Rising Temperature Effects on Growth and Gastric Emptying Time of Freshwater African Catfish (Clarias Gariepinus) Fingerlings

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Fish are influenced by their surroundings. We investigated the effect of water temperature ranging from 26 °C to 32 °C on the growth performance and gastric emptying time (GET) of commonly cultured African catfish Clarias gariepinus fingerlings. Water temperatures between 26 °C and 32 °C were satisfactory for the growth of African catfish fingerlings, with GET observed between 10 and 16 h. Our experiment provides baseline data of the effects of water temperature on the culture of catfish. ABSTRACT: The present study was carried out to analyse the effect of water temperature on two components: (1) growth performance, and (2) gastric emptying time (GET) of African catfish Clarias gariepinus fingerlings. After 70 days, it was observed that experimental temperatures had no significant effects on the growth performance parameters, except for food conversion ratio (FCR) and food conversion efficiency (FCE). GET observation through X-radiography denoted that the shortest GET (10 h) was observed in fish reared at 32 °C and the longest GET (16 h) was observed in fish reared at 26 °C. The rapid digestion rate coincides with the FCR and FCE obtained in this study. Considering the limited scope of our study, more extensive studies on the impact of water temperature on other fish physiological parameters should be pursued. A better understanding of this research topic would be beneficial for the growth of African catfish fingerling aquaculture.