Jaguar Cichlid growth rate

[JRT8783]

I got my jag in November of last year and he was only about an inch long, I've had him for almost exactly a year now and just in the last 2 month's or so I swear he hasn't grown at all. Started making me wonder if I've got a female instead even though it looks to clearly be a male IMO. He's got a 125 gal all to himself and I feed a variety of new life spectrum, New Life Spectrum thera+, hikari carnivore pellets, frozen krill, and frozen freshwater mysis... Any ideas what the problem could be? The 1st few months I had him he seemed to be growing anywhere from a half inch to an inch per month and once he hit about 6" or so his growth has almost seemed to stop.

Water parameters
Ammonia- always stays between 0 and .25ppm
Nitrite- 0ppm
Nitrate- usually 5-10ppm, never above 20
pH- constantly between 8.2 and 8.4

Only other thing I can think of is I'm not feeding him enough just from hearing how bad overfeeding can be, but I don't think that's the problem either. Any opinions or suggestions? Do I just need to be more patient?






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[herit1990]

Nice layout there u got for the jaguar. Thumb ups.
If its in sg, we've already stock with plenty of fishes...


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[Crazy mike]

I'd bump up water changes. That's very odd. It should be around a foot now if its a male. Are you saying its still 6-7 inches? If so you may just have a oddball. Mine grew quickly until around 8 then slowed down but still hit a foot by 16 months


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[JRT8783]

I'd bump up water changes. That's very odd. It should be around a foot now if its a male. Are you saying its still 6-7 inches? If so you may just have a oddball. Mine grew quickly until around 8 then slowed down but still hit a foot by 16 months


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He's maybe 9-10 inches now but average growth seemed to be close to an inch a month til around 5-6 inches and now it seems to be around a 1/4 to 1/2 inch per month for the last several months. He always eats, doesn't show any signs of stress or disease, and is very active from early afternoon til the lights go out so I don't know, guess I was just expecting him to be a little more monster-like by now. I'll maybe try upping the water changes a bit, see if that helps any

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[Crazy mike]

He's maybe 9-10 inches now but average growth seemed to be close to an inch a month til around 5-6 inches and now it seems to be around a 1/4 to 1/2 inch per month for the last several months. He always eats, doesn't show any signs of stress or disease, and is very active from early afternoon til the lights go out so I don't know, guess I was just expecting him to be a little more monster-like by now. I'll maybe try upping the water changes a bit, see if that helps any

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If he's 9-10 then he is growing at a normal rate. They should be around that size at a year. They do slow down considerably at that size too so he's normal just at the smaller end of the normal spectrum


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[Fish on Fire]

How often do you perform water changes? Feed less of the NLS and more Hikari Carnivore/Massivore. NLS tends to give poor growth rates in my experience.

 

[JRT8783]

How often do you perform water changes? Feed less of the NLS and more Hikari Carnivore/Massivore. NLS tends to give poor growth rates in my experience.

I usually do 2 25% changes per week if I got time, otherwise just 1 larger 50% change. That, combined with good filtration, keeps my water parameters pretty consistent. Got 2 biowheel350s and 1 aquaclear110 (1200gph).

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[Fish on Fire]

I usually do 2 25% changes per week if I got time, otherwise just 1 larger 50% change. That, combined with good filtration, keeps my water parameters pretty consistent. Got 2 biowheel350s and 1 aquaclear110 (1200gph).

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That's more than adequate in terms of water quality, especially for a single jag in a 125 gallon. Try going to hikari carnivore pellets/ Massivore as a staple and supplementing with earthworms, etc for a while and see if you see a jump in growth. It's either the food or the genetics of the fish that is keeping it on the smaller side given the fact that you are performing water changes at fairly frequent intervals. Or you could just keep at it and enjoy him as he is. Happy fish keeping.

 

[RD.]

If he's 9-10 then he is growing at a normal rate. They should be around that size at a year. They do slow down considerably at that size too so he's normal just at the smaller end of the normal spectrum

+1

Personally I wouldn't change anything, diet, water change schedule, or anything else. Your fish is growing at a normal healthy rate.

 

[JRT8783]

+1

Personally I wouldn't change anything, diet, water change schedule, or anything else. Your fish is growing at a normal healthy rate.

K, sounds good... in your opinion, what would be a good amount of 3mm NLS pellets to feed him every day if he's around 9"? And how many times per day, just once or multiple times?

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