Abstract

The purpose of the experiment was to examine the effect of cage fish culture on the growth and production performances of Shing (Heteropneustes fossilis), Pabda (Ompok pabda) and Gulsha (Mystus cavasius). The stocking density for each fish species was 100 fish/m3. Cages with Shing, Pabda and Gulsha were treated as T1, T2 and T3, respectively. Fishes were fed with artificial diet at the rate of 5-10% of body weight. The experiment was carried out in cages in the Beel from June to November 2019. The study revealed that water quality parameters were not varied significantly (p > 0.05) among the treatments. The growth and production performance were significantly (p < 0.05) higher for Pabda cage culture followed by Gulsha and Shing cultures in cages. Therefore, the total net return (BDT 17,028) and benefit cost ratio (2.48) were significantly (p < 0.05) higher for Pabda fish considering cost benefit analysis. It was concluded that, among the three different fish species, high-valued Pabda is highly acceptable candidate for cage farming in Belai Beel area and cage farming in urban open waterbodies is a promising approach to increase the total fish production to improve the social and economic status of fish farmers.

Key words: Cage culture, urban open-waterbody, economic analysis