~ 28 ~ International Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Studies 2022; 10(5): 28-35 E-ISSN: 2347-5129 P-ISSN: 2394-0506 (ICV-Poland) Impact Value: 76.37 (GIF) Impact Factor: 0.549 IJFAS 2022; 10(5): 28-35 © 2022 IJFAS www.fisheriesjournal.com Received: 07-05-2022 Accepted: 13-06-2022 Oscar D Kolndadacha Department of Animal Health and Production, College of Veterinary Medicine, Federal University of Agriculture, Makurdi, Benue State, Nigeria Samue Omeji Department of Fisheries and aquaculture, College of Fisheries and Wildlife Management. Federal University of Agriculture, Makurdi, Benue State, Nigeria Ijiga Nathaniel Department of Animal Health and Production, College of Veterinary Medicine, Federal University of Agriculture, Makurdi, Benue State, Nigeria Chuka Ezema Department of Animal Health and Production, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Nigeria Nsukka, Enugu State, Nigeria Corresponding Author: Oscar D Kolndadacha Department of Animal Health and Production, College of Veterinary Medicine, Federal University of Agriculture, Makurdi, Benue State. Nigeria Probiotics (Bacillus subtilis and B. cereus) Performances as anti-stress on catfish (Clarias anguilaris) fingerlings during transportation and post- transportation conditions Oscar D Kolndadacha, Samue Omeji, Ijiga Nathaniel and Chuka Ezema DOI: https://doi.org/10.22271/fish.2022.v10.i5a.2726 Abstract The study investigated the performances of B. subtilis and B. cereus on catfish (C. anguillaris) fingerlings as potential anti-stress administered at the rate of 30 mgl -1 . Although, there were fluctuations of the physico-chemical parameter of the water during the transportation; there was no significant difference (p≥0.05) throughout. There were significant differences (p≤0.05) in the survival of fingerlings treated with both B. subtilis (97.39±1.0%) and B. cereus (98±0.73%) during the transportation. The cumulative survival of fingerlings treated with B. subtilis, before, during and post-transportation was lower (93.92%) than the control, but growth gain was highest (1.6g) with Specific Growth Rate of 0.27g. Fingerlings treated with B. cereus, recorded 98% cumulative survival, having weight and length gain of 0.9g and 0.9 cm and specific growth of 0.15% higher than the control group. So, B. cereus performed better in survivability, while, B. subtilis did better in the growth performance. The pH and EC in water treated with both isolates, the T O C and DO for B. subtilis and TDS for B. cereus increased steadily with significant differences (p≤0.05), while the rest recorded higher values at the middle of transportation, but, all were within the optimum values for raising catfish. Keywords: Fingerlings, transportation, probiotics, anti-stress, performance Introduction Aquaculture is described as the farming of aquatic organisms (GAA, 2019) [17] with fish as the principal form (FAO, 2016) [15] which implied some sort of intervention in the rearing process to enhance production processes such as regular stocking, feeding, and protection from diseases and predators (FAO, 2017) [16] . The value or contribution of fish to the globe cannot be over emphasized in terms of enhancing human nutrition such as provision of essential nutrients including vitamin D, iodine and calcium, animal protein (Mahboub, et al., 2020) [26] , provision of essential fatty acids such as omega-3 and -6 fatty acids needed by humans for good health, immunity enhancement and prevention of cancer and heart diseases (FAO, 2017) [16] to mention, but few. Packing and transportation activities in fish production business is inevitable, because, the fry, fingerlings, juvenile and broodstock must be moved from one region or farm to another, either within the same area, state, country, or even across a country to another (Omeji, et al., 2019) [34] for multiplication resulting in stressful conditions that may cause great loss. Proper handling and transporting are important to the success of a producer. In the cause of transportation of aquatic animals in general, the major concern are the management of handling stress, mechanical shock, heat stress and the quality of the transport water (Luca, et al. 2015) [25] . Transportation has been considered as one of the main causes of stress (Adenkola and Ayo, 2010) [5] which affects the productivity of animals adversely. Many factors affect the survival of fish during transportation, such as the depletion of dissolved oxygen for respiration, increase of temperature, accumulation of ammonia-N, changing of acidity beyond the optimal levels. Some water quality parameter of utmost importance during transportation include dissolved oxygen (DO), temperature (T O C) changes, pH, hardness, carbon dioxide, ammonia-N, salt imbalance of the fish’s blood (NAERLS, 2013, Nayla, 2020) [30, 32] .