A friend and I bought our Red Belly's at the same time ( 5 months ago ). My smallest one ( 5" ) is bigger then his largest ( 3.5" ). We both have 5 of them in 55 gallon Aquariums. He has a Whisper 60 and an Aquaclear 70 for filtration and an Aquaclear powerhead for movement. I have two cannister filters, a Magnum 350 and a Magnum 220. We both do water changes every week and feed them similar diets. How come his are so much smaller? Even the color is diffrent, mine have a lot deeper red then his. They came from the same batch so I am a little confused. Is it possible that the filtration is the diffrence? The only diffrence in diet is that I feed mine Cichlid Gold Pellets and he doesn't. Everything else is the same. He even keeps his tank a little warmer then mine.
Whats the deal?
- Thread starter altimaser
- Start date
Hmm, i would definitely say that water quality is an issue.
And, (maybe i am mistaken but...) don’t Cichlid Gold Pellets enhance colours...?
That would explain the deeper colour.
Does your friend feed a lot of feeders (carp family, like goldfish)?
Carp-family feeders have a growth restricting vitamin if i am not mistaken..
And, (maybe i am mistaken but...) don’t Cichlid Gold Pellets enhance colours...?
That would explain the deeper colour.
Does your friend feed a lot of feeders (carp family, like goldfish)?
Carp-family feeders have a growth restricting vitamin if i am not mistaken..
Hikari cichlid gold (red package) is colour enhancing, whereas the green package does not.
I've never heard about feeders having a growth restricting hormone in them, if anything I almost would put money that a predatory fish that is fed goldies would grow faster than a pellet reared fish. Well, if they have equal enviromental factors.
What is the h2o parameters in your guys tank?
I've never heard about feeders having a growth restricting hormone in them, if anything I almost would put money that a predatory fish that is fed goldies would grow faster than a pellet reared fish. Well, if they have equal enviromental factors.
What is the h2o parameters in your guys tank?
Pellets are high nutrition balls, whereas feeders are limited nutrition. Fish are more active and expend more energy in a warmer environment. You have a higher bio-load then your friend, so TDS is probably the main factor. On a diet of mostly feeders, the TDS build up faster because more waste is produced, plus the feeders are producing waste before they get ate. So he ends up with a higher bioload with less filtration. Pellets do not produce waste, and are more digestable. Don't quote me but I believe one or two pellets has the same nutrional value of 1 feeder goldfish, with fewer calories............ I would venture a guess, but if he increased his W/C to 2x a week, he could get the same growth you are experiencing.
And they will grow faster on feeders, but that is limited nutrition, and could cause possible health problems. Your pellet diet is healthier, and will give a better sustained growth.
And they will grow faster on feeders, but that is limited nutrition, and could cause possible health problems. Your pellet diet is healthier, and will give a better sustained growth.
Yeah it's probably a number of factors but the pellets are responsable for the color. Other factors could include water temp(is yours warmer than his speeding up metabolism?), and well if he feeds feeder fish he could have a build up of growth inducing hormones. Plus with pellets they an put as much protein in them as they want you can't change the chemical makeup of a feeder fish. Start feeding Hikari bio-gold an you might have even better results.
Well....... you definatly have better filtration than your friend which is probably the reason your fish grow faster. Water conditions are a big factor on how your fish grows also, not just what you feed them.
Thank You everyone for the replies. I think he is gonna go get a cannister filter to help out with filtration and I gave him some of my Cichlid Pellets ( red bag ). We will see how it works out.
Dominuslive;587628; said:
I agree whole heartedly, fish secrete hormones into the water that inhibit growth. to grow big fish fast use a drip system, and frequent vacuuming.
as for the feeders, I surely agree that pellets are healthier pound for pound, and they do not promote the spread of parasites and disease. I just think that preds grow faster on feeders because A) high protien percentage B) hunting stimulates the metabolism and C) this is opinion, not fact.