Comparative Efficacy of Anesthetic Agents (Clove Oil and Sodium Bicarbonate) on Cultured African Catfish, Clarias gariepinus (Burchell, 1822) and Nile Tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus (Linnaeus, 1758).

The increasing demand for protein in Nigeria has resulted in the culture of many fishes in confinements. This practice has exposed many fish species to some tedious processes, thus the need to sedate fishes to reduce stress during breeding. In this study, the efficacy of two anesthetic agents (clove oil and sodium bicarbonate) was compared on the two most cultured species; Clarias gariepinus and Oreochromis niloticus. Clarias gariepinus (798.9 ± 0.07 g) and Oreochromis niloticus (581.8 ± 0.2 g) were subjected to different concentration of clove oil (mg/L) and sodium bicarbonate (g/L) of 20, 40, 60, 80, 100 and 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 respectively. There were significantly decreased induction times as concentrations and size of the species increases in all the anesthetic agents. Similarly, recovery times increases as concentrations and weight of the species increases (P<0.05). A significant correlation (P<0.05) was observed between body weight, anaesthetic concentrations, times to reach complete anesthesia and time to recover. Duration for induction and recovery depended significantly (p < 0.05) on the concentration of the anaesthetic agents. The lowest effective concentrations that induced complete anesthesia in this study were 20 mg/L (15.1 ± 0.8 mins and recovery time 4.2 ± 0.2 mins) for clove oil, 20 g/L (7.0 ± 0.12 mins and recovery time 7.0 ± 0.12 mins) for sodium bicarbonate. No mortality was recorded for all sizes of species exposed to the anaesthetic agents. Clove oil and Sodium bicarbonate have been found to be effective and safe at different concentrations for both species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]