Aquaculture faces challenges, including interactions among aquatic organisms within production systems. The Pilot Aquaculture Center (P.A.C) in Ghana is an aquaculture demonstrating site which produces Clarias gariepinus and all-male Oreochromis niloticus fingerlings. Fish farmers source their catfish and Nile tilapia fingerlings from this center. Nevertheless, the center harbors Physella acuta, an aquatic invasive snail in their concrete tanks and these invasive aquatic snails might be transported to other farms. This study investigated the impact of P. acuta on O. niloticus fingerlings in aquaculture production.
The experiment involved 100 O. niloticus fingerlings (mean weight 4.6g) and 200 P. acuta (mean shell height 7.54mm) from P.A.C. It was conducted in the Wet Laboratory of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), with two treatments, three replicates, and a control. Growth and rate of egg capsule production were recorded.
After 8 weeks, O. niloticus fingerlings exposed to P. acuta exhibited slightly higher growth rates than the control, attributed to the nutritive value of P. acuta’s egg capsules.
Setups with fish and snails had lower reproduction of egg capsules compared to the snail-only (control), indicating that Nile tilapia fingerlings controlled the growth of egg capsules. P. acuta’s presence reduced the need for cleaning holding facilities due to its biofilm-feeding behavior.