It is recommended to replace semi-artificial reproduction with artificial reproduction at all FPC's. All farm managers are trained in artificial reproduction and incubation in happa's with Nile cabbage as an egg substrate proofed to be reliable and simple to execute.
In order to produce sufficient 3 day old larvae the following guide line can be used;
The survival rate from stripped eggs to 3 day old larvae is 30%
A “ripe” female produces a quantity of eggs which equals 15% of her body weight.
1 gram of eggs contains 600 eggs.
For 100 m2 pond area 10.000 larvae are needed, with a survival rate of 30% it means that 35,000 eggs or 60 gram of eggs are to be fertilized. A “ripe” female of 400 gram will produce 60 gram of eggs, This is about the size of the broodstock at present and as a rule of the thumb 1 female per 100 m2 of nursing pond area should be injected.
The nursing ponds should be filled and fertilized with 50 kg dry chicken manure/100 m2 at the day the females are stripped. Tadpoles which are developing in the pond are removed with a fine mesh seine net (a large quantity is available at headquarters) at the day when the larvae are stocked. The nursing ponds are to be stocked with 100 larvae per square meter and to be fed according to the following schedule;
| First week: | 0.50 kg/100 m2/day |
| Second week: | 0.75 kg/100 m2/day |
| Third week: | 1.00 kg/100 m2/day |
| Fourth week: | 1.25 kg/100 m2/day |
| Fifth week: | 1.50 kg/100 m2/day |
The nursing ponds are to be harvested 35–40 days after stocking and the fingerlings are to be graded.
There is an absolute lack of production data on all FPC's and it is therefore recommended to start with the registration of production data, which is a common procedure on fish farms all over the world. A example of a registration form is presented in Annex 1.
It seems that the presence of frogs and consequently the presence of tadpoles is much less as observed in Congo Brazzaville and Ivory Coast. Therefore it is not expected that the nursery pond must be surrounded by protective walls. Adequate fertilization an good stocking rates, combined with high quality feed will be sufficient. This is a new situation and other African countries could make use of the experiences eventually gained by the project. Therefore it is recommended to follow and register the nursery operation more detailed at Kibos and the following matters should be registered for each run of a nursery pond:
