Labeo bata is a highly priced fish which commanding good consumer preference, even if the size is very small (15 to 20 g each), especially in West Bengal. With a view to evaluating the culture potential of this fish, repeated experiments were conducted at the Wastewater Aquaculture Division of the Central Institute of Freshwater Aquaculture, Rahara, West Bengal, during 1991-93 in ponds fed with treated domestic sewage effluent. An average production of 1270.63 kg per ha was obtained within 6 to 10 months for a uniform stocking density of 50,000 seed per ha. The average size attained by the fish in the different sets of experiments varied from 23.3 to 37.9 g as against the initial weight of 0.096 to 0.193 g. Details of management, growth, survival, quantity of sewage used and pond nutrient status and productivity are dealt with in this communication

Bhowmik, M.L.

Datta, A.K.

Mandal, S.C.

Tripathi, S.D.

Aquatic Commons

Journal of the Indian Fisheries Association 
26, 1996, (Proc.Nat.Symp. Aquacrops), 105-109 
105 
REARING OF LABEO BATA IN SEWAGE-FED FISH CULTURE POND 
A.K. DATTA, M.L. BHOWMIK, S.C. MANDAL AND S.D. TRIPATHI* 
Wastewater Aquaculture Division, Central Institute of Freshwater 
Aquaculture, Rahara-743 186, West Bengal 
ABSTRACT 
Lq,beo bata is a highly priced fish which commanding good consumer 
preference, even if the size is very small (15 to 20 g each), especially in 
West Bengal. With a view to evaluating the culture potential of this fish, 
repeated experiments were conducted at the Wastewater Aquaculture 
Division of the Central Institute of Freshwater Aquaculture. Rahara, West 
Bengal, during 1991-93 in ponds fed with treated domestic sewage effluent. 
An average production of 1270.63 kg per ha was obtained within 6 to 10 
months for a uniform stocking density of 50,000 seed per ha. The average 
size attained by the fish in the different sets of experiments varied from 
23.3 to 37.9 g as against the initial weight of 0.096 to 0.193 g. Details of 
management, growth, survival, quantity of sewage used and pond nutrient 
status and productivity are dealt with in this communication. 
Labeo bata (bata), a highly priced 
median carp, has treamendous 
consumers' choice especially in West 
Bengal even when it is very small in 
size. Unlike major carps, bata has added 
advantage of its marketability for edible 
purpose when its size varies from 15-
20g. This specific character makes it 
possible to culture the specimen in 
seasonal pond also. Much was not known 
about the suitable culture methodology 
and its production prior to the 
comprehensive studies made on its culute 
and production by the authors. 
Sewage-fed system has been found 
to be one of the best for the culture of 
bata as the sewage effluent is rich in 
both organic and inorganic fertilizers 
resulting enormous '&growth of primary 
and secondary producers. Bata is one of 
the suitable species which can utilise the 
available plankton biomass for quick 
growth. As such mono-culture of this 
species was initiated in ponds of 
Wastewater Aquaculture Division of 
CIF A for the first time and details are 
investigated. 
Experiments were conducted 
phasewise in four ponds measuring 0.08 
ha each. Ponds were prepared during 
June-July by bailing out water sun-dried 
before monsoon. Then treated domestic 
sewage water was taken into each pond 
uniformly at the rate of about 3 million 
gallonlha followed by the application of 
lime @ 200 kg/ha and kept for 
stabilization for 20-25 days. Dissolved 
oxygen was measured and bottom raking 
was done prior to stocking of bata fry @ 
50,000/ha which were produced by 
