Culture of indigenous catfish Shingi, Heteropneustes fossilis (Bloch, 1794), with available low cost formulated feed in earthen ponds of Bangladesh

Objective: To determine the impacts of three different low cost diets in monoculture system on the growth and production of indigenous catfish Shingi, Heteropneustes fossilis (Bloch, 1794) (H. fossilis) in earthen ponds. Methods: The experiment was carried out for a period of six months with three treatment groups (T 1 , T 2 and T 3 ) each having three replicates in the research ponds of Department of Fisheries, University of Rajshahi. Protein levels of formulated feed used in three treatments were 31% in T 1 , 29% in T 2 and 27% in T 3 , respectively. Stocking density of H. fossilis was 250 individuals/decimal in each treatment. At stocking, all fingerlings were of mean length and weight of (4.30 0.01) cm and (4.20 0.02) g, respectively. Fish growth and water quality parameters of the experiment were measured fortnightly.