Green Terror, slow growers?

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WTB

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Aug 17, 2011
31
1
36
Brandon MB
Hey all, had my GT for about a year now. I am thinking he is a male, and around 4" -4.5" inches. Are they normally this slow of growers? I have him in 55 gallon with 4 tiger barbs and a plec, feed him brine shrimp and a spirulina mix flake from my LFS. Here are a few pics.

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Ime experience they are a little on the slower side growth wise but other on here have had them grow relatively quickly so I guess it down to individual fish.


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WTB said:
Hey all, had my GT for about a year now. I am thinking he is a male, and around 4" -4.5" inches. Are they normally this slow of growers? I have him in 55 gallon with 4 tiger barbs and a plec, feed him brine shrimp and a spirulina mix flake from my LFS. Here are a few pics.
Click to expand...

That is absolutely a very beautiful male! Oftentimes they do tend to be slow growers but it definitely is influenced by many factors, such as environment and biological factors (heredity). Personally, I do not consider them slow, but probably experiencing average growth rates. Although this definitely depends on each fish because individual fish tend to vary considerably. :) I hope this helps! :)


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thanks guys, already has quite the personality, reminds me of my old oscar. Greets me as soon as i walk in the room. Also, would adding more barbs be alright? I know tiger barbs can be buggers, wondering if a bigger school of them bother the GT? wanting a 8-10 size school
 
Diet and water quality. I have had 3 GT in the past/present. the first one grew the fastest passing my Oscar in size for the first few months. I was feeding them Beef Heart, brine shrimp, blood worms, pellets, minnows, crickets and SOME wild bugs. Be careful of wild bug if you live in a town or city most spray the bugs with pesticides. Now my second GT stayed about an inch or two for months! I was feeding pellets and flacks only.... best food for growth seems to be the beef heart.
 
better water quality helps growth... do as many water changes as you can say 30 percent twice a week and see if his growth picks up.
 
I heard this complaint all the time. How come my fish grow so slowly. Everyone wants their fish to jump from juvenile to adult size in two months. If you have no patience to raise fish, buy adult fish somebody raised and miss the joy of watching your fish grow up, but instead watch it to grow old.

GT grows at normal rate proportional to its ultimate size as most cichlids do. So expect it to reach 4 to 5 inch in one year from fry size, 7 to 8 inch in 2 year, and the ultimate size of 10 inch in 3 year and beyond. You can force feed your GT to double or triple the growth rate in conjunction with frequent WC, but what is the point as you are doing what chicken farms do to turn chicken from egg to supermarket in 3 months.
 
i dont think the OP was complaining but asking if it was normal...also there is nothing wrong with doing frequent wc to help a fish grow, you arent hurting the fish in anyway......
 
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