* Central Institute of Fisheries Education, Versova, Mumbai. 
106 NOT1c, 
Table 1 Pondwise stoching and !u!l·ue:::;/iug detuil u{ L.bata 
Details Experiment-! Experiments-II 
Pond-A Pond-B · Pond-A Pond-B 
Pond size (ha) 0.08 
Stocking density (no.lha) 50,000 
Liberation weight (g) 0.096 
Final weight (g) 24.4 
Culture period (day) 300 
Survival (%) 80.2 
Production (kg/ha) 1215.0 
hypophysation and reared at the farm 
itself. Post stocking management was 
done by regular intaking of sewage into 
each pond at a rate of 0.041-1.23 million 
gallon/ha and monthly netting for 
maintaining the ponds' productivity and 
to assess the growth of the stocked fish. 
Final harvest was clone by lowering of 
about 75% water level and adding of 
sewage water. 
0.08 0.08 0.08 
50,000 50,000 50,000 
0.096 0.193 0.193 
37.0 37.9 23.3 
180 ~~00 300 
39.7 81.5 83.4 
903.1 1521.6 1442.8 
Hydrobiologieal studies were also 
carried out in the experimental ponds 
regularly following standard methods. 
(APHA, 1984). 
Table 1 shows details of stocking, 
survival and production of bata in 
different ponds during the two phases of 
experiment. Table 2 represents the 
physico-chemical parameters of the 
Table 2 : Range and average (in parenthesis) values of physico-chemical 
parameters of water of the experimental set and quantities of nutrients 
recycled (kg I ha) 
Set - I Set - II 
Temperature (°C) (20.6-31.0 20.6-31.0 
(27.2) (27.3) 
pH 7.2-7.9 7.2-8.0 
(7.6) (7.7) 
DO (ppm) 2.0-8.6 2.4-8.6 
(4.2) (6.0) 
C02 (ppm) 12.0-30.8 10.0-30.6 
(20.8) (20. 7) 
Total alkalinity (ppm) 104.0-254.0 102.0-264.0 
(164.6) (167.7) 
BOD5 (ppm) 14.5-24.6 12.4-22.0 
(16.8) (15.0) 
Quantity of nutrients recycled (kg!ha) 
TAN 104.0 99.4 
P205 30.0 28.8 
K 212.5 203.8 
NOTES 107 
ponds and the quantity of nutrients 
recycled during the culture operation. 
Datta et al., (1986) reported the 
production range of bata from 
152.2-275.1 kg!ha within 10-12 months 
when it was cultured in sewage-fed 
paddy plots at the densities of 2,500-
12,500/ha in mixed-culture system. 
Average final size attained from 44.1-
66.5g indicating 0.08-0.13g growth 
increment/day. 
The present investigation indicated 
the production range of 903.1 to 1521.6 
kg/ha averaging 1270.6 kg within a 
rearing period of 180-300. days. The 
survival rate of the species in different 
ponds varied from 39.7-83.4% indicating 
an average of 71.5%. Though the survival 
rate of the species in the present 
investigation is at par with that of what 
Datta et al. (1986) reported, in reality, 
the present survival rate was 
encouraging since the survivality was 
recorded from the fry state whereas in 
the previous experiments stockings were 
done with advanced fingerling of bata in 
paddy plot. Although paddy plots are 
found to be the ideal eco-system for this 
fish, creation of identical conditions in 
ponds having a very good growth of 
plankton gives comparable results. 
An average survival rate of 71.0% 
maximum being 83.4% for bata fry 
rearing seems to be quite satisfactory 
Table 3 : Monthwise average values of sewage intake, plankton volume and 
absolute growth increment of fish/ day 
Month Average quantity of Average plankton Average growth 
sewage taken volume increment of fish/day 
(gallon) (ml/50l) (g) 
Expt.I Expt.II Expt.I Expt.II Expt.I Expt.II 
July 23662* 23662* 8.4 9.6 
August 428 428 0.2 0.4 (fishes stocked) 
September 3279 3279 0.8 0.6 0.111 0.073 
October 3706 5844 2.0 2.5 0.138 0.088 
November 7127 4134 1.2 1.4 0.127 0.114 
December 14254 14254 1.0 0.5 0.103 0.096 
January 14254 11403 2.2 8.0 0.098 0.0.91 
February 5702 5702 10.0 8.6 0.089 0.080 
March 2898 2898 8.0 6.0 Sampling riot done 
