feeding with prepared feed against the commercially available feed consisting of 40% protein content. In this experiment, two treatments were prepared i.e., Treatment 1 contains the experimental ingredients and a second treatment is a commercial feed. In each treatment, 10 numbers of fish were stocked and fed with 5% of it's body weight. The increased in growth rate were observed in both the treatments. Comparatively, the better performance of treatment 1 was observed with a good FCR of 2.03 and net biomass increased by 13.71g with daily biomass gained up to 0.30g/day. In treatment 2 the net biomass was much lower with a net biomass gain of 5.67g with a daily weight gain of 0.12g/day.

Captive condition, Mystus vittatus, growth performance, growth rate, FCR, net biomass, and daily weight gain.

Mystus vittatus, also known as the stripped dwarf catfish belongs to the family bagridae. It is found in freshwater and brackish water systems with marginal vegetation in lakes and swamps with a mud substrate of Asian countries Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Myanmar (Talwar and Jhingran 1991).

The body of Mystus vittatus is elongated and slightly compressed with the maxillary barbels extending from the pelvic fins to the end of the anal fins. The fin formula of this species is D6-7(1), A12-13, V31-37 Hossain et al. (2006). Generally, this species often has body similarities with the other Mystus Sp. ( such as Mystus tengara, Mystus gulio and mystus bleekeri). M.vittatus prefers to live either in stagnant water bodies like swamps, wetlands, paddy field irrigational canals, ponds, and lakes within the shallow waters with a muddy substrate, as well as in rivers and streams, these species could be found. The feeding habits were observed by  Rao (2017); Victor et al. (2014); Mondal et al. (2017) that Mystus species mainly feeds on insects, small fishes, crustaceans, zooplankton, and even plant materials. Their peak breeding season occurs usually in the monsoon season (May to August and breeding could be extended till the month of September) reported by Gupta and Banerjee  (2015). M. vittatus attains its sexual maturity when it reaches 8.5 to 9.5 cm, however, a female could be observed to reach its maturity at 7.5cm in total length as reported by Hossain et al. (2006).

A. Study area

This experiment was performed in the Department of Aquaculture, School of Agriculture, Sanjeev Agrawal Global Educational University (SAGE) Sahara bypass road, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh 462022, India. Lat 23.184385°N  Long 77.522782°E.  

B. Experimental procedure

The fry of Mystus vittatus were collected from the canal of Barrai, Sahara Bypass road, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India. The collected M. vittatus seeds were disinfected using KMnO4. During the following days, the artificial feeds for 500g were prepared using the Pearson feed formulation using ingredients such as dry fish meal, wheat flour, salt, raw turmeric powder, chili powder, orange peel, and vitamin B Complex tablet. And on the other hand, commercial feed was fed to the quarantine fish seeds. Rectangular glass tanks were used for studying the proposed experiment. The tanks were cleaned properly using tap water and KMnO4. Then the tank was fitted with water filter cum aerators and one pinch of salt was mixed with the water before stocking. Rectangular glass tanks with two different treatments ( T1 and T2) were stocked with the Mystus vittatus fries. In each treatment 10 numbers of seed were stocked with the average weight of 0.76 ± 0.06g in treatment-1 and 0.55 ± 0.05g in treatment-2.

C. Feed preparation

The artificial feed for 500g was prepared using the Pearson square method. Ingredients such as dry fish meal, wheat flour, raw turmeric powder, chili powder, orange peel powder, common salt, and Vitamin-B complex tablet. 

Table 1: Ingredients used in feed preparation.

The feed containing 40% protein were prepared using the Pearson feed formula with the ingredient of Fish meal (65% of protein content), and wheat flour (10% protein content).

Total feed in gram for 500g for 40% protein content

Wheat flour (WF) = 500 × 54.54/100 = 272.70g

Fish meal (FM) = 500 × 45.5/100 = 227.50g

After feed preparation, it was kept for sun-drying at least for 10 hours. The stocked fish fries were fed twice a day once in the morning and another in the evening with 5% of its body weight. The fecal matter or excreta was siphoned every 5 days and the new water was being replaced. 

Fish Growth to be observed

(a) F.C.R= Feed given/fish weight gain

(b) Net Biomass gain (g) = (final biomass – initial biomass)

(c) Daily Biomass gain (g/day) = [final biomass – initial biomass]/culture period

(d) Specific Growth Rate per day (%) = ln (final weight) – ln (initial weight) / no. of experimental days × 100

E. Water quality parameters 

Water quality such as dissolved oxygen, total alkalinity, total ammonia, nitrate & nitrite was checked every weekend using the titration method in the Aquaculture Laboratory (School of Agriculture, SAGE University, Bhopal). Water pH was measured using the electronic pH meter. And, the water temperature was measured using an electronic thermometer.

