Dempsey Stunted Growth?
- Thread starter TheHze
- Start date
He looks wonderful to me!
Just change his water twice a week (50-75%) for a couple of months and see if his growth rate doesn't pick up.
Just change his water twice a week (50-75%) for a couple of months and see if his growth rate doesn't pick up.
some JD's just don't grow.
i had a JD grow to like 7.5" in 3 years i think.
he was my first fish.
i'm sure it had a lot to do with what i fed him and other habits.
but if not, it's probably just genetics or something.
i had a JD grow to like 7.5" in 3 years i think.
he was my first fish.
i'm sure it had a lot to do with what i fed him and other habits.
but if not, it's probably just genetics or something.
TheHze;2991151; said:
Various organic toxins build up in any closed system (i.e. an aquarium) as a result of respiration, nitrification, etc. You are probably familiar with nitrate for example. While not dangerous to the health of fish at low levels, such organics will slow the growth rate of fish. The only realistic way to remove them from a freshwater aquarium is to change water. The more you change, the less organic buildup there is.
Aquaculture studies have shown that water quality is THE key to fast growth -- even more important than food quality.
Also, changing water frequently actually makes it MORE stable chemically (contrary to what many believe). Infrequent changing replaces heavily organic, often acidic, water with organically light and generally better buffered water. Changing frequently allows your tank water to more closely match your tap water and stay much close to that mean.
he looks great...no need to worry. One thing i've noticed is that once CA cichlids reach about half their adult size, their growth slows down incredibly. And JD's are pretty slow growers anyway. With regular water changes I think he'd probably reach max. size somewhere around 3-4 yrs old. 
