feeding baby RTC too much?

[oogie]

i have had my 4" RTC now sence late may and it hastent realy grown at all(mabie an inch)i was feeding it every 3 days for the first few months and now iam feeding it evry day on prawn untile its stomach is good and round, was wondering if iam feeding to mutch? also would feeding it scallop and shrimp be good too? its in a 29g with a 5" TSN untile i move(then they get a pond)is there any other way to help them to grow besides food and clean water ?and the temps about 76-78

thanks

 

[Oddball]

The single greatest growth inhibitor in RTCs is excess nitrites. How often do you perform gravelwashes/water changes and in what amounts?

 

[oogie]

about 5g every week before and now iam doing 5g every 3 days(its a bare bottom tank)i had both in a 20g before and it seemed like the TSN grew at a OK pace are they not as picky about nitrates as the RTC?(i got the TSN at about 3" last month)

 

[Oddball]

5 gallons does nothing in removing nitrites. You need to do a 30% to 50% change at least twice a week. You won't zero your ammonia, nitrate, and nitrite levels. But, they should be maintained low enough to not cause harm to the fish. A 29gal is grossly undersized for either the TSN or RTC.
Think of it this way; the TSN and RTC put out enough waste to bring nitrites to 30 ppm per week (Hopefully not but, as an example). Replacing 5 gallons reduces the level to 25 ppm. The next week, you have a nitrite level of 55 ppm. Get the picture? To answer one of your questions; Yes, RTCs are more sensitive to drops in water quality than TSNs.
The waters RTCs come from seldom drop to 78F. The temp would be best in the range of 79F to 82F (Ensure there's enough aeration since warmer water holds less dissolved oxygen)

 

[oogie]

thsnks oddball i know the tank is realy small but we are in a temp place wile we move and i couldent set up any bigger tanks, i have a 125g iam setting up when we get a house and then iam going to make a pond for them and hopefully a TSNXRTC too if i can find one, would doing a 5g change a day be too littel or to stressfull?

 

[Oddball]

Daily water changes can become a big pain in the butt in no time fast. Plus, at the end of the week, it's still only a total of 35%. That may be fine for a few months. But, the time will come, when it's just no sufficient for these big waste factories. It'd be better to set up a regimen of larger single water changes 2-3 times a week than to make a daily chore of it.

But, that's just my opinion.

 

[necrocanis]

I agree with oddball. Massive water changes are the way to go. I change 50% of the water in my tanks 2 times a week. Before I would only change the water once a week and only about 25%. My fish are much more active and their growth rates have skyrocketed. the first 4 months I had my large hybrid he only grew about 2 inches, after i started uping the water changes to twice a week and 50% at a time I notice he was much more active and his coloration got darker too. He has now grown an additional 9 inches in the past 10 months. That's pretty amazing since he is over 30" right now. He also eats around 1 lb. of shrimp or tilapia fillets every other day. I can't wait to see how big this magnificent fish will grow to.