Rhom (serrasalmus Rhombeus) growth rate?

[nzafi]

pocono To clarify, I said I know of no one that has grown a rhom to 17-18in in captivity. All the ones I know of that reached over 20 years old were no more than 12in. I also said I heard of a handful of scenarios of getting them to 13in. There is a huge difference between a 13in rhom and 18in.

There has always been a huge debate of whether rhoms grow much slower in captivity or just stop growing. Lots of people argue that those 17-18in while rhoms are not that old. Who knows though. I have also heard all the stories of 24in rhoms but no one has been able to prove it. Luckily I have seen many 15in+ rhom over the years due to living in NJ and being near Shark Aquarium, Aquascape Online, EZCS, etc. I have also seen two verified 18in rhoms, but nothing larger.

I do think my rhom had stunted growth. Unfortunately, I did not have the best husbandry habit for a very long time which I am sure impacted his growth. The member on here that had a 36 year old rhom also had his stop at about 10in from what I remember.

 

[pocono]

Rhom average about .5in a year. They get to about 5in quickly and the slow down drastically. At some point they stop around 10-11in. If you’re lucky it will grow to 12in. I had my rhom for 18 years. I thought he was close to 12in but when he died and I measure him, he was only 10.5in.

this is the statement i disagreed with, you stated rhom grow half inch a year and you stated rhoms will stop growing at 10-11 inches and your lucky if it will make it to 12 inches, i just wanted to clear up for anyone that got confused by your statement they in fact do not stop growing at 10-11 inches and they will get larger then 12 inches with no luck needed as they are a hardy fish just time and proper fish keeping will do the trick.

i also lived in jersey for 45 years and knew everyone and every fish store from ocean county upto ny and bought and sold to 90% of them of my time there, i just decided a few years back jersey can kiss my ass and got out of jersey and there million rules,best move i ever made.

your rhom probably was stunted, another memeber here i forgot who but he grew a super nice rhom to 11 inches before it died at 8 years old,fish was a real beauty to.so chances are your rhom was def stunted.george used to bring in some monster rhoms when he used import them when he still had the store,if you wanted a big boy he was the goto.

 

[nzafi]

this is the statement i disagreed with, you stated rhom grow half inch a year and you stated rhoms will stop growing at 10-11 inches and your lucky if it will make it to 12 inches, i just wanted to clear up for anyone that got confused by your statement they in fact do not stop growing at 10-11 inches and they will get larger then 12 inches with no luck needed as they are a hardy fish just time and proper fish keeping will do the trick.

i also lived in jersey for 45 years and knew everyone and every fish store from ocean county upto ny and bought and sold to 90% of them of my time there, i just decided a few years back jersey can kiss my ass and got out of jersey and there million rules,best move i ever made.

your rhom probably was stunted, another memeber here i forgot who but he grew a super nice rhom to 11 inches before it died at 8 years old,fish was a real beauty to.so chances are your rhom was def stunted.george used to bring in some monster rhoms when he used import them when he still had the store,if you wanted a big boy he was the goto.

Were you on the old waterwolves and predatoryfish boards? Pfury was created as I stopped visiting the boards for a few years.

Curious where you moved to. NJ has probably gotten worse since you left.

 

[pocono]

yes i was on both, i moved right outside jersey into pa, all the jersey benefits of jersey and none of the jersey bullshit.yea nj has gotten worse ,i go there all the time and it just keeps getting worse,nj land of the laws and rules and taxes and zoning for everyone,as stated before jersey can kiss my ass

 

[David Tyson]

a hi protien diet and higher water temp and your black will will grow 2 inches a year til he hits 6 inch range then he will slow down to 1 inch a year, they will max out at around 18 inch and push 20 years or better

Isn't it that fish live longer at cooler temperatures? Because at colder temperature, their metabolism slows down and hence their entire life process. I am not talking about extremely cold but about 65-70 °F.

 

[David Tyson]

In keeping piranha for 20 years and knowing people keeping them for 50 years, I do not know of more than a handful cases of people growing rhoms to more than 12in in captivity. Those that did bought their rhoms between 9-10in and those stopped at 13. While they definitely grow to 17-18in the wild, it will not happen in captivity. The longest lived rhom I am aware of was 36 years which was a member on this forum with several others that pushed past 30.

What if you kept them in a large pond of about 25,000 gallons? Will they grow to their wild size?

 

[nzafi]

What if you kept them in a large pond of about 25,000 gallons? Will they grow to their wild size?

No idea. Over the years, many people have speculated but who wants to put a small fish in a 25,000 gallon pond? How do you track it, feed it, etc and make sure it grows. There have been promising signs of folks being able to grow manuali faster than rhoms and up to ~14in I believe.

 

[David Tyson]

No idea. Over the years, many people have speculated but who wants to put a small fish in a 25,000 gallon pond? How do you track it, feed it, etc and make sure it grows. There have been promising signs of folks being able to grow manuali faster than rhoms and up to ~14in I believe.

Which gets to heavier weight on average, rhom or manueli? What is the maximum bodyweight for both rhom and manueli?

 

[nzafi]

Which gets to heavier weight on average, rhom or manueli? What is the maximum bodyweight for both rhom and manueli?

No idea. Manueli supposedly get larger than rhoms. There have been 17-18in rhom specimens in captivity that were wild caught at that size. There have always been rumors of manueli 20in+ but considering they never survive importing at larger sizes, it is impossible to verify.

 

[David Tyson]

No idea. Manueli supposedly get larger than rhoms. There have been 17-18in rhom specimens in captivity that were wild caught at that size. There have always been rumors of manueli 20in+ but considering they never survive importing at larger sizes, it is impossible to verify.

Do you mean that manueli need better conditions to survive while rhoms are hardy?