This has been on my mind

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Crazy mike

Crazy mike

Fire Eel
MFK Member
Sep 22, 2012
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Vacaville,California
Before I joined I used to comb through old interesting threads, in one thread which for the love of me I cannot find there was a discussion in regards to breeding and growth. In that thread I believe ( I'm not altogether sure if it was this thread or not) someone said that breeding cichlids at smaller sizes slows their overall growth due to the bodily resources being diverted to reproduction. I was wondering if someone could confirm or deny this. If it proves to be true do you believe that it slows females more than males? Sorry for the lengthy intro it's just been in my mind lol


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Producing gametes requires energy. So yes, it can reduce growth most definitely as the energy that could be going toward growth is instead used for spawning. It will affect females more so than males simply due to the fact that it takes much more energy to produce eggs vs. sperm.

If you'd like an example look up triploid trout. They're a sterile trout that has no drive to breed due to possessing three sets of chromosomes vs. the standard two. They're stocked by F&W because they get huge fast by skipping spawning and all the energy that would be used for spawning goes instead towards growth. (They also then cannot hybridize with native populations, but it's irrelevant to my point.)
 
Thank you modest_man. Do you have any idea how long is takes a female to recover from spawning to get back to a normal growth rate? And would continuos breeding cause her to never reach her true size potential versus a female that was never bred.


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I don't think it will affect the end result of potential size, but will definitely slow the process. When my female jag breeds, her stomach gets very thin and sunken in from not wanting to eat much during the process. She always returns to normal and I tend to separate her from other fish to allow her to get back to her normal state.
 
When I had Malawis (Mbuna), some of those females bred when they were quite small.
They never grew to their full potential.
 
Crazy mike said:
Before I joined I used to comb through old interesting threads, in one thread which for the love of me I cannot find there was a discussion in regards to breeding and growth. In that thread I believe ( I'm not altogether sure if it was this thread or not) someone said that breeding cichlids at smaller sizes slows their overall growth due to the bodily resources being diverted to reproduction. I was wondering if someone could confirm or deny this. If it proves to be true do you believe that it slows females more than males? Sorry for the lengthy intro it's just been in my mind lol
Click to expand...

Look at things this way...does reproducing at different ages effect the growth of dogs, cats, cows, elephants...or humans?? Does a human being that reproduces at age 14 somehow going to be shorter or smaller than a human being that first reproduces at age 16, 18, 21...etc?

I have never heard of any data that says this is the case. And believe me...there are plenty of stories about young girls having babies at earlier ages...and I've never heard anything mentioned about this "stunting" their growth. In humans...the bigger concern is "mental maturity" vs. "physical maturity".

One BIG difference between fish & mammals is...fish continue to grow throughout their lives...as compared to mammals...which reach physical maturity relatively early in life.

With fish that are busy reproducing (versus fish that are not reproducing)...you simply need to feed them more to compensate for their greater energy needs.

One other thing to consider. Many, many fish lay eggs. The energy requirements required to lay eggs really isn't that great. The eggs get laid, they get fertilized...and that's it. Not like in humans or other mammals where the growth/gestation inside of the body goes on for months & months...with MUCH higher energy requirements. And even in humans & other mammals...they just eat more to compensate for the greater energy requirements. Stunted growth (as far as I know)...is never mentioned as a "side-effect" of reproducing at an early age.
 
The energy requirements required to lay eggs really isn't that great. The eggs get laid, they get fertilized...and that's it.
Click to expand...

The energy to lay is not great, but the energy required to produce those eggs certainly is.

I suggest that you read the comments in the link posted in my previous comment. Most of those people, myself included, have bred enough fish over the years to have seen the results first hand. No one said that it causes a female to stop growing, only that a female that is constantly breeding will have SLOWER growth compared to those females that are not constantly breeding. It's common sense, really ......
 
IMO it's not even about just the egg-laying, but the constant tending/fanning/defending of the eggs and then herding/protecting the fry that puts heavy stress on breeding fish. Some cichlids will eat very little during this process even when given food. The whole breeding process seems to really wear them down. I've not only witnessed slower growth in females, but also shortened lifespans if you let them breed constantly and don't give them a break to recondition and build their energy back up.
 
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