Abstract
The food, feeding habits and growth of 0+ Alestes nurse (Rüppel) from the Blue Nile near Khartoum, was investigated. 0+ A. nurse were observed to change their food from phytoplankton and small zooplankton during their pre-metamorphosis stages, to larger zooplankton (Daphnia spp., Chydorus sp.) and insects (larvae, pupae and imagines) during their post-metamorphosis stage.
Their growth in length and weight was characterized by two distinct stanzas; during the first stanza, the fish increased in total length at a rate of 0.196 mm mm−1 wk−1, and in wet weight at a rate of 0.430 g g−1 wk−1. These rates were reduced during the second stanza to 0.046 mm mm−1 and 0.080 g g−1 wk−1, respectively. The calculated value of the exponent b in their length-weight relationship suggested that their growth was allometric.
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