LAUSR

Abstract Shrimp polyculture has not been common practice because it is mostly limited to extensive aquaculture systems. A combination of shrimp-fish polyculture and biofloc technology may have the potential to substitute low intensive shrimp polyculture systems. An indoor trial was conducted to investigate whether a biofloc-based co-culture of Litopenaeus vannamei and Mugil cephalus generates synergistic effects at the level of water quality, animal production, and nutrient budgets relative to co-culture and/or biofloc based monoculture. Shrimp (0.50 ± 0.16 g) were randomly distributed in 12 fiberglass tanks (5 m3) at a density of 80 shrimp.m-3. Six tanks were operated as shrimp monoculture either without biofloc (M-only) or with bioflocs (M-biofloc). The other six tanks were operated as polyculture (Mugil cephalus size of 1.51 ± 0.02 g added at 10% stocking density of the shrimp biomass) either without biofloc (P-only) or with biofloc (P-biofloc). The results showed that water quality parameters, such as total ammonia nitrogen (TAN), nitrite, nitrate, phosphate were significantly lower in M-biofloc and P-biofloc than in other treatments (p