My guys seem to be WAY slow growers....help?

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C

canufeelme

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Mar 25, 2008
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Yucaipa, CA - The 909
I have an 5" oscar, 4.5" green terror, 4"texas, 4"flower horn, 4"powder blue, 4" venustus, 12" pleco, a 4" orange cichlid and another 3" guy that i cant remember the names to. I had most of these guys in a 55 while they were young but a few months back i picked up a 125 for them. oscar ive had about the longest (6-8 months) and i got him when he was the normal petco sized. ive read a bunch and most ppls oscars are way bigger by this time.

*temp: 78-80
*PH: 7.2
*Nitrite: .5
*Ammonia: 0
*ehiem 2217 and rena xp2 is the filtration. a power head is in there for added current.
*30%water changes once a week or two depending on how busy i am.
*I feed them once a day (is that the problem?) blood worms, pellets, dried shrimp, shrimp pellets, moths, cucumber and dried krill. better food ideas?

I got the green terror 3 months ago when he was only a few inches long and now he is 4.5"s.

Any help or pointers would be great. just not sure what im doing wrong.
thx
 
i would say feed twice a day, in the morning and at the afternoon. that might work cuz it works for me
 
"Normal Petco size" isn't a very accurate description. If they were the sizes I suspect (2" or so), for a few months, they seem to be doing fine. The only exception possibly being the oscar. That could come down to him not being an aggressive eater. Gt's naturally grow slow. I see you have a small nitrite reading, what's your nitrates? They are growth inhibitors if allowed to get too high. Other than that feed multiple, smaller amounts daily, rather than once.
 
pdbrady;1895063; said:
"Normal Petco size" isn't a very accurate description. If they were the sizes I suspect (2" or so), for a few months, they seem to be doing fine. The only exception possibly being the oscar. That could come down to him not being an aggressive eater. Gt's naturally grow slow. I see you have a small nitrite reading, what's your nitrates? They are growth inhibitors if allowed to get too high. Other than that feed multiple, smaller amounts daily, rather than once.
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My test kit didnt come with a nitrate test. the oscar was 2"s or so when i got him. he is my main concern as by this time i thought he would be much larger. he is always first to eat. he was only in one fight in his life. When i first got him he got into it with another cichlid and killed him. i actually thought he was going to die, but has made a full recovery and looks beautiful. what should my nitrite reading be? what can i do to adjust it? i'll do some reading on nitrites right now.
 
canufeelme;1895109; said:
My test kit didnt come with a nitrate test. the oscar was 2"s or so when i got him. he is my main concern as by this time i thought he would be much larger. he is always first to eat. he was only in one fight in his life. When i first got him he got into it with another cichlid and killed him. i actually thought he was going to die, but has made a full recovery and looks beautiful. what should my nitrite reading be? what can i do to adjust it? i'll do some reading on nitrites right now.
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1/2" per month, though not spectacular, is not terrible. They (oscars) can spurt 1"/month when growing well. Give him time. You need to read up on water quality (ammonia-nitrite-nitrate-ph-temp......). That will open up your understanding of a lot when it comes to your tank. In a nutshell, it's the breakdown of organic wastes in your tank. Ex.- excess food, fecal matter, dead fish, so on. If you get a nitrate kit, it will show you safe/harmful levels. I keep mine at 10-20, but not everyone can do that due to the high levels from the tap. To adjust your levels, you need the appropriate levels of bacteria in your tank to accomidate the load, until nitrate, where proper filtration and water changes are key.
 
Aggression and the pecking order can play pretty large roles in the growth of your fish. Also, you may not be doing water changes enough. Change the 30% to 50% every 4 days. Feed 3 times a day as much as they can eat in 5 minutes. The oscar can likely be staying small due to it being punked by almost every other fish in that tank. Everything but the powder jd, 3" fish, and pleco could be stressing the oscar as oscars are nowhere near as physically capable of causing damage as the other fish on that list.
 
Fish on Fire;1895259; said:
Feed 3 times a day as much as they can eat in 5 minutes.
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I have to say that this rule is nothing short of broken with Cichlids. Feed slightly less than you think they need and you'll be feeding them enough. As a cold blooded species, fish need very little food to survive and thrive, and overfeeding causes more problems than perks.

5 minutes is a long time. I imagine a lot of bigger Cichlids could eat themselves to death in that time.
 
japes;1895329; said:
I have to say that this rule is nothing short of broken with Cichlids. Feed slightly less than you think they need and you'll be feeding them enough. As a cold blooded species, fish need very little food to survive and thrive, and overfeeding causes more problems than perks.

5 minutes is a long time. I imagine a lot of bigger Cichlids could eat themselves to death in that time.
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I'm just talking about when they are young still, his are still pretty much, juvenile size. He wanted faster growth, well, that's how you do it, gut load them with high protein foods and a balanced staple food 3 times a day along with lots of water changes. I've never had cichlids eat themselves to death on me . . . Mine always stop when they are full. Either that or they begin to spit out food, then I know they're full. The 5 minute rule has always worked well for me, excellent growth rates. It will work especially well for him because of the fact that he has multiple fish in one tank, this allows each of them to eat their fill. The less dominant fish will be able to get as much nutrients as the more dominant fish.
 
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