Feeding fish for growth

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SteveR

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Jul 1, 2008
1,359
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Scotland
Guys, I have a 150GAL aquarium with 6 small silver sharks and 6 small clown loaches. Other additions are tiger barbs and a common plec.

I used to feed x1 a day a high quality protein flake and some pellets. (plec gets corgette etc)

I've started feeding x2 a day, morning and night as I've heard this could help with growth (along with the 30percent changes i do every week)

Is there anything to be had from x3 feedings - if i keep the water up to scratch. These balas are slowly getting bigger but they have only grown about a cm in about 1.5 years and thickened up slightly! I need/want to speed this up a bit!

Suggestions?
 
feed them 3x a day.
 
good waterchanges and a good quality food should do it,,,i have a silver shark that grew from 3inches to 8inches in 5months,,quick enough in my oppinion,,,clown loaches take forever and a day to grow
 
Power feeding is not the only or even the best method for rapid growth. Juveniles should be feed a few times a day but only small amounts, adults are fine at once a day. Your best bet for fast growth is good clean water and minimal amounts of stress.
 
sandtiger;2658313; said:
Power feeding is not the only or even the best method for rapid growth. Juveniles should be feed a few times a day but only small amounts, adults are fine at once a day. Your best bet for fast growth is good clean water and minimal amounts of stress.
Click to expand...


The next question here is what is a juvenile considered. An Oscar can get a nice 14 in if not more easily with good food and water changes. At 7 inches it's at half of it's potential, could it still be considered a juvenile? Or are juveniles like 3 in and less. Or are we going by age, so what 6 months or less for a juvenile Oscar, that's still a 6 inch oscar a juvie.IDK I agree with what your saying about feeding multple times for juvies and once for adults but where do we call the line for juvies?:D
 
I would define a juvenile as an individual who hasn't yet reached sexual maturity. With many fishes it is at this age that intense growth stops and reduced feedings are best. Oscars reach sexual maturity at about a year of age, at about a size of 8-10" on average. The hard part I guess is knowing if your fish is a juvenile or not, with some its easy because their personalty changes a lot as interests turn to breeding or colors change but with many its not so easy. When fish start to fill in and take on a more adult look is when I would say its safe to cut back on frequent feedings.
 
Ya the whole guessing when their sexually mature isn't the easiest. Then you have the 3 inch Convict that is 7 months old and has had 4 generation of fry, lol.
 
Now they are about 5 inches...Since january they have grown an inch! I have been feeding 3x a day. It has obviously been working. They are gonna be massive soon!
 
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