The Runts and The Stunted...Do They Have A Chance?

[benzjamin13]

Do you guys think that they can get grow normal after being neglected for awhile?

I mean I just moved my runt of a datnoid into it's own tank, hoping that it'll catch up to the others.

And I just rescued a Green Sunfish that's been in a 20g that hasn't had a water change in over a year.

 

[Druu]

It depends on the age. Some fish grow at a rapid rate during their younger years and slow as they age. If your runt is reasonably small and not genetically defective, it may grow larger since you removed competition for food.

 

[tunerX]

It will always be the runt, but it should still grow. Separating it from the rest of the larger fish and giving it extra attention will help reduce the size gap unless the fish are at an age that they will stop growing longer. When the largest fish has reached near max for its species you should put the runt back with the rest.

The fish has it's maximum size potentional in its genes. Once you start subtracting from its potential it will not get it back, unless you use hormones.

 

[big train]

A runt will always be just that a runt i know from my experiance with growing out rd's that the little guy will never catch up to cream of the crop. Say about the best dozen or so are at 2" and then u got 200 fry that are 1"-1.5" then the barrel bottem runts at less than 1" a dozen or 2 of those. I have seperated these runts from the rest in the past to try and get the little guys caught to the rest of the group and i have found that the runts just do not have the same genetic ability as the best fish.

Such ability's are the amount of food they can eat at once evan when allowed all the time they need without compatition from other fish they eat very lightly.The runts are also not as aggresive as the other fish during feeding.The runts are very skidish and are usualy not as atractive as their brothers and sisters who got the better genetics.These fish will never hit the 12" mark that most collecters desire when thinking of red devils evan with special attention the runts don't have a shot. I cull these runts from the rest of the shoal and i will often feed them back to their parents when at about 1" in size so they are best suited as feeders imo.

I do not belive i have ever done a rescue fish situation such as the sunfish above but after a year of no wc's the fishes health has got to be suffering evan if u can't see it. I think u could get a growth spurt out of the fish with a varied diet and water changes but i don't know if it will have the same lifespan as other sunfish or flourish like a healthy properly cared for fish would.

 

[Bogwoodbruce]

Its not really worth culling somthing like a Dat just grow it out.

 

[necrocanis]

I have rescued many fish from some pretty nasty situations. Here's what I have seen personally in my own tanks. I rescued 2 channel cats from a lfs. They had lived in the lfs with fin and tail rot for 5 months. No one would buy them because they had no fins, and no whiskers. I tried to tell the lfs what was wrong with them and they never listened gave me the excuse it's too expensive to treat for fin and tail rot. Month after month I would check and they were still there. They were only about 2.5" without fins. Then they started developing popeye, and cloudyeye. I knew they were on their way out. They hadn't grown any in 5 months. So I told them I would take them for free plus some medication for them. I took them home, and after a month their fins started growing back. After 3 months they started growing again, and now after I had them for 8 months one got bit in half by my jau(another rescue), and they were at 12" then. Now the surviving one is 18" and is outgrowing my Jau, RTC, and my TSN. He grew 2" in the last month. So I think in time you can reverse stunting. I don't dare doubt that these fish were stunted when I got them.

Another example. I fish for catfish also, and when I gut hook them I will keep them in my home tanks. I caught a 10" stonecat that is maxed out. 10" is right at the state record so you know they don't get larger in the wild. Mine started growing after 3 months and was 11". By all means a 11" stonecat would be close to 8 years old in the wild. So all in all I would say that stunting can be reversed to some extent, but depending on how long it's went on I doubt it can be completely reversed. Plus if they are stunted to the point where their head is the only thing growing and their body stays small there is damage to the internal organs, and if the fish starts to eat healthy again It's organs could become over stressed and kill the fish. If you are bringing a fish out of a stunted state, you should slowly over a period of time increase the ammount of food that they consume. Once their bellies and muscle tissues return you can ramp it up a little. Most fish like this are emaciated and you can see their ribs, spines, and facial bones through the muscle and skin. I've seen many ID sharks, and plecos that are severely stunted and starved almost to death.

 

[big train]

Well a dat is a more expensive fish much harder to get than a common rd so yeah with the dat i would grow it out however if i had the spawning pair of dats i would for sure cull the runts. Evan a runt dat is still a dat that someone will want it i got a tank full of rd growouts that the lfs and general public are not interested in i can't give them away if they where dats i doubt i would have that problem.