how big do royals get?

[Red Devil]

200+ lbs of driftwood in a 650 gal. 30-50% weekly water changes. 80% fresh foods/20% sticks & hi-protein foods. Lots of raw shell-on shrimp, zucchini, pumpkin, apple, cabbage, pear, earthworms, crayfish, gammarus, beef heart, etc. And, no harassing tankmates.

Is eight years a royals average lifespan? Or was it the size that eventually took him..as in too big for his heart .... just curious how we can judge their growth.........or in your opinion what happened to this stunning guy,..did he show signs of old age or was it sudden..

 

[davo]

The extra quick growth rate could be attributed to the protein portion of the diet. Recently dietary analysis on a wild panaque population showed that they consume much more protein in the wild then what is commonly thought by aquarist. I'll try to look up the link.

It's a good point, there are probably no true herbavore plecos and they will all go for crustaceans and dead fish etc. in the wild. Why pass up a meal, and we all know even our more "herbacious" plecos treat the protein foods like candy. They probably don't eat much crude proteins though.