Hi everyone i have a pond which is 1600gallons 15×5×3ft and i have 3 koi, 3 shark, 2 redtail catfish, 2 giant gourami and 2 oscars. I have had these fish for 2 yrs and all the fish eat perfectly well. I got them small at 3 inch but it so happens that non of the fish are growing. They are perfectly fine no issues with health. I feed pellets, vegetables and fish. They have grown but very very little say all are 10inch max. I also put another redtail which i bought at the same time in a 120gallon tank that fish grew 2.3ft in that small tank in 10months. Can anyone explain to me how is this possible.
Fish in pond not growing
- Thread starter Poseidonfernandes
- Start date
So let me get this right. All your 3" fish that you bought 2 years ago haven't grown.....but are now 10"? If i apply the simple arithmetic I was taught at school that would mean your fish have grown 7"!!!!
And why would you put an RTC in a 120g tank and watch the poor thing grow to over 2ft in there when you have a huge pond you could have put it in?
Sorry, but you make no sense to me whatsoever.
And why would you put an RTC in a 120g tank and watch the poor thing grow to over 2ft in there when you have a huge pond you could have put it in?
Sorry, but you make no sense to me whatsoever.
How often is water and what volume of water is changed regularly in your pond?
Are there plants to use up nitrate?
How often was water change in the red cats 120 in comparison?
Fish thru waste and other metabolic processes are constantly putting out growth inhibiting hormones, and ponds are really no different than aquariums, usually just larger.
If the water in th pond is rarely changed those growth inhibiting compounds continue to build up.
You do not have an overload of fisher 1600 gallons, but if those hormones continue to build, they may be cause and effect.
Are there plants to use up nitrate?
How often was water change in the red cats 120 in comparison?
Fish thru waste and other metabolic processes are constantly putting out growth inhibiting hormones, and ponds are really no different than aquariums, usually just larger.
If the water in th pond is rarely changed those growth inhibiting compounds continue to build up.
You do not have an overload of fisher 1600 gallons, but if those hormones continue to build, they may be cause and effect.
Ok i wont say that they havent grown. They have grown but very little. The 2ft redtail catfish is in my other 1600gallon pond now
I dont have any plants in the pond. I change 80% of the water every week. Incase of the 120gal where the rtc used to be that tank i used to change the water every other day but only 50%.
If the above fish had been exposed to higher levels of the growth inhibiting hormones for lets say a year, with very minimal water changes, and then after a year were moved to a pond where the water is now changed often and in large amounts, would the fish just continue to grow as per normal now there was very little/no hormones in the water, or is one year enough time to cause irreparable 'damage" and therefore the fish will no longer grow (like being stunted)?
I doubt a year of hormones is enough to cause permanent stunting.
From my own first anecdotal experience back before I became a so anal about water changes....I had a trio of Paratilapia in a 150 gal, and for any number of reasons the alpha outgrew the other 2, almost double in size, and general robustness, enough so that I thought both others were female. The alpha spawned with one of them, the other 3rd wheel always hid in a corner.
The alpha then died, and the individual I had thought was female, over a very short period doubled in size, and showed defined alpha male characteristics .
Growth hormones the cause, maybe?
Was the original alpha intimidating it into slow growth?
Preventing the 3rd wheel from getting enough food?
I suspect it could be 1 or all 3.
But I have seen this temporary "stunting" happen with a number of cichlids over the years , and with upped water change schedules, never quite as dramatic.
From my own first anecdotal experience back before I became a so anal about water changes....I had a trio of Paratilapia in a 150 gal, and for any number of reasons the alpha outgrew the other 2, almost double in size, and general robustness, enough so that I thought both others were female. The alpha spawned with one of them, the other 3rd wheel always hid in a corner.
The alpha then died, and the individual I had thought was female, over a very short period doubled in size, and showed defined alpha male characteristics .
Growth hormones the cause, maybe?
Was the original alpha intimidating it into slow growth?
Preventing the 3rd wheel from getting enough food?
I suspect it could be 1 or all 3.
But I have seen this temporary "stunting" happen with a number of cichlids over the years , and with upped water change schedules, never quite as dramatic.