Nigerian Lapradei Bichir Growth Rate

Rayfishowner

Peacock Bass
MFK Member
May 2, 2017
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Hey all,

I have had my female wild caught polypterus lapradei Nigerian for 3 years now (if you check my past posts may remember i asked tons of q about them when I first got mine). She was 11.5 inches approximately back then and now after 3 years is 12.5-13 in. I’m wondering if this is normal or did I buy her stunted. She’s in a 75 rn and I’m planning on upgrading in a couple years (biggest tank I currently have due to space). I have to add that in my first year of keeping her she barely ate (1 or 2 chunks of shrimp per week and sometimes wouldn’t eat for a month. She also tried jumping a lot and seemed distressed. Once I added gravel to her tank and added live plants she has so far (last 3 months) not jumped once and eats every day or other day on massivores. One reason why she may be “stunted” is because I’m away for college, I only do water changes every 1-3 months so this contribute to the slow growth as I know they have hormones that inhibit growth like koi. Anyway here are pics. Please feel free to comment down below ur laps growth rate and if you think mine will continue to grow and hit the 16-18 in mark like other laps.


The pics are in order from getting her to present. The bare bottom tanks were within the first year of gettin her. Then with gravel is within the second to third year. The final 4 pics are from this week!

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kno4te

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Don’t think it’s stunted. Once it hits the 12inches mark or close to it then it’ll slow down.
 
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