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Introduction. Pisciculture is an important activity to satisfy the alimentary necessities of a growing population. Therefore, it is necessary to develop environmentally responsible techniques. Cultivation based on periphyton is attractive, because it can feed the fish and improve the quality of the water, allowing a more efficient and cleaner system. Objective. To evaluate the effect of periphyton on some of the quality parameters of the water used for the cultivation of Nile-bocachico tilapia fish. Methodology. An experiment was performed during eight months in eighteen 90 m2 ponds with 2.7 tilapia fish per square meter and 0.7 bocachicos per square meter, with no fertilization. As a periphyton substract, vertical plastic pipes were installed (3.3 pipes/m2) and their presence or absence was an evaluated factor. Additionally, three feeding strategies were evaluated: 0 (no food), feeding with 20% of raw protein (RP) and feeding with 25% of RP. A 2x3 factorial design was used. The six treatments of the resulting factorial experiment were assigned to the experimental units based on a random design with three repetitions. Every day the dissolved oxygen, the pH, the transparency and the temperature were measured. Same thing was made every two weeks for the total ammonium, the nitrite and the phosphate. Every month, alkalinity and total thickness were measured, as well. Results. No effects of the use of substrata were found (p>0.05) for the development of periphyton on dissolved oxygen, phosphates and thickness. Effects of this factor (B) were found (p<0.05) on temperature, transparency, pH, ammonium and nitrite. Conclusion. Given the ecologic complexity of these polycultivation systems based on periphyton, the results obtained suggest the necessity of continuing the research work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]