Effect of Stocking Density on Growth Performance and the Survival of Golden Mahseer, Tor putitora (Hamilton) Fry

Growth performance and survival of Tor putitora fry under different stocking densities were evaluated fry rearing system. The experimental period was 10 weeks from 31 December to 10 March 2019. The experiment was carried out in nine earthen ponds of 0.04 ha each under three treatments with three replications. Thirty days old fry were stocked at the rate of 1.0X105/ha was designated as treatment- 1 (T1), 1.5X105/ha` as treatment- 2 (T2) and 2.0X105/ha as treatment- 3 (T3), respectively. Fry were fed with commercially available nursery feed containing 32% crude protein. It was observed that, lower stocking density showed highest daily weight gain in T1 (growth 0.066 ± 0.006 g/day) compared with higher stocking density in T2 (growth 0.044 ± 0.004 g/day) and T3 (growth 0.024 ± 0.003 g/day), respectively. It is also noticed that, the lower stocking showed the highest survival rate (79.66 ± 4.34 %) than the other two treatments (66.97±3.67 and 54.67± 3.12 %). The values of different water quality parameters were within the optimum ranges for the rearing of carp fry. Water quality parameters did not show significant variations in the experimental ponds under different stocking densities. Among these three stocking densities lower stocking density (T1) showed the best result compare with the other two higher stocking densities.