Are you sure about that growth rate for the niger. I've heard of 30"ers after the 3 year mark. And 24"ers after the first year. The 5 that I've raised up from yoy fish all hit 16-20" the first year on a moderate diet. No power feeding to try to maximize growth. Seems pretty fast to me.
Ripsaws growth?
- Thread starter Deubie Doo
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Are you sure about that growth rate for the niger. I've heard of 30"ers after the 3 year mark. And 24"ers after the first year. The 5 that I've raised up from yoy fish all hit 16-20" the first year on a moderate diet. No power feeding to try to maximize growth. Seems pretty fast to me.
I agree I realized I didn't even address the op's post. Deubie Doo I apologize for that.
Good questions deubie doo. Nigers are known to grow quite fast. Giraffes and Nigers are similar and both scavengers and like nigers, giraffes too are known to grow quite fast. Do keep in mind growth rate is never the same for all fish. And in captivity growth rate is slower than in the wild and maximum grow size will differ from those in the wild but can still be attainable. You did mention it's eating well so I'm sure it'll grow some more just probably not to it's max potential. I'm confident it will grow bigger though maybe even reach it's max potential. Not unheard of and I've even seen a stunted doitsu showa and a very stunted male sanke hit 25"-26" so personally only time will tell.
Happy fish keeping and GL.
Good questions deubie doo. Nigers are known to grow quite fast. Giraffes and Nigers are similar and both scavengers and like nigers, giraffes too are known to grow quite fast. Do keep in mind growth rate is never the same for all fish. And in captivity growth rate is slower than in the wild and maximum grow size will differ from those in the wild but can still be attainable. You did mention it's eating well so I'm sure it'll grow some more just probably not to it's max potential. I'm confident it will grow bigger though maybe even reach it's max potential. Not unheard of and I've even seen a stunted doitsu showa and a very stunted male sanke hit 25"-26" so personally only time will tell.
Happy fish keeping and GL.
Yes im sure of the grotwh rates....my 20''er eats every day and hasent grown a cm. in the 2 years ive had em. I purchaced him at this size from a local store display who claimed to have him for 10years in their 500. I'm honestly surprised to hear anyone getting them up to 24" that quick. Every member on here ive ever encountered in person with nigers has said it took them several years to get them up over 18" I also have 2 giraffes and i wouldnt consider them to be "huge" growing fish either. In my personal experience RTC and TSN are some of the fastest fish ive grown out. If i had one of the 6 Nigers ive kept even come close to that i would be on the other side of this debate lol... Def. interesting to see the other side tho...As for keeping tiny growout fish in large tanks ive also had bad results. They have a hard time getting food. Its hard to debate when everyones personal experiences are different. Doesnt mean anyone is wrong or right. Just couldnt let my friend get flamed for puttin a niger in a 210. I've seen alot more hanous situations in person like 30-32" aros in 180's. Maybe im just bias because i dont consider 24" fish large and have the accomidations to keep them more than happy. Anyone know if there are diff. sub species of niger? For example there are a couple diff. kinds of megaladoras granulous (another type of armored cat) and all do not reach the same size.
Maybe its possible every niger ive owned was previously stunted lol? Everyone ive had was from other members and atleast the size of 5-8". I may have to get a little guy and see if he grows better without being moved around in the early stages of life. My growth rates for Giraffe cats are 14" in the first year and 20" after 4 years all from 2" specimen. Also debatable tho because there are a couple subspecies of them aswell.
I will agree with wednesday13 in that though these fish are known to be fast growing, IME they are average growing to slow growing. Especially if kept with other fishes to me IME so far anyways. I had two that were average growing slow 1st yr better 2nd year and slowed 3rd year. But my brother moved and took them with him. I believe setup, diet, and personality all play a part in their growth. The more shy they are the more they hide and the less they venture out for food. The less shy they are the more they venture out for food. I noticed the first yr I got my first one it was shy and hiding all the time maybe due to there being larger fishes in my 3. 2nd yr thinned out my 3 and saw it come out more and grew a lot more than it did the 1st yr. 3rd yr added some larger driftwoods and other cats and fishes. I noticed it became shy again that it was hiding more often. I'm referring to day and night by the way though it was out more during nights than day. Still hid majority of the time even at night.
