Dovii growth underwhelming

[gunnar]

My male Dovii now measures 8” after 16 months . He is in a 75 gallon alone( I know too small ) . I thought I could keep him in this tank until 10 or 11” but I fear he may be a lost cause to ever be a monster . I made the mistake of having him paired off with a female way too early prior to this . Any thoughts ?

 

[Roger Mcfish]

Are you worried about growth?

 

[gunnar]

Yes . I feel like he should have been considerably larger by this point

 

[Roger Mcfish]

What are nitrate readings? Never had dovii, but my other parachromis males never lost size, usually females during breeding.
But I also do large weekly 80% water changes to keep nitrates extremely low with adequate filtration.

 

[HUKIT]

Yes . I feel like he should have been considerably larger by this point

He certainly could be bigger at that age. Growth rate depends mainly on three things, most importantly how much you’re feeding, the tank size, and water conditions.

 

[gunnar]

I’ll have to check the nitrates . Never had a problem before . I do two 30% water changes a week . He was sharing the tank before when he was under 5” with a couple others but he’s by himself now . Still very skittish also . Feeding him bug bites mainly .

 

[gunnar]

Guess my main concern is did I stunt his growth permanently . I can always improve water , get larger tank etc.., just don’t want waste too much time and effort on one fish if he’s not going to pick it up in the growth dept

 

[Roger Mcfish]

Nah, he's not stunted. Try a bit larger water changes, make them 50% twice a week.

I give my parachromis a live nightcrawler 2x a week, northfin tropical sticks and bug bites

 

[duanes]

I think Roger hit the nail on the head.
With only 30% water changes per week, nitrates and other growth inhibiting hormones build up quickly, and have slowed growth considerally, especially in a puddle that is a 75 gal tank.
The waters where most dovii live have undetectable nitrate, and rain, current, and vegetation that use nitrate as food, exchange 100%of water daily.
I think if you started changing 100% of your water twice a per week, you´d notice a dramatic surge in growth.

 

[duanes]

the last time I kept dovii pic taken when the 1st arrivedm about 2¨. on April 29th 2009
Below a pic taken Sept 15 th 2009, 6 months later

The male hear is about 10¨, now below 2 months later at 12¨

Its all about water changes, that maintain low nitrate, and getting rid of growth inhibiting hormone from out of a closed system.

I kept them in a 150 gal tank, doing at least 100% water changes per week, and filtration by planted sumps that ate nitrate between water changes, until they could be moved to a 300 gal, when too large for the 150 gal.