Can sympathetic induction be a convenient technique for breeding Amblypharyngodon mola (Hamilton, 1822)?

Mola carplet (Amblypharyngodon mola) is one of the most popular small fish species of the Indian subcontinent. There are limited studies on captive breeding of this species, which is important for aquaculture and the conservation prospects of this species. The conventional induced breeding method using an inducing agent (GnRHa and dopamine antagonist) is one of the most effective and prevalent methods of breeding fish. It is a laborious and time-consuming process, particularly in mass fish breeding and in lieu of that, a less time-consuming method - sympathetic induction of the broodstock, is used in some regions of India, particularly in big carp fish. However, this method has not been reported in commercial-scale breeding of small indigenous fish species. Therefore, an experiment was conducted to compare the spawning efficiency of Amblypharyngodon mola bred by sympathetic induction with the conventional complete induced breeding method. The spawning performance in terms of latency period, relative fecundity, fertilization rate, incubation period, and hatching rates of sympathetically induced Amblypharyngodon mola were compared to completely induced Amblypharyngodon mola brooders. Although the latency period (7.8 hrs), relative fecundity (39 nos./g), fertilization rates (81.61%) and spawning efficiency coefficient (0.681) were better in conventionally induced fish, but lower post-spawning mortality (1.29%) and better hatching rates (86.21%) were observed in sympathetically induced fish. The results indicate that quality offspring of Amblypharyngodon mola could be obtained in terms of survivability through sympathetic breeding. Sympathetic induction breeding could be a cost-effective, convenient, time-saving method of mass-scale breeding and aquaculture of Amblypharyngodon mola.