A polyculture system consists of simultaneously
rearing two or more species in the
same pond in order to maximize production
by using organisms with different feeding
habits and space distribution (Zimmermann
and New 2000). According to New (2000)
freshwater prawns are good candidates for
polyculture systems because they allow fish
farmers to increase productivity and profits
with a small additional cost and no environmental
impact. Tilapia characteristics favor
polyculture systems with freshwater
prawns. They both require similar temperatures
to obtain high productivity, reach
commercial size within about 5 mo, tolerate
low quality water, and present few prob