Diet of fish in the Lomami River, DR of Congo

Abstract

A study on the diet of fish from the Lomami River was conducted over a period of 8 months, from February to October 2012, in the territory of Katako-kombe to evaluate the food preferences of its ichthyofauna. Thus, the qualitative observation of the stomach contents of different fish caught was made in the laboratory to find the food preferences of the fish by calculating the rate of occurrence or preference. The results showed that the fish of the Lomami River have a diversified diet: the species Tilapia nyongana and Oreochromis niloticus are phytophagous with omnivorous tendency; Clarias angolensis and Chanallabes apus are polyphagous with voracious tendency, Chrysichthys wagenaarii is benthophage with voracious tendency, and finally Mormyrops zanclirostris is polyphagous with herbivorous tendency. These results in relation to the diet of fish caught will allow interested fish farmers to make the choice on the type of fish to be raised, based on the local feed availability.

Keywords: Diet, fish, Lomami river