FAMILY: Centropomidae
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NAME: Lates nilotocus - Nile "perch" |
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Data provided courtesy of Aquaculture/Fisheries Center, University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff - (Dr. Peter Perschbacher) |
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DISTRIBUTION:
Nile, Senegal and Congo fish river basins. HABITS: Piscivorous, and has low tolerance for drops in dissolved oxygen and high turbidity. SPAWNING: Spawning seems to occur year round in areas where cultured requiring periodic cropping off of population. GROWTH: Grows quickly to about 0.5 kg in only 6 months. They are very large fish and can reach sizes of up to 180 cm. USES: Used to control tilapia populations in pond culture of carps. CULTURE: Current practice is to place one male and two females in a small breeding pond and harvest 15 – 30 g fingerlings from the series of spawnings that take place. These fingerlings than can be stocked at two to four Nile perch per hectare to control tilapia in carp ponds. Care must be taken to ensure Nile perch remain smaller than carp. REFERENCES: husbandry of freshwater and marine organisms. John Wiley and Sons, Inc. New York, New York. Landau, M. 1992. Introduction to Aquaculture. John Wiley and Sons, Inc. New York, New York
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