Co-culture of roughskin sculpin and common carp,roughskin sculpin and medaka,and roughskin sculpin and freshwater shrimp were carried out in three earthen ponds from late May till late October of 2009 in a suburb of Qinhuangdao,Hebei Province,China.In the sculpin/medaka and sculpin/shrimp co-culture ponds,aquatic plants (cattail and reed) composing approximately 25％ of the pond area were settled.Commercial feed was administered in all the three ponds for the three forage animals:common carp,medaka and freshwater shrimp.In the sculpin/carp coculture pond,though common carp grew properly with a yield of 4550 kg per hm2,the sculpin gradually decreased in number,and eventually only a few were left.In the sculpin/medaka co-culture pond,the pelagic medaka and benthic roughskin sculpin made full use of the water column of the pond,with the former breeding continuously to provide fry and juveniles for the latter to prey on,yielding 61.4 kg roughskin sculpin per hm2 and 1550 kg medaka per hm2.In the sculpin/shrimp co-culture,adult freshwater shrimp were also bred to supply fry and juveniles for the growing roughskin sculpin to prey on,yielding 46.4 kg roughskin sculpin per hm2 and 304 kg shrimp per hm2,less than that in the sculpin/medaka co-culture,as both freshwater shrimp and roughskin sculpin lived in the same niches,i.e.the pond bottom and the plant stems and leaves,with the open water column left vacant.Further improvements were also proposed.
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