Assessment of aquarium management practices at Makerere University

Abstract

The study was carried out in December 2021 and January 2022 and documented the basic management principles and the importance of record keeping in the fresh water aquarium, the water physical chemical properties in the in the 13 aquarium tanks, the mean values of the physical-chemical parameters in relation to the recommended ranges by FAO and other researchers, the ABW (g) of different fish species in the 13 aquarium tanks of ZEFs Makerere University. Physical chemical water parameters were measured in the 13 tanks during morning (8am to 9 am) and evening (3pm to 4 pm) in order to determine their properties and also to compare them with the recommended values. The physical chemical parameter variation during the morning and evening was subjected to simple mean and the mean values were related to the recommended ranges / values using Dunnett's multiple comparisons test. Fish species composition was recorded from all the 13 tanks and the included; Pseudocrenilabrus multicolour victoriae, Tilapia zilli, Oreochromis niloticus, Oreochromis varibilis, Schilbe mystus, Ctenopoma murei, Barbus grahmi, Neochromis Petrocephalus degeni and Clarias gariepinus. The ABW (g) of fish in the 13 aquarium tanks are supplied different quantity of feeds (kaudjis) basing on the number, size and the ABW of the fish in the specific tanks. From the research, tank 13 containing Clarias gariepinus with the highest ABW was supplied with the highest amount of feeds among the 13 aquarium tanks. From the size point of view, the fish size supplied the the ZEFs aquarium are; 0.5mm, 2mm and 4mm