A preliminary assay on the mixed culture of red Florida tilapia and freshwater prawn Macrobrachium americanum stocked in outdoor tanks at different tilapia densities

Red jumbo tilapia and M. americanum prawns were placed in 1000 L units in polyculture at three different densities of tilapia (4/5, 9/5 and 14/5 m 2 ; tilapia/prawn) during 112 days with initial weight of 6.5 ± 2.8 g for tilapia and 25.9 ± 8.5 g for prawn. Prawn (0/5 m 2 ) and tilapia (4/0, 9/0 and 14/0 m 2 ) controls were included. Tanks were maintained outdoors and under shade. Total weight gain (WG), daily individual weight gain (DWG), specific growth rate (SGR), survival, production of gross mass and food conversion ratios (FCR), ammonia, nitrite and nitrate, and chlorophyll a were measured in all units. Only prawn weight gain was significantly higher in polyculture. For tilapia, the highest survival at the end of the trial was 94% and the lowest was 75%, while prawns had final survival rates from 43% to 86%. No statistical differences were observed in weight increase among treatments at p ≤ 0.05.