Different carbon sources affects biofloc volume, water quality and the survival and physiology of African catfish Clarias gariepinus fingerlings reared in an intensive biofloc technology system

A 6-week experiment was performed to compare different carbon sources, i.e. sucrose, glycerol and rice bran, to a nitrogen ratio of 15:1 in a biofloc-based African catfish Clarias gariepinus culture system. Catfish survival, growth, whole-body proximate composition, body indices, liver histopathology and glycogen content were measured. Each treatment was triplicated in glass aquaria with each replicate containing 50 fish (500 fish/m3) with an initial weight ± SD of 5.06 ± 0.05 g. Glycerol significantly increased total biofloc production, and both the sucrose and glycerol treatments generally had lower nitrogenous levels, compared to the control. These levels spiked at week 2 in the rice bran treatment, leading to significantly lower survival compared to all other treatments. At both weeks 3 and 6, liver histopathology of fish in the rice bran treatment revealed substantial vacuolation and less glycogen while the highest was in fish from the glycerol treatment. Fish growth was unaffected among the treatments, but survival was highest in the glycerol treatment. Rice bran appears unsuitable for C. gariepinus, likely due to being a slower-releasing carbon source. Instead, glycerol is recommended based on significantly higher biofloc production and subsequently improved water quality and survival of C. gariepinus during their nursery culture.