cichlid obesity

[Hybridfish7]

Have you tested your water?

Yes

If yes, what is your ammonia?

0

If yes, what is your nitrite?

0

If yes, what is your nitrate?

50

If I did not test my water...

...I recognize that I will likely be asked to do a test, and that water tests are critical for solving freshwater health problems.

Do you do water changes?

Yes

What percentage of water do you change?

21-30%

How frequently do you change your water?

Every two weeks

If I do not change my water...

...I recognize that I will likely be recommended to do a water change, and water changes are critical for preventing future freshwater health problems.

Aside from other problems that come from powerfeeding, the main killer (from what I've heard) of larger, usually riverine cichlids is the fact that they're overfed and die of fatty deposits in their bodies, mainly in their organs. To put it simply, aside from feeding properly, would putting a powerful powerhead on larger fish help them burn off calories and prevent such a fate? I did a small project to test how cichlids develop in no flow as to higher flow, and did find that the ones raised in relatively higher flow matured to more of a lean physique and in spite of frequent feedings, never looked bloated and as one would expect, became more powerful swimmers.

 

[Deadeye]

It should. duanes has talked about this and has stated that it also reduces aggression.

 

[duanes]

If your nitrates are 50 ppm, power feeding (beside being generally unhealthy) probably won't make your fish grow any faster than the norm.
High nitrates are indicative of other substances we don't, and can't test for like growth inhibiting hormones and the like.
And unless we get rid of them, all the power feeding in the world won't help.
I have found water changes have much more to do with good growth than "power feeding".
I'm not surprised by your 50ppm nitrate level.
A 20- 30% water change only every 2 weeks is hardly a prompt for fast, healthy growth, or eliminating concentrations of unhealthy stuff in the water.
In nature riverine cichlids are in a constant state of water changes.
While adding a powerhead may create more exercise, unless you dilute hormones, and nitrate more, I doubt it will help such a weak water change schedule.
I do 30-40% water changes on my riverine cichlids every other day.

 

[Hybridfish7]

I do not have any large growing riverine species at the moment that I am trying to grow, this was a hypothetical situation just to gain information and I thought this would be the right category to ask. I also just put in the nitrates of the last time I tested on one of my convict tanks, so I'm sure they've gone down with the last water change. The rest of the tanks usually have much lower than that. The amount of water I change on my tanks is centered around what's in the tank, for example my densely planted tanks with smaller fish get around 25%, the average tank gets around 30, and the tanks that have messier fish or higher stockings end up getting 40-50% wcs. However I will keep your input in mind when I do get more sensitive riverine species in the future.

 

[fishdance]

It's not just obesity. Fast growth results in shorter life span.

So feed less volume, less frequently and or lower quality food.