Influence of feeding diets enriched with eicosapentaenoic acid, decosahexanoic acid and vitamin E on survival and spawning performance of Siamese fighting fish (Betta splendens)

Abstract

An attempt was made to evaluate the spawning performance of Siamese fighting fish (Betta splendens) fed with highly unsaturated fatty acids and vitamin E enriched diets. Two hundred forty uniform B. splendens fry (mean weight 0.141±0.020g) were equally distributed in four triplicate groups in twelve 35 litre glass aquaria.Group 1 (T1) was fed formulated feed (FF); Group 2 (T2) fed FF supplemented with 0.01% vitamin E ; Group 3 (T3)fed FF supplemented 1% EPA+DHA and Group 4 (T4) fed FF supplemented 0.01% vitamin E+1% EPA+DHA and the experiment continued for 126 days. The growth parameters were similar in all the treatments, however, the highest survival was recorded in T2 group (83.3%) which did not differ from T1 group. The T2 group recorded highest (P<0.05) gonadal weight (0.078±0.004g) and gonadosomatic index (9.63%) during the second spawning sampling. At the end of both spawning, highest (P<0.05) average fecundity was found in T2, which did not differ from T1 group. The T1 and T2 groups exhibited highest (P<0.05) fertilized eggs and fertilization percentage during both the spawning sampling. Thus, the study revealed that only vitamin E exhibited better survival and spawning performance in Betta splendens and there was no need of EPA or DHA supplementation in the diet.