Effect of fish species combinations on water chemistry and plankton composition in earthen fish ponds

Fish-environment relationships in ponds with several different combinations of fish species are analysed. The study was carried out in 18 earthen fish ponds in a farm at Lohamei HaGetaot, Israel, during the 1986 fish culture season. Water was analysed for temperature, dissolved oxygen, pH, ammonium, nitrite, nitrate, and phyto- and zooplankton. Factor analysis was applied to the physico-chemical and plankton datasets to identify respectively the main ecological processes and species groups in the ponds. The general linear model was applied to analyse the effect of fish species combination and month on the ecological and plankton factors identified. The main source of water quality variability was accounted for by three factors: pond loading (CHF1), oxygenation of the water (CHF2), and pH effect on the second step of nitrification (CHF3). The main source of variability in the plankton composition was due to presence or absence of a blue-green algal bloom (PLF1). Another four plankton factors were identified. Each factor was differently affected by the fish species combination in the pond and the month. The complex nets of interactions between common carp, tilapia and mullet, and how these fish in different cominations affect pond water quality and food webs are discussed.