few, I was starting to get worried about my growth rate! Aquamojo, what was the growth rate on your beast like?
I've had this species of fish for over thirty years....and I would be hard pressed to give you an actual growth rate. I can tell you that all fish DO grow faster as fry simply because nature dictates that you get bigger or get eaten by other fish or your siblings. Once a fish hit's a one inch mark it depends on many factors...including the size of the tank, how it is stocked, what and how often you feed and if the fish pair bonds or breeds. My experience, and I couldn't back this up with scientific data, has been that a breeding pair of fish...primarily the male....will grow dramatically slower than a NON breeding pair. The reason seems pretty obvious as energy normally directed toward growth is diverted to the process of making babies.
Big water also plays a part in growth. Fish that I would put in the pond would grow literally at almost twice the rate as those kept in a tank....even a big tank. Specifically the managuense that I kept in a 180 gallon tank, when compared to fish pulled from the pond. I had read that pheromones released by fish, not only the single fish species but all of the fish in a particular body of water would help dictate how fast and how big fish would attain over a period of time. I keep a lot of my fish in tanks either as species specific or as breeding pair. As such there aren't a lot of other fish that would release pheromones signalling that the fish should/could grow faster. On many occasions I would have a smaller male that would have a "growth spurt" after a large male was removed from that body of water. Again, can't back it up, but my impression is that frequent big water changes reduce the concentration of pheromones.
Diet is important...although Wayne Leibel gave a presentation one time where he stated that water changes played a bigger part is growth than diet. I firmly believe this to be true for multiple reasons. The point was made that "power feeding" was no different for fish than it was for people. If you give your fish a LOT of food in short periods of time (power feeding) all you are doing is increasing the caloric intake of the fish. Will it get bigger? Probably. Will it be healthier? I seriously doubt it. Dramatic weight gain isn't good for man nor beast...or fish. In the wild a fish might get a regular meal, but very few have an underwater McDonalds to belly up to. IN addition the quality of water becasue of the increased bio load could be affected further impairing health and growth.
I think one of the most overlooked areas of our hobby is NOT fully understanding the actual dietry needs of the fish we keep. Many keep a variety of fish in the same tank...omnivores with piscivores...tossing in the same pellet or feed and not particularly paying attention to who's eating what and how much. Yet another reason why I enjoy keeping tank stock simple and light.
Nature and circumstance dictates how fast. Soooo, a long explanation for a short "opinion"...as illustrated above, I don't think there is a definitive answer. I would think that, depending on how big the fish is when you get it, you can expect to see a male grow between 7-10" in the first year...with the higher end being affected by not only the points mentioned, but also by the fish itself. Successive years of growth for most of the larger CA cichlids result in added girth rather than length.
You may just get a "lunker" that will break all growth records. You may get the runt of the litter. I had a half dozen wild A. hogaboomorum that I brought back from Honduras. My buddy has one of the males. His is literally....and I mean spot on...HALF the size of my smallest male. If you think about the way we buy fish now, it is totally unnatural. In the wild, out of a batch of fry you might see 1% make it to adulthood. Predation and other factors play a part in that. Fish that are being raised in our tanks...maybe 75% make it. From that point it's a spin of the wheel to see if you get lucky, average or skunked.
Fish will continue to grow throughout their lives. Nature as well as circumstance dictates growth.
Hope that helps.
Mo
