Growth can also be controlled by feeding and water temp. Feed lightly and keep temp on the moderate side (below 78 degrees)
Slow growing cichlids?
- Thread starter Skyhawks85R
- Start date
Wouldn't just not buying the fish in the first place be a better option then this less than optimum strategy?
OP..Dats and cichlids are not a gd mix for the long run. Can work for short run, but keep an eye on things when the dat gets big and bold. Geos and calmer cichlid types are gd for short run as they're personalities won't effect younger dats feedings. As for slow growing cichlids, can't add too much to that
Optimum is subjective. There are many many experienced fish keepers who feel the majority of fish keepers over feed their fish. And can you really say a fish definitely prefers one certain temp. Ask 10 different human beings what their preferred temp is and you'll get multiple preferences. I am not saying keep your tropical fish in 65 degree water and feeding them 1 pellet a day.
This is my exact strategy for my CA grow outs. I keep their tank at around 76 and feed them once a day. My paratheraps/viejas has only grown around about 5" in a year's span. This buys me time to plan and build their 1000gal plywood tank next summer. Tell me if you see any malnourished specimen in the vid?
[video=youtube;1AUj-IoVKGM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AUj-IoVKGM[/video]
Geophagus do NOT grow slowly, Ive had a few go from 1" to 9-10" in 8 months or so. Uaru are not super slow growers either, not on oscar level but not slow like GT.
My only experience with a geo was one I picked up at Petco. I didn't know what kind it was since it was barely 2", but it was a good price and I since I've never owned one before. It grew pretty slow, took well over a year to reach a bit over 5". Turns out to be a beautiful altifron
+1
I would post this question in the dat sub forum, you'll get more input from those that have hands on experience with different mixes.
Argentea grow slow--slow as a JD. Breidohri grow slow USUALLY, but some will grow same rate as other Vieja. I'd say 1 in 10
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Xraycer..Your purposely holding your fish's growth back now in order to give them a bigger home in the future. I don't agree with this strategy, that's all! I guarantee you, if you feed them twice a day or three times a day, they won't outgrow that tank or yours in a year of time before the 1k. They are still fairly young fish and need more than a once a day feeding imo. It's not like they are long fish with a bad turning radius. They are somewhat oval fish that have 0 chances to outgrow that tank in a years times no matter how much you feed imo. Your not even close to overfeeding your fish imo. Cichlids commonly get bloat from too long of a poor balanced diet along with insufficient WC's ime. You have a nice assortment of fish, gd luck with their future
sorry for derail op
sorry for derail op
I've been in the hobby for 3 decades and have been especially successful in the last decade, with the majority of my stock growing to their prospective max size. So, I guess we'll have to agree to disagree....sort of.
BTW, my fish are fed mainly NLS and wc are 50% every 4 days. So do you think my fish will get bloat?
Tough to say. I would love to see some pics of some of your max size past fish. I will search the subforums for them. They would've looked great in the 1k
