pcfriedrich;4410887; said:
I love when people talk about expecting every fish to get to max size. max size for a human male is about 7', 350lbs. but don't expect yours to get too much above 6', 190.
anyway, you got a 18 gallon tank. get the jag, put him in with the JD. hope he maxes out at 18", and weighs over 5 lbs.
I've had three male jags reach full adult status. The first was 15" and still growing before he had to be put down due to paralyzing himself from slamming the glass defending his very first batch of fry. The second is currently over 13" and still growing. The third is over 15" and still growing. The third is by far the largest of these three, almost as wide as my hand when viewed head on.
I'd say its better to plan and be prepared for them to reach their full potential than not. Runts aside, and with proper care and feeding, I'd wager 90% of male jags will easily reach WELL over a foot in length. People are not fishes. People stop growing early in their life span. Jags and dovii (the real giants of the Parachromis family) will continue to grow to their late stages of life. That is, so long as the keeper does his part to give them the oppurtunity to reach their true potential. Just saying...
This is the third jag I mentioned above. He was a rescue. A local fish store gave him to me very close to death. He was laying on his side in the store with bad HITH and pop eye brought in by a customer. They gave him to me as they knew I'd give him the best shot at a healthy, long life. This photo was taken two days later back in January. I had to literally hand feed him to nurse him back to health. He's doing great now and about to go in my big tank with the rest of the killers.
Pretty much life size pic here, this was almost eight months ago, he's even bigger now. He reached this size even with improper care...
Giant lips. This was the same time as the above pic, about eight months ago. Fins are all healed up now, HITH is better as well with large frequent water changes. Again, I have to mention he reached this gigantic size with what would universally be considered highly irresponsible care (judging from the bad HITH)...
Quick vid of hand feeding...
http://s12.photobucket.com/albums/a...13/5-5-2010/?action=view¤t=DSCF6336.flv
