food energy is required prior to spawning for gonad development and production of eggs than once spawning begins. James and Sampath (2003a) observed a higher food intake in X. helleri before commencement of breeding and a drastic decline afterwards. Townshend and Wooton (1984) found that females of the convict cichlid, Cichlasoma nigrofasciatum, channel a higher proportion of ingested food energy to gonad development and fecundity than males, so that the female reproductive output is more sensitive to varia- tions in food supply. In our study, food energy obtained from less frequent feedings (once in two or three days) was apparently insufficient for the fish to fully satisfy their somatic growth and reproduction requirements. This was evi- dent by a lower spawning frequency, number of eggs and percent hatched (Table 2). The gonad weight and gonadosomatic index increased with time and the increase in feeding frequency (Table 3). Animals that received one meal in two or three days required 63 days to attain sexual maturity, while those that received two or three meals a day reached sexual maturity on day 35. This difference may be due to variations in final body weight as fish that received 1-3 meals per day reached 660 mg wet weight on day 35, whereas those offered less frequent feed- ing weighed only 480 mg wet weight on day 63. Shim et al. (1989) reported that female gourami (C. lalia) fed high protein diets (35%) had a greater ovary weight and gonadoso- matic index than those fed low protein diets (5%). James and Sampath (2003a) found that females of X. helleri fed frequent meals had a higher gonad weight and gonadosomatic index than those fed less frequent meals. Gonad weight in C. nigrofasciatum relatively increased with the increase in ration and females on a low ration had a negligible pro- portion of oocytes whereas females on a high or medium ration had a distinct proportion of oocytes (Townshend and Wooton, 1984). In the current study, it is likely that more frequent feeding resulted in a higher proportion of oocytes and gonad weight than low feeding frequencies, evidenced by the gonad weight and gonadosomatic index.