The culture of African catfish (Clarias gariepinus) faces a number of challenges which have to be addressed in view of the growing economic importance of this fish. The captive larvae and early juveniles are aggressive and cannibalistic, resulting in considerable economic losses and shortage of seed to meet demands of the farmers. Improving larval survival and health while the fish is held in captivity is a subject of great interest. C. gariepinus generates a weak electric discharge during the aggressive interactions with the conspecifics and their electroreceptors are highly sensitive. While very little is known on the role of electroreception in the aggressive behaviour, we attempted a sensory control of the cannibalism in the larvae by applying an excess direct current (DC) stimulus (0.67 V/cm or 2.65 V/cm) and ablated the function of the electroreceptors. The number of surviving individuals and those which were lost were compared between the control and the treated groups. Six trials were conducted involving larvae at the different initial ages, from 4 to 9 days after hatching, and with different observation periods ranging from 5 to 11 days. The electric treatment resulted in higher survival in five trials and the number of fish lost to cannibalism was significantly lower in the treated group than in the control in one trial. While the electrically-ablated electroreceptors might regenerate, the ablation seemed to be effective during whole larval phase.

非洲cat鱼（Clarias gariepinus）的养殖面临许多挑战，鉴于这种鱼在经济上的重要性日益提高。圈养的幼虫和幼虫具有侵略性和食人性，造成了可观的经济损失和种子短缺，无法满足农民的需求。在圈养鱼类的同时提高幼虫的存活率和健康状况是引起人们极大兴趣的主题。C. gariepinus在与特定物种进行积极的相互作用期间会产生微弱的放电，并且它们的电感受器高度敏感。尽管人们对电信号接收在侵略性行为中的作用了解甚少，但我们尝试通过施加过量的直流（DC）刺激（0.67 V / cm或2.65 V / cm）来感官控制幼虫的同类相食，并消融电感受器的功能。比较对照组和治疗组的存活个体和迷失者的数量。进行了六项试验，这些试验涉及孵化后4至9天的不同初始年龄的幼虫，观察期从5至11天不等。在五项试验中，电疗导致更高的存活率，而在一项试验中，治疗组的食人鱼损失的鱼类数量明显少于对照组。尽管电消融的电感受器可能会再生，但消融似乎在整个幼体阶段都是有效的。