I miss those guys so recently picked up one and it is in an 90 grow out by itself with a open/bare bottom specific diet program. I've decided to experiment a little. I'm planning on picking up another one and housing it in a separate grow out tank with a different setup. By the end of this year I'll have more info to share. Maybe I'll pick up two giraffes to add into the mix or maybe not.
Different experiences for different people. But I'm starting to like this thread. I have a request can those of you who've had a good success with niger growth rate share more info about your experiences with the rest of us. Setup(tank size, substrate if any, décor if any), diet, growth spurts in months or years if you remember ...etc. thanks.
I miss those guys so recently picked up one and it is in an 90 grow out by itself with a open/bare bottom specific diet program. I've decided to experiment a little. I'm planning on picking up another one and housing it in a separate grow out tank with a different setup. By the end of this year I'll have more info to share. Maybe I'll pick up two giraffes to add into the mix or maybe not.
Different experiences for different people. But I'm starting to like this thread. I have a request can those of you who've had a good success with niger growth rate share more info about your experiences with the rest of us. Setup(tank size, substrate if any, décor if any), diet, growth spurts in months or years if you remember ...etc. thanks.
Now were getting somewhere lol....Interesting to think about other tankmates affecting growth rates. I've never kept one "alone" as the only bottom feeder of the tank. I've always had a pair or trio of nigers together with other fish like aro's,gar, and pbass. Just recently i sold some of my numbers (how this thread got started lol) and my 20"er has totally 180ied in personality and food intake. He is now kept with a 18" Irwini and 14" Granulous....All three of them act totally different with 2 less nigers in the tank, I like my multiples of same species but in this case i think it was working against me. I'm surprised josh or rich havent chimed in yet. They picked up some 40" nigers from washington state a couple years ago and itd be interesting to know how old they were. I can attest to tank size proving bigger/faster growth rates with other species of large cats like TSN as i've grown out around 20 from 3" in different setups over the years but i dont feel like the differences were that drastic when to compared to nigers. 12"-14" fish for 3 years compared to 30-36" is a huge gap difference. Maybe they dont like being moved around, ive never kept any one niger in the same tank for longer than a year, this may be y i've experienced slower growth rates.
1 Niger went from 4" to 18" in a year and some change. The pair I have now have gone from 3" to 6-7" in about 3-4 months. My pair I have now are in a 40breeder with a longnose gar, gator gar, largemouth bass and a mala wolf fish. If it hits the bottom they eat it. They are very active for nigers. The first one was very shy and was in a 180 most of its life. It got killed by pesticide.
With growth rates I believe there are a few key factors. First and biggest is space. This goes for all fish. The more space they have they less moving of tanks they have to have and the faster they grow as they are spending no time adjusting to a new environment. Second is temp. Higher temp equals faster metabolism. As a result they grow faster. Third is stability/stress. This kinda goes in with the first one. If the fish is given a stable environment it will be stress free and grow faster and more equally each month. This goes for all fish. I have experimented with a lot of different types of catfish, gar and arowanas on this. I have some huge growths to back all these in the list and have small growths backing the side effects of these not being done right.
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With growth rates I believe there are a few key factors. First and biggest is space. This goes for all fish. The more space they have they less moving of tanks they have to have and the faster they grow as they are spending no time adjusting to a new environment. Second is temp. Higher temp equals faster metabolism. As a result they grow faster. Third is stability/stress. This kinda goes in with the first one. If the fish is given a stable environment it will be stress free and grow faster and more equally each month. This goes for all fish. I have experimented with a lot of different types of catfish, gar and arowanas on this. I have some huge growths to back all these in the list and have small growths backing the side effects of these not being done right.
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I agree with the above. Mine has grown so fast because its in a large tank, constant water changes with my trickle system and im constantly over feeding because the other fish (AUL) are not as fast to the food. I have to feed the niger until its full before anyone else gets any. This combination has made a very fat and happy Niger
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