I know that having a dominant fish in a tank can affect the color of other fish in the tank but what about the growth, can having a dominant fish in the tank cause other fish to grow slower, even if they were supplied with the same amount of food?
Dominant fish
- Thread starter Mudfrog
- Start date
Well from my experience i will have to say yes because around 2 years ago i have two jaguars that i bought at the same time and they were around the same size housed in a 55g. They both were feed the same and had bloated stomachs but one was dominant and the other wasnt. Months pass and the dominant one grew to about 8" white the other one stay roughly at around 4"-5".
Thats what I'm experiencing with my Dovii.. My male just isn't growing and the female is, she's slowed down a lot but the male has been 5.5" for months now. While the female has put on about an inch.
If you remove the dominant fish or add a divider will this correct the growth rate?
If you remove the dominant fish or add a divider will this correct the growth rate?
yes, it happens, in my 125 some of the bottom of hierarchy fish have been removed over the years due to just slow growth being unable to compete with the larger aggressive fish.
Hawaii Predator;1888251; said:
I know this is true when it comes to cichlids,years ago I had a Tanganyican Oreochromis[tilapia]who grew to about eight inches before I found an Emperor Cichlid at two inches.The Oreo. established himself as the boss of the tank and the Emperor didntgrow much bigger untill after the Oreo.grew to about a foot in length and died,this took place over the course of about four years now and the Emperor is now about eighteen inches in length.I didnt do water changes very often,so I wonder if that could have an effect on the growth inhibitors.The tank is a 180.
Yes, the dominant fish will keep other fish from growing at their full potential. It's a basic instinct for the weaker fish to not want to grow because, if they do, the dominant fish will see them as a threat and will harass them to no end. That's why when you raise a fish by itself, it'll usually grow a lot better than it would if you raised them in a group.