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Correspondence: P E Cruz-Casallas, Research Group on Reproduction and Toxicology of Aquatic Organisms ^ GRITOX, Aquaculture
Institute, University of the Llanos, Km 12 via Puerto Lopez,Villavicencio, Meta, Colombia. E-mail: pecruzcasallas@unillanos.edu.co
Moreover, Colombia has ca. 720 000 basins and in sucient amounts for the establishment of com-
micro-watersheds and around 1800 water bodies mercial sh farming. Subsequently, the captive
classied as ponds, lakes and reservoirs with an breeding of other species such as yamu Brycon ama-
approximate volume of 26300 million m3 and ca. zonicus (Spix & Agassiz) was successfully achieved
140 879 km3 of groundwater reserves. Colombia (Arias, Pardo-Carrasco, Atencio-Garc| a, Vasquez-
shares 490 rivers, streams, pipes and springs with Torres & Zaniboni-Filho 2005). Currently, few re-
ve neighbouring countries. Along its 3000 km of search groups evaluated dierent protocols to induce
coastline on the two oceans, Colombia has the most the nal gonadal maturation and ovulation of native
rich, diverse and productive coastal marine ecosys- catsh species with the aim to diversify the national
tems of the tropic (IGAC 2010). These statistics aquaculture (Munoz & Atencio 2003; Mira-Lopez,
about the Colombian hydrologic potential ranked Medina & Cruz-Casallas 2010a; Valbuena-Villarreal,
the country in the tenth worldwide place in terms of Zapata-Berruecos & Cruz-Casallas 2010).
amount of internal renewable water resources Despite all the eorts to generate relevant informa-
(IDEAM 2000). tion about the Colombian native sh species, the low
Around 6025 freshwater sh species in Central availability of the knowledge produced in Colombia
and South America have been estimated, which are reduce its applicability to the productive systems.
grouped into 71 families (Reis, Kullander & Ferraris An additional factor to the low development in
2003; Maldonado-Ocampo & Usma 2006). Within this area is the lack of training or knowledge
this amount of species, 4475 are recognized as valid transfer to the local farmers aecting the aquacul-
species and around 1550 undescribed species have ture and its possibilities to expand to large scale
been estimated (Reis et al. 2003). Most authors agree (Salazar 2005).
that the South American freshwater sh fauna has Figure 1 shows the percentage variation of the
evolved in the Amazon region and from there it most important sh species supporting the piscicul-
has spread to other Neotropical areas (Hernandez- ture in Colombia from 1985 to 2010. As shown, the
Camacho, Hurtado-Guerra, Ortiz-Quijano & Walsch- pisciculture in 1985 was supported mainly by the
burger 1992). farming of Rainbow trout (67%), while the contribu-
The Colombian freshwater sh are one of the most tion of cachama farming reached only 11%. In 2001
diverse in the Neotropic, contributing with a funda- cachama blanca contributed to about 33% of the na-
mental part of the South American sh fauna. The tional production, however, due to the increased
Colombian sh biodiversity has been estimated in farming of red Tilapia during the last years, the parti-
1547 freshwater species ranking the country in the cipation of cachama and in general all native species
second place in biodiversity in South America with decreased to about 25% (ENA 2008). On the other
Brazil being the country with the highest biodiver- hand, Fig. 2 shows the variation of the total aquacul-
sity (Maldonado-Ocampo & Usma 2006). ture production in Colombia over the past 15 years.
After 5 years of continuous growth in the aquacul-
ture, a dramatic decline in the total production of
Aquaculture history in Colombia
continental aquaculture was observed in 2000, pri-
The aquaculture in Colombia began in 1939 with the marily due to the decline in the Rainbow trout pro-
introduction of Rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss duction associated with the increase in the national
(Walbaum) to re-stock the water bodies in the civil conict, however, a progressive growth in the
Andean region. Afterwards, some species including production exceeding 5% annual rate has been
carp Cyprinus carpio (Linnaeus) and Tilapia Oreochro- observed [Instituto Nacional de Pesca y Acuicultura
mis sp. (Linnaeus) were introduced to carry out the (INPA) 2001; Instituto Colombiano de Desarrollo
rst trial of sh farming in earthen ponds. In 1967, Rural (INCODER) 2005; Corporacion Colombia Inter-
Redbreast tilapia Tilapia rendalli (Boulenger) was in- nacional (CCI) 2008; ENA 2008].
