This project work was basically conducted to provide fish farmers a preferable diet for Catfish fry.. Several diets were used while the fish growth rate amongst other parameters were observed 

Abstract 

The growth and survival of Clarias gariepinus larvae (0.42mg) fed Artemia salina (D1), inert diet (egg white + fish meal) (D2) and a combination of both diets (D3) was investigated for 42 days. Each diet was feed to 80 post yolk-sac fry,  in  triplicate  plastic  tanks  holding  40L  of  water.  The specific growth rate, survival, percentage weight gain, mean weight gain and performance index were investigated. The percentage  weight  gain  and  specific  growth  rate  were  not significantly different (P>0.05) for the various diets, while the final  mean  weight,  survival  and  performance  index  of  the larvae fed D1, D2 and D3 were significantly different (P<0.05) from  each  other.The  highest  specific  growth  rate  (14.86 g/day),  final  weight  (4.39g)  and  survival  (60.42%)  were recorded in fish fed D3 while the least growth was recorded in fish  fed  D2  with  specific  growth  rate  of  11.88g/day,  final weight of 0.993g and survival of 30.42%. The result indicated that there was an increase in body weight among diets types; the mean was 0.731g for larvae fed D3, 0.421g for larvae fed D1 and 0.165g for larvae fed D2. The performance index for Clarias gariepinus larvae fed D3 was the highest (6.3) followed by  D1  (2.51)  and  then  D2  (0.714).    

It  was  therefore recommended  that  Clarias  gariepinus  larvae  be fed  with  a combination of the inert diet and Artemia salina to achieve better growth performance and higher survival rate. 

Key Words:  larvae, Clarias gariepinus, live feed, Artemia salina, inert diet