I've always been fascinated by the amazing colors of Green Terrors. My local shop has dozens of them for sale at about 1"-1.5" in length. I guess my only issue is that I've heard that these fish take forever to grow. Is this true? What type of growth rate can I expect (compared to other CA/SA's)?
Considering a Green Terror........Question
- Thread starter Matikia1600
- Start date
GT grows fast from 1.5" to 5" then slows down a bit. Lots of water change and good diet are the main thing that you need. In my opinion GT has to be the boss of the tank to show its full potential.
Yes, they are slower than average growers and almost ALWAYS have health issues when young. Look at all the "white poo" and "sick green terror" threads on here...not real easy to keep alive or healthy for most people.
actually I'm on my second terror right now and I've never had any kind of problems with them. mine was the opposite, slow to grow to 5" then suddenly bam 12".
Just choose the healthiest fattest most colourful one in the tank and hope for the best, never let me down before.
Just choose the healthiest fattest most colourful one in the tank and hope for the best, never let me down before.
I have had two, and from my experiance they are very slow grower. MY first one grow about an 1/4 of inch a month for the first year then slowed down. it took him close to 2 years to hit 9 inches. Had him for around 10 years.
I now have another one which is getting about the same growth rate. I have had him for about 14 months and he close to 7 inches. you can see his growth rate here: http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?358855-My-baby-Gold-Saum&highlight=
But there also alot that can play in how fast and how big they get. Genetics, food, tanks size just to name a few. On the average your looking about 1/4 to 1/2 inch a month for the first year then slowing down to a crawl. They are know for haveing health issues so a good diet and great water is a key to there survival.
I now have another one which is getting about the same growth rate. I have had him for about 14 months and he close to 7 inches. you can see his growth rate here: http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?358855-My-baby-Gold-Saum&highlight=
But there also alot that can play in how fast and how big they get. Genetics, food, tanks size just to name a few. On the average your looking about 1/4 to 1/2 inch a month for the first year then slowing down to a crawl. They are know for haveing health issues so a good diet and great water is a key to there survival.
Mine has went from 1.5" to 4.5" in 5 months. They are fairly slow growers.
Good quality pellets (NLS, Hikari, Omega1, etc...), and good water conditions are key. I do 50% w/c per week, and he seems to be doing fine with that.
Like has been said, if they have a decent selection and none look diseased, just pick the biggest, fattest, healthiest looking one. That hasn't let me down with GT's yet, and I haven't had one with the "wasting away" disease yet.
Good quality pellets (NLS, Hikari, Omega1, etc...), and good water conditions are key. I do 50% w/c per week, and he seems to be doing fine with that.
Like has been said, if they have a decent selection and none look diseased, just pick the biggest, fattest, healthiest looking one. That hasn't let me down with GT's yet, and I haven't had one with the "wasting away" disease yet.
I kept GT's 3 times so far and I'm sure I will do it again. I do get them at 3 or 4" though so I dunno about their growth before that mark, but in my experience the growth is pretty standard with good pellet food, around 1 cm/month (1/3") on average with growth spurts here and there. i also never had any health problems with them in any water conditions. I had two 7 and 8" which were in my parents care for a month while I was away and they didn't do any water changes during this period and they were perfectly fine and colors were as beautiful as before.
also dont be discouraged, while im sure they arent the easiest to keep, they arent too hard. mine is in a 40B with tons of java fern filling the tank and he loves to attack it and he ends up just spreading it. ive never done a WC on that tank but top it off once a month. he has never been sick and always eager to see me. given i have 3 AC50s running almost all bio and literally enough fern to fill a 5g bucket, but mine has been super easy and low maintence.