troduced to the country, and at the same time the rst
studies on native species breeding were carried out
Fish farming of native species
particularly with bocachico Prochilodus magdalenae
(Steindachner). However, only until 1983 the studies In Colombia there are mainly three native sh species
with native species began in captivity, achieving commercially farmed (cachama blanca, yamu and
successfull breeding of cachama blanca Piaractus bocachico), providing approximately 30% of the total
brachypomus (Cuvier) and the ngerlings production national production (Salazar 1999; CCI 2006).
Biology
Figure 2 Total production variation of Colombian pisciculture from1985 to 2008. Note that production recovers progres-
sively from 2000 with an annual rate 45%. Adapted from INPA (2001), INCODER (2005), CCI (2008) and ENA (2008).
wild-sh and also in sh kept in captivity at the farm The limitations during the early ngerlings pro-
stations and centres dedicated to ngerlings produc- duction associated with the induced breeding have
tion; therefore this seasonal pattern initially led to a been overcome through the use of protocols using
decrease in ngerlings production for farming pur- natural or synthetic hormones (Munoz, Vasquez-
poses during most of the year, mainly outside the nat- Torres & Cruz-Casallas1991) to induce the nal gona-
ural breeding season. dal maturation and ovulation. Moreover, the season-
ality problem in the female gonadal maturation
preventing the reproduction in dierent seasons at
Pisciculture
the commercial sh farms has also been resolved by
Many studies have demonstrated that cachama management practices and optimum broodstocks
blanca has high potential for farming in ponds due to feeding (Vasquez-Torres & Gomes 1996). The induc-
its biological and productive characteristics and also tion to the nal gonadal maturation has been
to its ability to accept natural and agro-products feed, achieved by intramuscular administration of carp pi-
and articial diets. In addition, under farming condi- tuitary extract (CPE). In females three doses are in-
tions cachama has high food conversion rates and jected as follows: an initial dose of 0.25 mg kg 1BW
good growth, as well as high degree of disease resis- namely preliminary dose, 24 h later 0.5 mg kg 1 BW
tance (Lopez, Gomez, Diaz, Armas, de Conroy, Cruz- and 12 h later 5.0 mg kg 1 BW (Navarro et al. 2004).
Casallas, Useche,Velasco-Santamar| a & Feliu 2005). The males are also injected with 4.0 mg kg 1 CPE in
The desirable farming conditions for this species one dose. The ovulation occurs between 6.0 and 7.0 h
are: (a) water temperature 24^29 1C, although they after the last CPE application, at 26 1 1C ambient
can temporarily tolerate temperatures below 22 1C temperature and from this moment the semi-natural
or above 34 1C; however, these extreme temperatures spawning is performed by placing the female and
reduce the food consumption and increase the male in circular ponds with water in recirculation
disease susceptibility, (b) pH: 6.5^8.5, (c) dissolved which stimulate the courtship behaviour and eggs
oxygen: 43 mg L 1, even though they can resist fertilization. The fertilized eggs are removed from
concentrations below 2 mg L 1 only for short peri- the circular ponds and incubated in 200 L incuba-
ods, (d) alkalinity: 420 mg L 1 (20^100 mg L 1) tors, Woynarovich type, keeping a constant vertical
the equivalent to calcium carbonate and (e) total ow of ca. 0.2 L seg 1. The hatching occurs approxi-
hardness 420 mg L 1 (20^120 mg L 1) (Rodriguez mately 14 h after fertilization at a temperature of 26^
& Anzola 2001). 27 1C.
