Dwarfism in fish?
- Thread starter Joshuakahan
- Start date
I had a large Fahaka that was 1” when I bought her and I kept her in a 40 until she was about 5-6” then moved her to a big tank and I saw no signs she was stunted
It's all about maintaining good water quality, which is obviously easier in a larger tank with messy fish like puffers. 40 Seems like a good starting size, most people would stick a 1" fish in a 10 gallon.
Lol I can see people doing that, I knew how fast that little puffer would’ve grow which is why i went with 40
Here is my example of the red and blue columbian tetra. It took me few shots as I dont know how to do a you tube vid uplink yet. It really does look smaller in real life. It is the size of my thumbnail 2cm (1/2") literally and the biggest tetra of that species is probably hitting at least 5cm lengthwise . See how mature the humps are on rest of the group? This one has not grown and looks exactly the same the day I got this group in, they were around same size. 
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it does look the same, so a different species is unlikely. Probably bad genes.
I wonder if this is something that can be studied. Maybe breeding to see what happens?
I wonder if this is something that can be studied. Maybe breeding to see what happens?
I think its just a random mutation, or just plain real stunted specimen. Sometimes it is advantage being smaller...They were wild caught from Wetspot, not Tank Raised. It looks very youthful. Smarter than the rest IMO. It knows to stay out of the feeding frenzy and grabs food quicker than others if it wants it. Hides in the plants tries to blend in when it sees me walk in the room hence my hesitation to move this group in the 75g with the Jaguar catfish/Fire eels growout. Literally only time I see it is after few minutes it will get brave to stray little bit further away from the security of the plants
I am up to donating it and few of its friends to a legit study.
Lots of factors involved, the early life can have a huge bearing on how big the fish eventually gets, and if it's getting less food than it's mates it may also lose out on growth potential. Food bullying is a legit thing amongst fish, my single thoricthys keeps 5 blue acara off the bottom of the tank during feeding time.
