ADVANCES IN CONSERVATION BIOLOGY: PIONEERING EFFORTS IN CAPTIVE BREEDING AND LARVAL REARING OF THE ENDEMIC ORNAMENTAL FISH, MOUSTACHED DANIO (DANIO DANGILA)

Abstract

Moustached danio, Danio dangila, is a potential ornamental fish of India, but the stock of this endemic Cyprinid is declining in the wild due to environmental variation and anthropogenic activities. Therefore, the present work on captive breeding and larval rearing was undertaken to conserve this species. During the investigation, live fishes were brought from Assam (North-East Indian region) to ARTP, Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Initially, the species were tried to breed through environmental manipulations, but the species did not respond in captivity. In experiment 1, trials to breed the species using the synthetic hormone WOVA-FHwere undertaken and revealed the highest spawning (1002.50±52.6), fertilization (84.0±2.72%) and hatching rate (86.5±2.9%) after intraperitoneal injection at 0.5 ml/kg for females and 0.3 ml/kg for males (T3). In experiment 2, larval rearing in nursery raceways and FRP tanks at different stocking densities for 45 days showed that the RAS-based nursery raceways produced the highest survival (91.79±1.67%) and specific growth rate (0.13±0.001%/day) at 30 numbers/L stocking density. This investigation standardized the breeding and larval rearing protocol in advanced aquaculture systems and has significant implications for the conservation, nutritional security and seed production of the species.