The effect of dietary oxymetholone on growth, survival and reproduction of guppy (Poecilia reticulata)

To check the ability of guppy fish (Poecilia reticulata) to receive high dietary doses of oxymetholone hormone and its effects on growth parameters, survival and reproduction, 300 fish at the age of 10 weeks, with an average weight of 0.38 ± 0.09 g were randomly assigned to 5 treatments and 3 replications in 15 glass aquaria (100 liters volume). Hormone levels were considered as 5 different doses of zero (OM0), 100 (OM100), 200 (OM200), 400 (OM400) and 800 (OM800) mg per kg diet. The duration of study was 90 days and biometry was performed every two weeks interval. The result showed that with increasing levels of dietary hormone, final weight, specific growth rate and weight gain were not significantly changed (p>0.05), but feed conversion ratio was significantly different between treatments (p<0.05), so that the lowest and highest feed conversion ratio were obtained in control group (OM0) and maximum dose of hormone (OM800), respectively. By increasing the hormone dose, survival rate and breeding were significantly decreased (p<0.05), so that the highest and lowest mortality rates were seen in the maximum dose of hormone (OM800) and control group (OM0), respectively. The minimum and maximum breeding were seen in the maximum dose of hormone and control group, respectively. The results showed that high doses of oxymetholone in the diet did not improve growth characteristics in fish and by increasing the dose of hormone, survival rate and breeding were significantly decreased.