Two types of feed were fed to determine the better growth performance of Mystus vittatus fries for 45 days. Treatment-1 and treatment-2 containing experimental feed (prepared feed) and the commercial feed were examined in the laboratory for their proximate composition shown in Table 2. The growth responses and feed conversion upon feeding with the isonitrogenous feed containing 40% crude protein to the fishes were shown in Table 4 and Figure no. 1, 2, and 3 respectively. The hydrochemical parameters such as water temperature, dissolved oxygen, water pH, total alkalinity, ammonia, nitrate, and nitrite were observed every 15 days of experimental periods. The measured water quality parameters are shown in Table 3.

The net biomass gain in this study for 45 days in  treatment-1 and treatment-2 were 13.71g and 5.67g. The specific growth rates measured in every sampling were 2.20%, 2.60%, and 1.80% in Treatment-1 and 2.10%, 1.60%, and 1.42% in Treatment-2. The study results of the feed conversion ratio in both treatments were 2.03 and 2.54 on average. 

During this experimental study, the water temperature was constantly decreasing, therefore electric heaters were used to maintain the water temperature around 28°C. water temperatures were monitored daily in both the time morning and evening, and the readings were between 24°C to 29°C according to Rem et al. (2020). In both treatment, the pH value did not differ much and the range was 7.4 to 7.8. The other water parameters were in good range as discussed in Table 3. and similar to the findings of Ali et al. (2018). Overall, the water quality was in the acceptable range in the entire experimental period as discussed by Ekubo and Abowei (2011); Bhatnagar and Devi (2013).

Mystus vittatus is an omnivorous fish, that mainly feeds upon small fishes, crustaceans, zooplanktons, and some plant materials Chakladar et al. (2014); Gupta and Banerjee (2014); Rao (2017). In this study, feeding Mystus vittatus with an experimentally prepared feed by comparing with the commercial feed (isonit ogenous diets) with the experiment period of 45 days has been observed.

According to Chattopadhyay et al. (2014), Mystus vittatus is a slow-growing fish, the body growth observed in this experiment gives the satisfied result in the Treatment-1 with 0.30g/day, with the average Specific growth rate (SGR) of 2.2% but higher than the finding of  Mondal et al. (2017); Hasan et al. (2023), but in treatment-2 the finding of SGR (%)  of 1.70 % were similar with the study of Mondal et al. (2017); Hasan et al. (2023).  The study also shows that the feed conversion ratio (FCR) in Treatment -1 was relatively constant in 30 days at 1.86 and in the next 15 days it increased to 2.37, it may be due to the competition among themselves for food or space limiting effect in the culture medium or may be due to the fluctuation of temperature the metabolism activity could decrease in its body agreeing with Gupta and Banerjee (2014 and 2015); Mondal et al. (2017); Hosen et al. (2017) ; Hasan et al. (2023). Similarly, in treatment-2 the FCR was normal but gradually increased during the study period shown in the Figure. 3 graph, a similar finding with Hasan et al. (2023).  

Mystus vittatus is a slow-growing fish among the catfishes, but feeding with the proper diet could make it to the moderately growing catfish. In this study, it has been found that the FCR, SGR (%), and weight gain(g) of both treatments are quite acceptable. However, the feed that was prepared with the crude protein of 40% has performed the best in terms of fish growth and desirable FCR value. According to Hosen et al. (2017), the stripped catfish M. vittatus should be reared in a monoculture in ponds or tanks for proper growth. And most importantly it would not be wrong to mention the feed was economical and easy to prepare manually with low input.

Table 2 : Nutritional composition in treatment-1 and treatment-2.

Table 3:  Water quality parameters recorded throughout the experiment.

Table 4 : Growth performance of Mystus vittatus upon feeding with experimental diet and commercial feed in 30 days

SGR- Specific Growth Rate   and  FCR- Feed Conversion Ratio

Fig. 1. Bar graph showing the Weight gain of  Mystus  vittatus  in every 15 days.

Fig. 2. Bar graph showing the Specific Growth Rate (SGR) percentage of  Mystus  vittatus  in every 15 day.

Fig. 3.  Bar graph showing the Specific Growth Rate (SGR) percentage of  Mystus  vittatus  in every 15 days.

Fig. 4. Experimental diet preparation.

Fig. 5. Sampling at the end of experiment.

Dwarf Stripped catfish, also known as tengara fish, is well-known for its delicious flavor and commands a high market price (when alive). Many aquarists regard Mystus species as potential ornamental fish for the ornamental fish industry. Thus, culturing Mystus species or Tengara could be profitable for many fish farmers while also contributing to national income through the fish food or ornamental fish industries. Feeding Mystus species with locally available ingredients may be more cost-effective and reduce feed purchases.

Debbarma Ritesh, Kothari Bhupendra and Das Rakhi  (2024). To Study the Growth Performance of Mystus vittatus (Bloch,1794) by Feeding 40% Rich Crude Protein Diet. Biological Forum – An International Journal, 16(6): 173-176.