Scienceline Publications Online Journal of Animal and Feed Research 2228-7701 6 3 2016 May INTERACTIVE EFFECTS OF STOCKING DENSITY AND FEED TYPE ON GROWTH, SURVIVAL AND CANNIBALISM AMONG AFRICAN CATFISH (Clarias gariepinus Burchell 1822) 73 82 http://www.ojafr.ir/main/attachments/article/121/Online%20J.%20Anim.%20Feed%20Res.,%206(3)%2073-82,%202016.pdf EN Ramy M. Shourbela Department of Animal Husbandry and Animal Wealth Development, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Alexandria University, Edfina, 22758, Rosetta line, Egypt Waleed N. El-Hawarry Department of Animal Husbandry and Animal Wealth Development, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Alexandria University, Edfina, 22758, Rosetta line, Egypt Soliman H. Abd El-Rahman 2Department of Fish and Crustacea Nutrition and Breeding, National Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries (NIOF), Alexandria, Egypt Food type and stocking density are two major factors influencing aquaculture production. To evaluate their effects on growth, survival rate, and cannibalistic activities among African catfish (C. gariepinus) larvae, a 3×3 factorial design was used. Three feed types (Artemia nauplii, Zooplankton, and dry feed) and three different stocking densities (10, 20 and 40 larvae l-1) were performed throughout a 21 days rearing period (each treatment was triplicated). T1 Catfish larvae (Artemia nauplii and 10 larvae l-1) and T9 (Dry feed and 40 larvae l-1) showed the highest growth performance parameters and significantly lower growth performance parameters as expressed by final body weight (T1; 165.03 mg, T9; 34.36 mg), specific growth rate (T1; 22.83% day-1, T9; 14.83% day-1). Meanwhile, the survival rate percentage was the lowest (29.37%) and the highest (82.37%); in T4 (Zooplankton and 10 larvae l-1) and T9 (Dry feed and 40 larvae l-1) respectively. Additionally, higher stocking densities of catfish larvae had expressed higher rates of cannibalism when compared to the lower stocking densities. The lowest cannibalism rate (3.46%) was recorded for T1 (Artemia nauplii and 10 larvae l-1) by the end of the experiment. Despite the absence of significant interaction effect between stocking density and feed on rearing performance of C. gariepinus larvae, results of the current study indicated successful rearing and well performance of catfish larvae concerning growth performance, cannibalism and survival rates at lower stocking density. The density of 10 larvae l-1 was the maximum threshold capacity for C. gariepinus larval best growth when fed on either Artemia or zooplankton. However, further investigations are required to explore the effect of using other dry feed types in the rearing phase of African catfish larvae. African catfish (C. gariepinus) Larval Rearing Food Type Stocking Density Cannibalism Survival Rate