size does matter?

[itik]

6 months ago,me n my fren bought ornates sized 4". i put mine in 55g and my friend just tossed his ornate into pond full of small goldfishes. today he netted it and put it back into his aquarium.surprisingly, his ornate alrady measured 14" and very thick wile mine only 9" and not that thick.i feed mine with frozen bloodworm,ghost shrimp and massivore pallet.does size of the captivity matters?or 55g is small to keep a bichir ( i keep with 1 senegal and delhezi}?and i always remember reading people claim that goldfish is not a good food for bichirs..........is it true?

 

[King-eL]

It's the size of the tank and how much food it eats.

Not many people have notice this as not many of them don't like feeding goldfish for their bichir because most hobbyist are scared that the goldfish might carry parasites. But actually goldfish are one of the steroid foods that can make your bichirs grow bigger. Just make sure you quarantine them.

 

[benzjamin13]

Yes...space and food makes a difference. I've noticed that if I feed live, my fish grow faster. The more space it has the ability to grow much larger.

 

[Hao]

yeah live makes em grow fast,mealworm makes em grow like crazy for me

 

[gigas12]

Hi,live foods should NOT MEAN only being fed on live feeders!

 

[King-eL]

Who knows if could have been eating frogs that went into the pond as well.

 

[davcheng]

my polys love tadpoles that i've caught from my pond and thrown in.

 

[David R]

How big is the pond? I think tank size makes a big difference in growth rate and when it slows down. I've seen ornates and sens that have grown up in a 3000L tank and they're all huge! Diet helps too, but I think an average diet and a huge tank will yeild better results than a good diet in a small tank.

 

[itik]

9'x5'x3'.maybe deeper than that.it not a specialised fish pond but more towards 'decorative pond'.yeah.i think that ornate has variety of diet...seen his wife tossed dead lizards, frogs n domestic mouses into that pond without having need to worry about water condition...gotttaa need a pond soon.damn..ahahhahaha

 

[itik]

am i underfeed my ornate?mine growth rate normal or stunted?i also noticed my friend's ornate develop beautiful green colour and mine just pale yellow............