Currently, some diculties to optimize the produc- reproductive biology and wild feeding habits (Cruz-
tion have been found in the growth stage especially Casallas, Arias, Eslava & Vasquez-Torres 2000). Later
associated with the feeding, due to the scarce knowl- studies have contributed to macroscopic and micro-
edge on the nutritional requirements of this species. scopic anatomical descriptions of skin and digestive
Therefore, the absence of specic ration at commer- organs, circulatory, respiratory, skeletal, muscular
cial level is one of the factors that have limited the and nervous system (Eslava, Suarez-Mahecha, Par-
commercial growth of this activity to economically do-Carrasco, Arias & Cruz-Casallas 2001). Other re-
important levels in Colombia. searchers have made signicant contributions on
Based on the fact that the aim of pisciculture is the the population ecology and biology, the minimum re-
increase in sh weight in a shortest time under eco- quirements and feasibility for farming, ngerlings
nomically advantageous conditions, it is essential to production and induced breeding (Arias, Pardo-Car-
provide food that supplies the nutritional require- rasco, Atencio-Garc| a,Vasquez-Torres & Zaniboni-Fil-
ments of each particular species. Because the nutri- ho 2004). More recently, the research studies have
tional requirements in cachama blanca are limited been focused on the seminal characterization (Cruz-
(Vasquez-Torres et al. 2002), the production costs have Casallas, Lombo-Rodr| guez & Velasco-Santamar| a
risen excessively in the last years due to the low e- 2005) and gametes cryopreservation (Cruz-Casallas,
ciency of the rations used. The rations are formulated Medina-Robles & Velasco-Santamar| a 2006a, b;Velasco-
and manufactured from extrapolation of the nutri- Santamar| a, Medina-Robles & Cruz-Casallas 2006).
tional requirement information from foreign species
such as carp, Tilapia and Rainbow trout, whose re-
Biology
quirements are possibly dierent. In order to improve
this situation, the Aquaculture Institute of the Uni- This species is distributed in geographic areas be-
versity of the Llanos has been working to determine tween 50 and 500 m AMSL with water temperature
the nutritional requirements of this species evaluat- above 24 1C and inhabit tributaries, reservoirs and
ing puried diets with dierent protein levels during channels of the rivers Meta, Ariari, Guaviare and Or-
dierent stages of growth development (Vasquez- inoco. Like other sh species, the juveniles and adults
Torres 2008). It is important to highlight that most prefer to consume vegetables matter, particularly
of the nutritional research studies are based on pre- fruits and seeds, insects and other sh. An observa-
vious studies about stomach content, feeding prefer- tion of the stomach contents revealed that 20^90%
ences and habits at dierent life stage. is composes of animals (mostly insects) and the re-
maining from seeds and fruits; however, this compo-
sition varies according to the period of the year (Arias
Yamu B. amazonicus
2006).
Brycon is a genus of Neotropical Characins which The sexual maturity is reached when the standard
species are widely distributed from southern Mexico length is around 28 cm with a fecundity of ca.
to Argentina. The more well-known species in Colom- 120 000 eggs kg 1 BW. The ovaries mature only
bia are Brycon henni (Eigenmann), Brycon moorei once a year in a process that starts a few weeks after
(Steindachner) and B. amazonicus, nevertheless the spawning which is associated to the decrease of the
published information on those species is scarce. rivers water level. The process ends up in the next
Brycon henni and B. moorei commonly known as Sa- rainy season during which the sh spawn again, fol-
baleta and Dorada, respectively, inhabit the Inter An- lowing a similar development pattern to those ob-
dean tributaries particularly the Cauca, Magdalena served in other rheophilic species like cachama
and Sinu rivers (Lenis, Restrepo, Rivera, Monsalve & blanca and bocachico (Arias 2006).
Cruz-Casallas 2009), while B. amazonicus known as
yamu is native from the Orinoco River basin, being
Pisciculture
the most common Brycon genus in the Colombian
Llanos Orientales (Arias 2006). The environmental conditions in which yamu have
Yamu is an omnivorous sh with a rapid growth been most successfully breed in captivity are: water
and excellent meat quality and therefore constitutes temperature 27 0.5 1C, dissolved oxygen concen-
a species with great potential for sh farming. The tration of 7 1mg L 1 and pH of 6.8 0.3. The in-
earliest studies in Colombia were carried out in the duction to the nal gonadal maturation has been
late 1980s and were focused on the basic aspects of achieved by administration of CPE. For this purpose,
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