Growth of cichlids in the wild

[Reiner]

So some of the large Central American cichlids can grow to about 12" in home aquaria with good food and heavy water changes and a large tank.
Are there any charts or literature from growth studies in the wild? How big is a let's say dovii in the wild after 12 month?

How does growth compare to daily feeding vs. scavaning and hunting?

 

[RD.]

I don't believe you will find much regarding studies on growth in the wild, as CA cichlids in the wild are typically only considered food for the locals. What one can sometimes find if they search around is papers where sizes and/or weight are stated for wild caught specimens at various growth stages.

Here's an example where a wild caught festae was larger than the vast majority one would typically see in an aquarium. No idea how old it was, but at that size most likely 5+, possibly closer to 10.

20 inch ex-Cichlasoma festae

Many thanks to Windsor Aguirre, Assistant Professor, Deptartment of Biological Sciences, DePaul University for the following information. Windsor & his research team study the native freshwater fish of Western Ecuador. In their listing for Cichlasoma festae they had 50 cm listed as the...

www.monsterfishkeepers.com

 

[duanes]

Beside being food for humans, predation by birds and reptiles like crocs and turtles take out many before they get a chance to reach full size.


The 2 shots above were taken in the Rio Magdalena system in Colombia.
Below a Cenote in Mexico, where the ones that survive to become large (JDs and 7" mollies) live below 15 ft of depth.

and below Lake Gatun in Panama

 

[Reiner]

Yeah I realize that there is heavy predation in the wild and only a handful might actually survive the first year but the ones that do how big are they in comparison to their tank raised counterparts that get fed daily for 1 year? Are they as big, smaller or bigger?

 

[Red Cichlids]

If the majority of cichlids are spawning at a certain time of year, you could have a good idea of the growth rate at a year. For example, if you found multiple pairs of a species guarding newborn spawns, you could average the half-grown fish to get an idea of what the growth rate would be at a year. I imagine many Central Americans might breed year round or possibly twice a year when the sun passes over on its way north and then south again, which would make it impossible to determine anything.

(I'm using as a reference point on this the wild caught cardinal tetras that were a mainstay of the tropical fish industry for decades. They all came in at about the same size, which varied depending on the time of year because they were pretty much an annual fish reproducing once a year in the wild. Now they seem to be mostly tank-raised so they always come in on the small side.)

Tank raised fish usually grow at a faster rate once they are past an inch or so because of the heavy feeding that provides much more nutrition than most fish could forage on their own. (How many wild-caught cichlids do you see with huge bulging bellies common in tank raised specimens?) The natural environment provides a rich diet for babies though, so I expect they grow faster in the wild the first month or two.

 

[Reiner]

the reason why I was asking is that some fish keepers have raised certain fish to a foot in size within a year which to me is an astonishing rate. I'm more of a light feeder so my fish grow usually at a much slower pace.

 

[RD.]

When it comes to feeding fish in captivity, unless you are raising fish for Sunday dinner, slow & steady always wins the race.

 

[duanes]

When it comes to feeding fish in captivity, unless you are raising fish for Sunday dinner, slow & steady always wins the race.

Agree, lighter feeding is a much better practice.
But on the side, just personal observation.....in the Cenotes of Mexico (in the deepest areas), I have seen some 10"+ JDs (not many).
In these deep areas (which these old geezers seem to jealously guard, there are many hide holes), birds predation would not be much of a problem, and are hard to get to from snorkelers or other alien invaders.
These are the same areas, I would see the largest blue mollies I've ever seen.
In other Cenotes populated mostly by uropthalmus, I have seen large males much larger than the acceptable size norm of aquarist belief (again not many).
So when you consider that in a spawn of 1000 fry in nature, if only 1 individual makes it to spawning age, that is a successful spawn, getting one thru the gauntlet of lifelong predation, breeding ruts, parasites and disease, to old age, these large individuals are even more astounding.