relinquishing feeding to different caregiver after 20 yrs

[2songbirds]

looking back, at 14 years old with my 1st tank (10g) I circled what fish I wanted. Water was warm (no thermometer). No fish survived by the morning. When my mom did give me a thermometer it read 100 degrees and the tank was way overstocked. A year later I tried again, and I had my first good tank of a paired goldfish at 15; they were awesome. I learned soooo much. Never had any problems with them, until they got dropsy later on...by with this tank, I set up pond snails, gravel, live anacharis plants...it was awesome and it took off. I learned so much from this 10g goldfish. I have so many pictures from them so....fast forward 20 years...I taught hubby everything, I mean everything I know of the hobby. I even kept fish journals of when tanks where crashing and I couldn't figure out why (parasites, fungus/bacterial infections, salt dips, etc) I said this brief history so you know I am not a newcomer to the hobby...and please do flare at me for my question, but reading through the previous posts raises my own concerns...

looking at my sig- you know what tanks and fish I have, briefly speaking. They are not growing as they should (rtc, IRD, tsn x achara, giraffe, etc) or maybe it's just me... If I start to feed them as they were (before, as their primary feeder), will they start to grow "normally" again, or are they stunted for life; or if I feed them "normally" again, will they refuse the food as they are not accustomed to that amount of food??

 

[ecoli73]

At risk of sounding like a broken record but some of your monster cats are not going to do well in your current setup for very long...as for your growth rate, what is your wc schedule and amount? And what is your nitrate level?


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[2songbirds]

I've current posts of other concerns as the bigger tank is breaking down and we're getting a temp house for the big cats...but, the ones in the 125g will not grow!!! That houses the tsn x achara hybrid, 2 ID sharks, giraffe cat, fullgrown oscar, 2 tinfoil barbs,,etc...265 which is breaking down has the rtc and achara....this tank was meant to be the tank for life for the achara only, and long term the other peaceful catfish...the 265gallong tank housed the rtc while he was growing. BUT it broke. The rtc is only 2' and is not ready to be moved, obviously, into his next home. The achara needs to be moved while the 265 gets fixed....so it's not like "I got the rtc, and it grew outta the tank: both cats and tank need tore down".

 

[2songbirds]

nitrates and nitrites are good...I have an old post regarding that thread as the ID sharks had red streaks in their fins- I found out it was with high levels with not changing/cleaning their fllters!!!! It all begins with their eyes getting cloudy, then fins getting a little raggy, then a little red, then red streaked... then they're fine...then all at once they're hit.....Water chemistry currently is good, I'm on top of water changes (lately)....as I"m dealing with the bigger cats than previously-

 

[2songbirds]

but, I think, my main concern/issues are this-are the sizes appropriate for the ages of the fish?

ID sharks are ~ 13-15", not sure how old they are, but I grew them an additional 6-8" over 4 years

Achara x tsn was 4/5" when I brought him home beginning of Jan 2010, currently in the 125g still, around 16"

Giraffe catfish was tiny at a cute 3" (at the most) beginning of Jan 2010, currently in the 125g still, around 7"

RTC was special ordered and brought home in April I believe of 2010 at 2", currently in the 265g, around 24"

It seems like these growths are stunted, but my hubby told me he doesn't feed them often, twice a week on average while they were smaller but less now I think, or when they start nipping on each other fins. I had went back to school Fall of 2011, combined with work and kids, he took over the tanks. I'm on winter break now, and paying more attention to them, doing maintenaince work needed, but I'm noticing over the past year, my cats have grown, but not too much. I know their growth rates slow down considerably after the first year, but the hybrid is still less than 2 feet at 3 years old....I've learned a great deal through trial and error over 20 years of keeping this hobby, but the ones I have now have becomes literally our pets. The flowerhorn I bought a 75g for died from untreatable hole in the head disease, and the tank sits in storage, meanwhile I have a different FH now in a different tank. It's not so much of a matter of water chemistry rather than feeding schedules and if this is "fixable". The hybrid cat would never eat much; I overfed the rtc 2ce so much that he upchucked and I had to do emergency water change (gross).