Ornamental Fish Production and Management (1+1)

13.1.3 Steps to be taken while transporting fish

1. Control of temperature of transport water :

Metabolism during transport is about three times higher than the routine metabolism. Low temperature lower the metabolic rate thus reduce oxygen consumption and accumulation of CO₂ and NH₃ fish can tolerate upto 22^oC.

2. Control of metabolic wastes :

Ammonia and CO₂ are the two major metabolic wastes produced in transport water. Bacterial growth is another major source of metabolic waste . To remove ammonia, zeolite is used (15-20 g / litre water). To prevent bacterial growth neomycine sulphate, methylene blue and acriflavine are used.

3. Osmoregulatory dysfunction :

When fish are exposed to transport stress, osmoregulatory dysfunction is common in fish. Addition of salt to transport water is effective in reducing the osmoregulatory dysfunction (0.5-3% salt).

4. Stress resistance test :

Saline water is used to test the ornamental fishes for stress resistance. For guppies 35 ppt, for swordtail and platy 25 ppt, for tetra 15 ppt salinity used. The fish activity is observed for 2 hours.