im thinking about getting a pair of festaes from rapps and im just wondering will they not grow to thier potential if paired thier whole life?....ive heard that they dont grow to full size when paired and spawning often
do paired up fish reach thier potential?
- Thread starter jagsandpits
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Check out Mel's dovii. It's all about longevity of keeping and water quality.
Sent from my iPhone using MonsterAquariaNetwork app
Sent from my iPhone using MonsterAquariaNetwork app
Biggest argueably in the world at 27" or so and has been breeding basically the whole time. Has clean water and is like 12 years old.
I am sure he keeps his water clean but i imagine it being in something like a 600g tanks helps to LOL
I agree. It's not that they stop growing, but a huge amount of their energy is spent on spawning and defending fry, so their growth definitely slows down. I have a group of Krobia guianensis who started spawning at about six months old. The males went on to be 7 - 8" fish but all the females stopped at maybe 3 - 4". IMO it's better to separate them if you are trying to achieve maximum growth. For some people that's not a concern; they just want healthy fish that produce nice quality offspring. If it's a show fish you're after, spawning them early is probably not a safe bet.
Letting the fish to pair off and spawn early and constantly will slow down the growth rate and shorten the life span. Many cichlids in captive environment will spawn at very young age and small size which won't happen in the wild due to competition. Breeding takes a lot of energy out of both male and female. I had a pair of GT that spawned about once to twice a month and after 2 years, they were exhausted and stopped spawning. They lost their vitality and the conditions declined afterward and both fish expired in another year.