Stunted Oscar

[Caveden]

Based on pure guessing, if it was stunted I’d guess would grow to 7-9” instead of the usual 12-14”.

PURE GUESSING

 

[..puSkar..]

I am curious as to how much growth is expected now that it's stunted.

I'd suggest you yourself experiment with it. As I've read you seem to have a 50g tank. Put your 3" Oscar in that, get it good feeding and try doing 3-4 40-70% wc per week and observe for the growth. Do it till your Oscar is approximately 6". If it goes from 3"-6" Within 2-3 months with the schedule, there you have it - your not so stunted Oscar. If it takes more than 5-6 months for the 3" growth, then your Oscar may be permanently stunted. I would have suggested the 125g , but there will be some serious competition, so it's better you experiment in the 50g

 

[duanes]

Cichlids (including Oscars) have an average growth rate, but......
the conditions they are living in, help determine if they grow slower or faster.
Below are some cichlid growth rate shots.

above some 2" dovii in April 2009
below the same dovii, in Sept 2009, about 10-12"

Below some 1.5 to 2" Herichthys carpintus in June 1012

Below one of those same carpintus in March 2013


above some pike cichlids still in the bag May 2013
below one of the same pikes about 6" in March 2015

as you can see slightly differing growth rates
Below Jan 2013 a 1" Mesoheros gephyrum

below same fish Oct 2014 about 7-8"

Below Mar 1014 an @ 1" Nimbochromis livingstoni

Below 1 year later in Mar 2015 @ 7"

growth is all about care such as water changes, tank size, quality of food.
I have had fish said to be stunted, quickly almost triple in size, under the proper care
one more, while I'm blathering
below some Paratilapia at @ 1", Oct 2013

Below one of the same Paratilapia Dec 2014

 

[esoxlucius]

Yeah, you've come on asking a how long's a piece of string question.

If it's stunted, great. You'll be the proud owner of an Oscar that puts out hardly any bio load, I think a few would kill for that, lol.

And if it starts growing, then be proud of yourself for giving a once stunted fish a new lease of life.

Keep us posted on its growth/or lack of.

I hope it's the former. Good luck.

 

[LBDave]

My pair of 3 year old oscars are sort of "stunted". 9" long in a 4 ft. 110 gal tank. They are happy campers.
Their turds are as big as my little finger so I don't know about the "bio load" aspect.

 

[Chockful O Phail]

Great theory, however the way here was never a question as he is clearly already stunted. I am curious as to how much growth is expected now that it's stunted.
Also, as I've said, this is the only fish that is stunted, so water changes or parameters only affect oscars?

Its an Albino oscar.
Yes its most likely stunted.
Yes its most likely a runt.
What’s its size going to be when grown? Nobody knows because it very much depends on you.

Reading and understanding that duanes is trying to explain to you his decades of experience growing out and breeding more cichlids than you’ll likely have the chance to see in person. When they’ve said 25% a week isn’t much, it isn’t. Even with a baby oscar in a 20 its still an oscar and its still a cichlid. When they tell you about softness or hardness there is no amount of line breeding capable by humans to illegitimize that fact. When RD. tries to get clarification of what you’re feeding (I.e. not just live guppies which aren’t a quality food source for any fish) he isn’t trying to attack you for feeding live(fish are friends! Not food!), he was trying to get you to understand that you can give fish as treats but should use a quality pellet as a staple. But since you won’t supply that info we can only guess.
You want an estimate? I’ll give 2.
1. Keep going the way you’re going and 4-5” before hith kills it.
2. Listen and upgrade your skills at keeping fish, multiple large water changes per week, high quality food and even with your hard water the oscar could be 7-8” inside of 6 months likely top out at 9”TL.
Someone on here once said “We are all just aquarist that do our best to keep water. The barometer we use to tell us our competency happens to be fish.”

 

[FJB]

I think you did provide enough information-
Oscar, “25% weekly”. Poor genetics and inbreeding would certainly not help, but poor conditions don’t either.