How Many EBJD can you put in a 300 Gallon before it's too many???

[Jexnell]

I agree something is not right. Here is my male I got at 2in.
I kept him for 9 months and he was already pushing past 5in

Another member now has him, he is now 7+ inches long at 1.5 years old.

Do you have a test kit? What is your ammonia, nitrite, nitrates at?

 

[duanes]

All cichlids produce growth inhibiting hormones, and with the addition of nitrate buildup, if they are put in a minimum size tank, average with once per week (what I also consider minimal water changes), I'm not surprised they have remained small.

 

[RD.]

I have had Hundreds of EBJD and blue genes over the years and have never seen one get more then 6 inches!!!

Agree with Duane, it's all about water quality. If you have never seen one get more than 6 inches, you are clearly not providing optimum conditions for growth.

 

[justarn]

Would bad genes have some effect on size?
What with the constant in breeding of the ebjd line.
Agreed tho, people can't believe how fast my fish grow in the 300g with 75%+ pw waterchanges that's with terrible UK Tao water at 30ppm nitrate. (UK nitrate limit is 50ppm!!!)

 

[Rocksor]

Would bad genes have some effect on size?
What with the constant in breeding of the ebjd line.
Agreed tho, people can't believe how fast my fish grow in the 300g with 75%+ pw waterchanges that's with terrible UK Tao water at 30ppm nitrate. (UK nitrate limit is 50ppm!!!)

US limit for nitrates is just as high, but measured as Nitrate-Nitrogen so the conversion brings it to 10ppm Nitrate-Nitrogen.

 

[RD.]

Would bad genes have some effect on size?
What with the constant in breeding of the ebjd line.
Agreed tho, people can't believe how fast my fish grow in the 300g with 75%+ pw waterchanges that's with terrible UK Tao water at 30ppm nitrate. (UK nitrate limit is 50ppm!!!)

IMO all EBJD are genetically weak, but that doesn't seem to have caused a large quantity of stunted fish over the years. They weren't generally stunted 15 yrs ago, and from the pics posted in this thread apparently they still aren't.

As far as water changes, how much is required for optimum conditions depends on the bio-load of the tank. All other things being equal, a 300 gallon tank that contains six 12" fish, will require twice as much fresh water on a regular basis compared to a 90 gallon, that contains one 12" fish.

 

[justarn]

Yes but most people near me in the UK barely do 25% a fourtnight let alone lower than fin level every week.
My nitrates rise between 10-20ppm per week.
Obviously not ideal but the fish grow.

 

[INTHECOWBOYSWETRUST]

Purchased in Oct 2006 at approx. 2-2.5 inches, from Jeff Rapps, via Hector Luzardo.

View attachment 1349561


Same fish in June 2007, after approx. 8 months of growth, at approx. 4.5 inches.

View attachment 1349562

He was close to 6" when he died a few months later due to my stupidity.
A local who bought an EBJD from this same batch, reached 9"+, when it passed away for no apparent reason in March of 2008. It was the nicest EBJD that I have ever seen in person.

So when someone attempts to tell me that they only grow to be 3-4", I can only scratch my head wondering what that person is doing so wrong, to produce such small fish?

Well I certainly am Not trying to call you a liar or say you don't know what you are talking about, I'm just saying I have never seen one get that big before... I'm sure mine are just low quality Inbreeds considering I get them from the big Box stores around town.. We don't have any kind of good quality fish stores in Toledo to get anything from!!

 

[INTHECOWBOYSWETRUST]

Yep definitely, any male jd will hit 6" in a year, females 5"...
What's your water change schedule and gravel and media cleaning schedule?

Something's not right if they are 3-4"...

I do a 25 to 40% W.C. every Sunday, I have nothing but some fake plants and drift wood in the tank, Pool filter sand for Substrain.. Been doing this for 30 years so I really don't think it's anything I did wrong!!

 

[justarn]

Read up on nitrate creep. Do you test your nitrates?
Most of us nowadays do fin level weekly water changes some more so like Duane's..
My tank will rise by 10-20ppm per week at 90% WC per week... That's an average to light stocked 300g...