ABSTRACT
One of the very affordable means of fish transportation used is jerricans with trace quantity of oils added to the transporting medium. Examples of these oils include: palm oil, clove oil, peppermint oil, tea tree oil, lavender oil, groundnut oil, soya bean oil, ripe palm fruit. These oils are added to ensure survival of fish en-transit. This work seeks to test the effect of different cooking oils on the activity and survival during transportation of juvenile Clarias gariepinus. The experiment which was set on as a Completely Randomized Design (CRD) with four treatments namely: T1 (control), T2 (palm oil), T3 (groundnut oil), T4 (sunflower oil), T5 (ripe palm fruit) with three replications. The water quality parameters measured were dissolved oxygen, pH, Total Ammonia Nitrogen (TAN) and temperature. The survival rate and mobility of the fish as well as the cost and affordability of the oils were also evaluated. The result shows that T5 (0.700mg/l) had the least dissolved oxygen while T1 (2.967mg/l) had the highest dissolved oxygen. T4 (29.14o c) had the least temperature while T5 (29.9o c) had the highest temperature. T1 (6.484) had the least pH while T5 (6.833) had the highest pH. T3 (4.857) had the least Total Ammonia Nitrogen while T5 (4.857ppm) had the highest Total Ammonia Nitrogen (8ppm). T5 (1.5) had the least mobility indicating moderately active while T1 (1.25) had the highest mobility indicating very active. There was no significant loss of fish. It was concluded that transporting medium containing palm oil holds the best potential based on cost effectiveness, dissolved oxygen, temperature, pH, survival rate, mobility and Total Ammonia Nitrogen, just above transporting medium containing groundnut oil, while transporting medium containing ripe palm fruit was the least recommended.
