Best way to grow out juvenile Blue Umbees.

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FishKing5

FishKing5

Aimara
MFK Member
Oct 24, 2013
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United States
Hey I have five 2-3" f1 blue umbees and am currently growing them out in a 125 gallon. I put some rocks, flowers pots and a vine type decoration in the tank for them to have their own territories. There is definitely one boss of the tank. I am currently keeping the tank barebottom with the bottom of the outside of the tank black basically so they can find the food easier when feeding. I was just wondering what the best way in your experience is to growing these guys out. I feed them NLS pellets and beefheart here and there but mainly just the pellets. I would like to grow them out until they get close to 5" and then sell the rest that dont look as good and try and get a pair out of them. I also do about 75% water changes at least 3 times a week. Let me know if you have any suggestions. thanks!
 
Also is it ok to feed them beefheart as one of their staple diets? they go crazy on the beefheart when i feed them that but would like to keep them on pellets the best i can because NLS pellets have great ingredients for health and color.
 
I'd personally pass on the beef heart. I feed mine NLS, both floating and Thera +a. Once a week or so I give him tilapia or market shrimp as a treat. Most fish aren't set up to appropriately digest mammalian proteins (from my understanding), so that's why I'm suggesting on dropping the beef heart from your feeding regimen.


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Also, a member here (FlatFishLeo) sells tiny pellets that should be called Miracle Grow!! I've been feeding that along with NLS to my Gorillus Blues since they were less than an inch. I'm very happy with the results from his food.


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Beef heart offers no nutritional benefit to them. Stop feeding that. I suggest going with a slightly darker natural substrate to help with colors and comfortability. They can find they're food just fine. Don't sorry about the pellets flatfish is selling. There's nothing wrong with those pellets but The umbees are too big for those lil pellets and will benefit more from a varied diet. I buy from kensfish.com and feed 1-3mm pellets to my umbees that size. Indeed color pellets, krill pellets, growth pellets, NLS, broken up massivore, frozen bloodworms, frozen krill. Feed twice a day and keep up with your water changes, maintain water temp around 80-82. Also try growing them out longer than 5" as they are late bloomers and there's a good chance of selling off one that could be nicer than the rest. Also once they hit around 4" I suggest trying to pull two most dominant ones out and into a 55 or 75g and divide them from eachother. This is a trick I use to pull max potential out of my small umbees. Again use darker gravel but not straight black. This will allow you to have really nice specimens and give you a lil more choice in which one you keep:) good luck and post pics


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5 in a 125 gal cool get a green terror a jewel cichlid , pleco and a jd. there cheap. let them grow to 5 or 6 inch with other species. cause umbees dont get along with each other umbees well. so teach by buying fish for distractions and sex order. the selection i said was for that and more. say u do get a male n female. raised all alone with own kind is just gonna show dominace ,expressed through maturity then TRYING TO breed, then killing the female or getting a stupid divider , quote that should never b needed unless u didnt train ur fish or rare case u have a psycho or cerial killer from young or from with age or small tank.and destroying tank accessories. at least let them mature with other fish.then sell off the the ones u dont want or need.then keep your two happily ever after,. i feed mine ocean nutrition flakes veggie,brine shrimp day ,night pre cooked shrimp,cut n half earthworms, blood worms, i switch it up every day or couple. all yeah only 30 to 40 % water changes a week to 10 days ..goodluck just some advice look at mine 225 gal,,,,,, youtube type,, alphanok2013
 
alphanok2013 said:
5 in a 125 gal cool get a green terror a jewel cichlid , pleco and a jd. there cheap. let them grow to 5 or 6 inch with other species. cause umbees dont get along with each other umbees well. so teach by buying fish for distractions and sex order. the selection i said was for that and more. say u do get a male n female. raised all alone with own kind is just gonna show dominace ,expressed through maturity then TRYING TO breed, then killing the female or getting a stupid divider , quote that should never b needed unless u didnt train ur fish or rare case u have a psycho or cerial killer from young or from with age or small tank.and destroying tank accessories. at least let them mature with other fish.then sell off the the ones u dont want or need.then keep your two happily ever after,. i feed mine ocean nutrition flakes veggie,brine shrimp day ,night pre cooked shrimp,cut n half earthworms, blood worms, i switch it up every day or couple. all yeah only 30 to 40 % water changes a week to 10 days ..goodluck just some advice look at mine 225 gal,,,,,, youtube type,, alphanok2013
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I agree and disagree about adding other fish! Why spend more money on fish that are just gonna get killed anyway? I've grown out more umbees than I can count not to mention I can get them to color up and spawn earlier and at smaller sizes 3.5-4" on multiple occasions:) The op is more than welcome to take which ever advice he pleases but when it comes to umbees or dovii, the best dithers for growouts are more of the same species. They will work out a hierarchy and most likely establish a pair. But the info I mentioned in my first post was to optimize the potential in more than one fish


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Feed a lot and change a bunch of water. It's a simple concept for growing fish.

Feed high protein and higher fat food (50%&10% or so) and they will grow fastest with clean water. Feeding variety is a complete myth and does nothing extra for your fish, and don't waste time on nutrient lacking frozen foods like beefheart, bloodworms which are garbage IMO.

Have fun watching them grow umbees are special and only get better with age.


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buying the fish protects ur investment and fish life cycle and development. there cheap. but umbs r already established but small enough to mayb still work , but my rios were not overly aggressive not like my gorillus blues but still cool when young but when they met other species and also bigger than them they learned that their pecking order didnt have to b aggressive to each other or just the biggest or the male bullying. but respected there order because no territoriies r established but ur experience with grow outs is where he s at ..i read ur posts very knowledgeable n experienced ,i sided with u on a thread and got in trouble for foul langê*@+ and got emaild a tech lol
 
thought fish liked variety from time , i wouldnt want to eat steak every day, variety is healthy and not boring for them, i know bloodworms are not alot of protein but meat eaters enjoy it. personally i rather see grow healthy ,than too fast.
 
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