Journal of Agricultural Science and Technology B 2 (2012) 192-197 Earlier title: Journal of Agricultural Science and Technology, ISSN 1939-1250 Survival and Growth of Clarias gariepinus and Heterobranchus longifilis Larvae Fed with Freshwater Zooplankton Hyppolite Agadjihouèdé 1 , Antoine Chikou 1 , Clément Agossou Bonou 2 and Philippe Adédjobi Lalèyè 1 1. Laboratory of Hydrobiology and Aquaculture, Faculty of the Agronomic Sciences, University of Abomey-Calavi (UAC), Cotonou, Benin 2. Laboratory of Applied Biology Research, Polytechnic School of Abomey-Calavi, University of Abomey-Calavi (UAC), Cotonou, Benin Received: July 6, 2011 / Published: February 20, 2012. Abstract: The suitability of the freshwater zooplankton was investigated in two African catfish larvae, Clarias gariepinus and Heterobranchus longifilis, at the end of yolk sac resorption. This live food was compared to Artemia nauplii, another live food. With those two regimens, four lots of larvae were constituted with two replicates: Cg zoo, larvae of C. gariepinus fed with freshwater zooplankton; Cg art, larvae of C. gariepinus fed with artemia; Hl zoo: larvae of H. longifilis fed with freshwater zooplankton and Hl art: larvae of H. longifilis fed with Artemia. After a 10 day-experiment, survival rates ranged from 97% to 98% and 78.5% to 81.5% were obtained in Cg zoo, Cg art, Hl zoo and Hl art, respectively. Final mean weight were 11 ± 0.003, 13 ± 0.003, 67 ± 0.001 and 89 ± 0.005 mg for Cg zoo, cg art, Hl zoo and Hl art, respectively with specific growth rate which respectively were 11.28 ± 0.3%, 14.3 ± 0.2% 14.29 ± 0.22% and 17.2 ± 0.5% per day. Those results show that freshwater zooplankton proved suitable for first feeding of C. gariepinus and H. longifilis larvae and could constitute a valuable alternative for larval rearing. Key words: Clarias gariepinus, Heterobranchus longifilis, Artemia, freshwater zooplankton, feeding, survival and growth. 1. Introduction Actually, the availability of juveniles constitutes a major obstacle in the development of the commercial fish farming of African Clariid catfish such as Clarias gariepinus [1-3] and Heterobranchus longifilis [4, 5]. After mastery of reproduction of these species which constituted at long time main limiting factor, embryonic breeding of them remains not mastered [6]. Now, the mastery of larviculture of a fish species is the second indispensable link allowing to obtain its juveniles in continuous. Indeed, the larval period is extremely important in ontogenesis because it corresponds to the passage Corresponding author: Hyppolite Agadjihouèdé, assistant of research, research fields: hydrobiology and aquaculture. E-mail: agadjihouede@yahoo.fr. from endogenous to exogenous feeding, with organ formation and working bound to this function [7]. It is considered a critical stage in many fish species in their life history [8]. The major difficulty in larvae rearing encountered lies principally in the choice of good-quality that was acceptable to the species concerned. According to the literature, Artemia constitutes an excellent starting food in larviculture of freshwater fish [9-12]. But due to escalation in the coast and not availability of Artemia in our developing countries especially in the rural fish farming, research of substitutes which will be easily accessible to lesser cost is necessary. This work compares the suitability of the freshwater zooplankton and the Artemia for feeding C. gariepinus and H. longifilis larvae. D DAVID PUBLISHING