Impact of Household Chemicals on the Ornamental Fish Poecilia sphenops (Valenciennes)

Abstract

This study examined the impact of various household chemicals, such as Surf excel, hair dye, popular soap, fabric softener, shampoo, and coconut oil, on the ornamental fish Poecilia sphenops (Valenciennes in Cuvier and Valenciennes, 1846). Length-weight relationships, gonadosomatic and hepatosomatic indexes, oxygen consumption, and opercular beat rate were measured to assess the effects of the chemicals (10, 20, and 30 ppm) on the fish. Results showed that at higher concentrations of the chemicals, the fish exhibited increased breathing and signs of distress. The temperature of 28°C was found to be optimum for the growth of P. sphenops, while the lowest growth performance was shown at temperature 30°C. Fish ranged from 37 to 67 mm in total length and 1.10 to 3.10 g in body weight. The female to male sex ratio (4.9:1) deviated significantly from the unity (?²= 214.2, p<0.05). These findings indicate that the presence of such noxious chemicals are deleterious to natural populations of fish, and that the irresponsible discharge of sewage water into water bodies should be avoided.