Culture Trials of Nile Perch Juveniles in Cages and Earthen Ponds

Abstract

Fish were obtained from Asembo Bay, Dunga, Kendu Bay, Homa Bay and Mbita beaches around Lake Victoria using beach seines (< 10-mm mesh). Fish were sorted by size and stocked into hapa nets, each measuring 3 m× 3 m× 1 m, placed under papyrus shade near the lakeshore overnight, about 12 hours. This was meant to enable the fish to evacuate gut contents before transportation. Fish were packed into 10-L polyethylene bags containing 5 L of lake water at densities of 40, 80 and 100 g/L. Bags were oxygenated with medical-grade oxygen from a compressed gas cylinder to 100 percent saturation. Each density was replicated in three bags. Packed bags were placed in a plastic tank (1 m× 0.8 m× 0.35 m) lined all-round with a mattress to maintain the temperature at 25±1 C, which was loaded into an air-conditioned automobile. Fish were transported by road for four hours from Homa Bay (0 31’S, 34 27’E) to the Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute, Kegati station (0 41’S, 34 46’E).