Stunted Livingstonii?

[CichlidKeeper01]

I think I may have a stunted livingstonii. I bought the livingstonii when I still had my 30 set up for freshwater and did not research. Later I found out that they had a min tank size of 125 gals and ended up upgrading to my current set up. He was in the 30 for 6 to 8 months before being moved over to my 125. I had planned to keep him in the 30 a couple more weeks while the tank fully cycled but ended up having a tank crash due to a power outage where 5 out my 8 fish died, with my livingstonii, rusty, and bristlenose pleco being the only fish left. They were moved over the same day. A couple months ago I ordered my final round of fish from LA, including a replacement venustus. It eneded up being a male and has outgrown my Livingstonii by probably 3 to 4 inches. I am wondering if it is possible that I stunted my livingstonii?

 

[A201]

I'm currently growing out a juvenile Livingstoni male & juvenile Venustus male together in a 120. My Venustus is growing at a faster pace than the Stoni.
If your Stoni's physical characteristics still look proportional, probably no worries.
Although my Stoni is smaller, he still dominates the larger Venustus.

 

[CichlidKeeper01]

I'm currently growing out a juvenile Livingstoni male & juvenile Venustus male together in a 120. My Venustus is growing at a faster pace than the Stoni.
If your Stoni's physical characteristics still look proportional, probably no worries.
Although my Stoni is smaller, he still dominates the larger Venustus.

Sounds similar to my situation. Ok, cool. I will keep an eye on it. Sounds like the venustus might grow faster. My livingstonii is dominant even though he is smaller.

 

[RD.]

I agree with Stephen, your livingstonii should bounce back in time. Feed a quality food, and keep your water pristine, and you should see a growth spurt over the next 12 months. Good luck.

 

[CichlidKeeper01]

I agree with Stephen, your livingstonii should bounce back in time. Feed a quality food, and keep your water pristine, and you should see a growth spurt over the next 12 months. Good luck.

Cool, thanks. Currently feeding NLS so should be good with food.

 

[duanes]

More than simply the size of a tank, the smaller the tank is, the faster water quality degrades, and unless you are doing large every other day water changes, in small tanks, growth inhibiting substances become prominent.
But the same thing happens in larger tanks, it just takes a little longer to show up and manifest as a health issue, like HLLE, bloat, or stunting.
Water in the African great lakes is almost nitrate free, so keeping nitrates and other invisible substances as low as possible is the ticket to health.
Even in my 100+ gallon tanks, in order to get the best color and growth from rift lake cichlids, I found 30-40% water changes every other day the way I needed to go.

livingston i above, Ctenochromis horei below

 

[CichlidKeeper01]

More than simply the size of a tank, the smaller the tank is, the faster water quality degrades, and unless you are doing large every other day water changes, in small tanks, growth inhibiting substances become prominent.
But the same thing happens in larger tanks, it just takes a little longer to show up and manifest as a health issue, like HLLE, bloat, or stunting.
Water in the African great lakes is almost nitrate free, so keeping nitrates and other invisible substances as low as possible is the ticket to health.
Even in my 100+ gallon tanks, in order to get the best color and growth from rift lake cichlids, I found 30-40% water changes every other day the way I needed to go.

livingston i above, Ctenochromis horei below

Nice looking fish. I watched my parameters in the 30, tried to keep nitrates below 20. I will watch for growth though. Thanks.

 

[duanes]

Some may disagree, but I consider any nitrates 20 ppm or above to be chronically problematic for any cichlids that come from pristine watersheds, like the great lakes of Africa, or those cichlid rich species unpolluted rivers or lakes of Central and South America.
As part of my job, I used to take nitrate readings for Lake Michigan, most of the year readings were < 1ppm, and even during the highest seasonal readings, little more than 2ppm.
So I always try to keep MCL of my tanks for nitrate in the 2-5ppm range.
Most research on nitrate is done by businesses that raise tons of fish in cramped spaces for aquaculture, and really only care about whether the meat looks edible, produced in the fastest period before harvestto market.
We as aquarists, who are wanting our fish to also look good on the outside, for extended periods may want to consider a much higher standard if possible.

 

[CichlidKeeper01]

Some may disagree, but I consider any nitrates 20 ppm or above to be chronically problematic for any cichlids that come from pristine watersheds, like the great lakes of Africa, or those cichlid rich species unpolluted rivers or lakes of Central and South America.
As part of my job, I used to take nitrate readings for Lake Michigan, most of the year readings were < 1ppm, and even during the highest seasonal readings, little more than 2ppm.
So I always try to keep MCL of my tanks for nitrate in the 2-5ppm range.
Most research on nitrate is done by businesses that raise tons of fish in cramped spaces for aquaculture, and really only care about whether the meat looks edible, produced in the fastest period before harvestto market.
We as aquarists, who are wanting our fish to also look good on the outside, for extended periods may want to consider a much higher standard if possible.

Thanks for the info, it is interesting. Definitely something to consider. My 125 was at 10 nitrate the last time I checked it. I try to keep it as low as possible but have been neglecting it a little bit due to school and getting ready for wrestling season. Would this be the same for African cichlids from the congo, or just the Rift Lakes?

 

[RD.]

I concur with Duane. Water quality is key to healthy fish, I do massive (80-90%) weekly water changes in my African cichlid set up, and I have a relatively low bio load. The higher the bio load, the more frequent and/or larger in size required. The solution to pollution is dilution.