April 8553 8553 3.0 6.0 0.110 0.074 
May 7217 7217 3.2 6.2 Sampling not done 
June X X X X 0.133 0.080 
Average 8280 7943 3.6 4.5 
(1.04 (0.99 
Lakhs Lakhs 
gallon!ha) gallon!ha) 
* Initial sewage intake during preparation 
108 NOTES 
and comparable with fry rearing of major 
carps. This· may be attributed to the 
maintenance of the congenial ecosystem 
for the fishes. 
Plankton plays an important and far 
reaching role in the biological productiv~ 
ity of different water bodies. This be-
comes very true i~ sewage ponds where 
plankton is the principal food component 
for the fishes and has direct link with 
the fish production (Bhowmik et al., 
1993). In the present observation also a 
high plankton biomass could be main-
tained by judicious and regular applica-
tion of treated sewage. Bhowmik et al. 
(1993) reported phytoplankton percent-
age of 72.2 where as in the present in-
vestigation phytoplankton constituted 
90.9% in the ponds of expet'iment no. 1 
and 86.0% in the ponds of other exper-
iment. Volume of plankton was f~mn9.. to 
be higher initially after preparation of 
ponds with sewage effluent @ 2.96 mil-
lion gallonlha. The values in both the 
sets of experiments were lowered down 
in the months of .August and Se,ptember, 
immediately after stocking (Table 3). 
Studies on plankton further reveal that 
the phytoplankton dominated over the 
zooplankton throughout the investigation 
period ranging from 83.6-94.'7% in the 
ponds of experiment No.1 compared to 
60.6-94.7% in the ponds under experi-
ment No.2. In general, higher values of 
phytoplankton in both the sets were 
recorded from the month of January to 
March (2880-8060 /l) whereas higher 
values of zooplankton (620-860 /1) were 
noted in January and February. Lower 
values (300~1600 ll) of phytoplankton 
were encountered during August~Sep­
tember while lean period of zooplankton 
was recorded in December (76-88 /1), 
Major forms of phytoplankton com-
prised of Chlorophyceae and Myxo-
phyceae followed by Bacillariophyceae. 
Copepoda, Cladocra and Rotifera were 
the major groups of zooplankton. 
Growth analysis in both the· sets 
indicates that the species showed higher 
growth during October-November (0.114-
0.138g/day) and a sharp decline in 
growth was recorded during winter 
months (January-February) ranging from 
0.07-0.09g/day thereafter a steady pick 
up was noticed from the month of April 
onwards coinciding the plankton peak 
and increasing trend of temp. Table 3 
shows monthwise fish growth, sewage 
intake, and plankton volume. 
'fhe r.esults indicate that .this species 
has trc·mendous ·scope· in sewage-fed 
culture system vis-a-vis the higher return 
due to its high market price even at a 
very small size in comparison to major 
carps (3~4 times higher price than that 
of major carps). 
Thanks are due to Dr. C.R. Das, 
Officer-in-Charge, Rahant Research 
Centre of CIFA, Rahara, for providing 
necessary facilities. 
HJ~FERENCES 
APHA, 1989. Standard Methods for the 
Examination of' Water and Waste-
water. American Public Health As-
sociation, New York, USA. 1452 pp. 
NOTES 109 
Bhowmik, M.L., Sarkar, U.K. and 
Pandey, B.K. 1993. Plankton 
abundance and composition in 
sewage-fed ponds. J. Inland Fish. 
Soc. India. 25 : 23-29 .. 
Datta, A.K., Roy, A.K., Mukho-
padhyay, S.K. and Bhattacharya, 
G.P. 1986. Performance of Labeo 
bata (Ham.) in mixed culture in 
sewage-fed paddy plots. Proc. Natl. 
Sym.Fish & Env. 139-144. 


Rearing of Labeo bata in sewage-fed fish culture pond

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Rearing of Labeo bata in sewage-fed fish culture pond

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