Is my rotkeil stunted?

[ktluvsfish]

I have a rotkeil severum that I got for my birthday 10 months ago (you can see a pic of him in my avetar). The LFS was keeping him in a huge display tank and when they went to net him out for me, they found a couple of large fish decaying under some of the driftwood. Obviously, the water quality was very poor due to this.

He has so scarring from what I think was HITH, but it has never gotten worse and otherwise he seems very happy and healthy. However, I am starting to wonder about his size. He is only 6 inches (8 if you include his tail) and looks very small in comparison to the other full grown rotkeils I've seen. I know that rotties tend to be smaller, but I feel like he should have grown a little bit in these past 10 months which he hasn't.

Do you guys think he will grow any more, or is this his final size? If so, is he stunted, or is this normal for rotties?

Thanks,
Katie

 

[uncwnells]

pretty big for only 10 months.

 

[ktluvsfish]

pretty big for only 10 months.

He's a lot older than 10 months (though I'm not sure how old). He was this size when I got him 10 months ago.

 

[uncwnells]

o sorry, I misunderstood your post. I have had females that only got around 8", but some of the males I have had got a lot larger than that and developed significant nuchal humps! You may have a female on your hands.

 

[ktluvsfish]

o sorry, I misunderstood your post. I have had females that only got around 8", but some of the males I have had got a lot larger than that and developed significant nuchal humps! You may have a female on your hands.

Hmmm that's really interesting. Everyone I have asked has been sure he's a male due to all of the blue "worms of color" on his face. I guess if he is a she the size would make sense though...

 

[Bderick67]

The sev in your avatar does look stunted, do you have any real pics you can post? You'd get a better opinion if people could judge a pic the was bigger then just an inch by inch and a half.

 

[ktluvsfish]

Okay here are some better pics of him. The first 3 pics are when I first got him, the rest are recent.

 

[Newt]

It does look stunted to me. The eyes are really big compared to the body size. His color still makes him a really good looking fish though, IMO.

 

[craig_uk]

He looks fine by my book. (male by the way)

Rotkeils seem to grow much slower then other Heros, and 6-8" is a fair old size for any member of the family. Its taken about 6 years for my H.efasciatus sp."Manause" to his about 12" (TL)

I wouldn't worry about it. He looks in top condition.

 

[josue25]

x2