Stunted growth

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corn fed

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Jan 24, 2014
205
0
31
Nebraska
The quick and dirty: I didn't feed my fish enough when they were younger, will this shorten their life span? Will they ever reach their full adult size?

The long winded: Hi all. I really don't like to talk about this but when I first got my 2 oscars about 3 years ago they were only 1-2 inches long. I've raised them since they were babies and love them dearly. They grew up in a 120 long and currently reside in a 135 (72"x18"x24") and their only tankmate is a 7-8 inch common pleco. I have an albino tiger and an albino red. When they were really small I only fed them once a day instead of the 2-3 times a day that they deserved. I had read all the stuff saying don't over feed and got the wrong idea. :cry: Then I got pellets that were to large for them to digest easily (NLS 3-4mm sinking pellets). They are now roughly 8-9 inches long. The albino tiger is the bigger and has a big appetite. The albino red is starting to catch up tho. They are currently eating NLS sinking pellets i believe 1-2mm pellets but i'm not sure of this because I'm not home. Their main staple has always been NLS pellets and they get the occasional worms and shrimp as treats.

Any input on the damage I did because of ignorance and anything I can do to rectify my wrong?
 
I dont think it would as dramatic as you're suggesting, I mean if they grew up in a 120 and had good water changes, and still got fed once a day...believe me it could be a lot worse. They're probably still growing too.

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I've done that for years lol and all my fish get to a decent adult size

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I doubt you really did any long term damage. They probably just developed slower. Also it would be very hard to tell what may have occurred, because some fish just don't reach the "average" adult size that others will achieve.
 
You probably got fish that would've been culled if it was from a reputable breeder. I have my 2nd batch of marbled cons and they're about .5" and I have fry from HRP's that hatched about the same time the 1st batch of marbles hatched. The marbles are outgrowing the HRP's. Some fish are just built like that.


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Ok. Thanks for the reasurance. I just know that at this age I think they should be a lot bigger. I know they are still growing, I can tell by looking at them.
I special ordered them from my LFS because i wanted to raise them together from babies, and i trust the owner. Hes a pretty trustworthy guy and ive delt with him a lot and never had anything to complain about. But, i don't know who the breeder was, so the breeder could def be shady and gave me some runts.
 
At their current size I would up their pellet size to 3mm. 1-2mm is getting kinda small for an 8-9" oscar. As an example, my 5" polleni can pretty much inhale a 3mm NLS pellet. Up their feed amount a bit, keep their water clean & fresh, and you should be good to go.
 
IMO..they would be stunted, size-wise. Even if you fix the issue and they resume normal growth they won't make up what was already lost. I have seen this plenty of times first hand. Its hard to say though regarding the life expectancy.
 
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