Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

COMPARATIVE STUDY OF ORNAMENTAL FISHES FOR FEEDING RATE OF MOSQUITO LARVAE

D.S. Rahane, M.B. Shinde and S. B. Dahikar

Abstract

There are numerous diseases that spread by mosquito including dengue, malaria, chikungunya, and yellow fever. In the tropical and sub-tropical part of the world these disease have emerged as significant issue with regard to public health. Anopheles mosquitoes are marsh mosquitoes that prefer ground pools, irrigated areas, small streams, freshwater marshes, forest pools or any place with clean, slow moving water, are all considered prime breeding ground for egg-laying. The chemical and physical control approaches are more costly and time consuming and not safe for environment. The use of larval fishes is the most effective Biocontrol technique for controlling mosquito in there larval stage worldwide. So in this study larvarious ornamental fishes were selected for the study. The present study deals with the larvarious efficiency of Kissing gourami, compared with well-known Gambusia affinis. The Anopheles mosquito larvae collected from the Sanjivani Arts Commerce and Science College Kopergoan, Maharashtra, India. The fishes individually acclimated for 1 hour in the experimental jar. Then 150-500 larvae added into each jar and reading were taken after 10 min, 20 min, 30 min, 1 hr, 3 hr, 6 hr, 9 hr, 12 hr, and 24 hr. The comparative account of feeding rate and larvivorous potential of two different species which as Kissing gourami>Gambusia affinis. The relationship between feeding rate, length and weight of two different species came out as the length and weight increases, the feeding rate also increases. It was conclude that the larvivorus activity of the ornamental fishes was greater than the well-known Gambusia affinis.