striped rapheal

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snjets

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Aug 24, 2006
32
0
0
bellmore, ny
hey guys i was just wondering how fast these striped raphael grow i picked him up at my lfs for $ 4 he is about 3in is this a good price
he also has a 4in rtc for $30 is this good

thanks
will he get along with my barbs
sal
 
4$ is an awesome price for any fish. they grow slow in my experience. had one for over 8 months and honestly never saw a size difference in him. he later died because i never saw him eat, EVER. hides all day long. weirdo fish...


rtc for 30 aint bad. i snagged mine for 20 but they usually go for 40 when they are around. i haven't seen any in my area for over 2 years. so as soon as i saw one, had to snag it.
 
I have a striped rapheal thats about 6 years old. He's about 6" long :WHOA: . I had him in about 4 tanks and all he does is hide. I think ive seen him out maybe a handful of times. They are very slow growers but do get a decent size.


bob
 
I have had striped raphaels get to the 8" mark, but it takes several years. Once they were about 5-6" they stopped hiding for me, but they were big bricks at that point, and no one would mess with them. Don't expect to see them for the first 3-4 months of having them.
 
I hear they grow really slow. But they look cool when they get large. The largest I've seen was 7"
 
They do grow slow, I bought my first two at about 1.75" and they got up to 3.5" in the first 7 months, then they just started getting fat. One of them was so fat that the only time I saw him was during feeding which was odd cause they usually always hid. But this thing would outcompete the bichirs for food, taking in about 10-12 shrimp pellets per feeding. Thats a lot for a 3.5" fish..
 
I think both prices are reasonable and i got a spotted raphel and it has doubled in size from 1.5" to 3" maybe a little more in 3 months but i suspect that the growth rate will not continue at that pace it's in a 75gal cichlid community tank.
 
I agree with everyone that rapheal's grow slow I've had mine for 1 1/2 now and he is about 4 inches and thick .. yes they hide do to the fact there NACTURNAL FEEDER'S !! . also rapheal's are prone to stress easy and devlope ICK .. but some are hardyer then other's . here are a few pic's of mine .. :D the tank shot is for scale purpose's ..also I think that's the first pic seen on this web page of one eating if I'am correct..

my fish #2 55 gallon tank 079.jpg

raphael eating beef heart.jpg

my tank and lure's with trina pics 090.jpg

trina and bubbers pics 110.jpg
 
Good price for raphael. Also your rapahel will be fine with barbs as long as your barbs are small enough to fit in his mouth. Mine fights with a Jack Dempsey, he can hold his own.
 
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