Red devil growth rate/feeding

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Cecropia, you're right in saying stunting is due to bad water quality, and not tank size. Is your tank a breeder setup (18" wide)?

To be honest guys, if he kept up on a good water change schedule, had proper filtration, and a good feeding regimen, I highly doubt it was stunted due to tank size. Did you guys read the recent post with the 18" Dovii being raised to that size in a 90gal? That dovii doesn't look stunted at all. You think a 7" fish would fill out a 37g as much as an 18" in a 90g?
 
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lol when he sees growth he will upgrade. He has a 40 month old Rd that is 7". At that age she should be a foot atleast. Have you thought that maybe all those small tanks caused stunting at each step of the way??? That fish should have been bought and put into a 55 gallon to grow freely.
 
I'm raising a RD in a 21 right now as a little project. Feeding it like the pig it is and doing regular water changes. It's not 7", but so far so good. I agree with the school of thought that you can grow a fish without stunting in as small a tank as will allow it regular movement as long as the water chemistry is not compromised. Whether or not I think its ethical in the long term as regular habit is another story. It's bad enough what we do to bettas.
 
I don't know what the depth and length of a 37 is but if it's at least 3 times the length of the fish and the devil can turn around in it it should be fine as long as he's doing 50% h2o changes. A. labiatus females usually don't hit the 1' mark, mine is 8" in a 55 gallon and that was with 2 - 50% changes a week. AS FAR AS I KNOW.
 
You should remove that rockin' out smiley from your signature sir because that tank is far too small and I believe that a 55 is too small for a Devil so don't try and use the moning up excuse. You need at least a 75 in my opinion and I wouldn't keep one in anything less than a 90.
 
Chago09;1446983; said:
lol when he sees growth he will upgrade. He has a 40 month old Rd that is 7". At that age she should be a foot atleast. Have you thought that maybe all those small tanks caused stunting at each step of the way??? That fish should have been bought and put into a 55 gallon to grow freely.
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:iagree: General rule for fish tank size - the width should be 1 1/2 times the length of an Adult fish for the fish to reach full potential size.... It is to to do with the fish having the correct amount of turning space.

This is a general rule and there are exceptions, and no doubt I will get flamed by people who are keeping those exceptions.....!!

But hey.....:raspberry
 
The tank is 18" wide I believe.

You are seriously telling me that this is so little space that it would cause stunting of growth? Damn, I may upgrade ahead of schedule I guess...
 

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I was given a three yr old Female six months ago.....she's less than half the size of her mate, but produces fry very 3-4 weeks with great success. She was in a 55 along with 3 other RD's ( 2 xF and 1 xM) with pretty poor water qual, now she's in the 6 footer with OJ and lovin life.

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Male and female comparison
frying1.jpg

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Nice! that looks to be around mine's size.

I was a bit worried because I was thinking she should have started "bulking up" like alot of the pics of mature devils I've seen.
 
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