Feasibility of polyculture of blue shrimp Litopenaeus stylirostris and goldlined rabbitfish Siganus lineatus in a mesocosm system

• Siganus lineatus does not affect Litopenaeus stylirostris growth in a polyculture system.
• Polyculture L. stylirostris and S. lineatus significantly increases pond production.
• Adding S. lineatus to L. stylirostris culture does not impact environmental quality.
• Adding S. lineatus to L. stylirostris culture does not affect pond metabolism.

This study was conducted to (1) estimate the effects of polyculture of blue shrimp Litopenaeus stylirostris with goldlined rabbitfish Siganus lineatus on production, environmental quality and water and sediment metabolism and (2) to determine if blue shrimp and goldlined rabbitfish polyculture is possible. The experiment was carried out for 12 weeks in a mesocosm system that consisted of 12 circular outdoor mesocosm fiberglass tanks (1.7 m2, 1275 L water volume). Shrimp (2.9 g) were randomly stocked at density of 15 shrimp·m− 2 without rabbitfish (control), with rabbitfish (25.5 g) at low density (1.2 fish·m− 2) (LDRB) and high density (2.4 fish·m− 2) (HDRB). Results indicated that goldlined rabbitfish S. lineatus did not affect shrimp growth performance. At the end of the experiment, the combined shrimp and rabbitfish yields in the LDRB (213 g·m− 2) treatment and the HDRB (295 g·m− 2) treatment were significantly greater (P < 0.05) than the shrimp yield in the control (143 g·m− 2). Most of the water and sediment parameters were similar among treatments. There was no significant difference (P > 0.05) in gross primary productivity and respiration between the HDRB treatment and the control. It was concluded that the polyculture of blue shrimp with goldlined rabbitfish is technically possible without degradation of the environment in the culture system.