African cichlid breeding and runt question

[gwand]

I am finding that approximately 10% of my offspring from the breeding of j. transcriptus are runts. These runts are approximately 1/4 the size of their brothers and sisters. Actually, I am seeing the same issue breeding my a. cacatuoides. Will these runts ever reach a normal size? Will they have a shortened lifespan? What can I do in the future to avoid producing runts?

 

[Colin_T]

Feed them more.

 

[GaryE]

It's expensive to fix with cacatuoides. I had fewer runts when I raised small batches in different tanks - I think they can be losers in getting to food, and in the hormone wars. But you can't discount the effect of raising such inbred linebred fish as the orange flash types. I had very few runt cacatuoides ever, but 90% of the ones I raised came from wild caught 'cacas' that looked very different from the marketed ones now.

For the Tanganyikans - there I don't know the dynamics. I only raised them once and had multiple broods together - it was hard to tell what was younger and what could have been a runt.

 

[gwand]

Feed them more.

These little guys were born July 3. If I feed them more, can there be catch up growth? If that’s the case, I will enrich their diet with baby brine shrimp.

 

[Innesfan]

I have no first-hand experience with Apistos/Dwarf Cichlids in this regard but the old-timers segregated for size with all sorts of species from cichlids to livebearers to killies-- even goldfish in part to address this. As @GaryE suggested, it can become an expensive fix, tanks-wise.

 

[gwand]

I have no first-hand experience with Apistos/Dwarf Cichlids in this regard but the old-timers segregated for size with all sorts of species from cichlids to livebearers to killies-- even goldfish in part to address this. As @GaryE suggested, it can become an expensive fix, tanks-wise.

I’m being dense here. Could you expand on your comment. Segregating the juveniles by size? How does that prevent or remedy the development of runts?

 

[Innesfan]

I’m being dense here. Could you expand on your comment. Segregating the juveniles by size? How does that prevent or remedy the development of runts?

By reducing competition for food and mitigating the effect of growth-inhibiting hormones and toxins.

 

[Back in the fold]

Run yourself an experiment . Separate out some runts by themselves and watch . Sometimes what you think is a runt is just a slow grower that turns out fine but takes longer .

 

[Colin_T]

These little guys were born July 3. If I feed them more, can there be catch up growth? If that’s the case, I will enrich their diet with baby brine shrimp.

They might catch up but usually need to be moved into a different tank so they aren't being picked on by the bigger fish.

When feeding baby fish, you need to feed them really well from day one. They should be fed 3-5 times per day and given as much food as they can eat. They need to have fat stomachs and look like pregnant guppies. After they have eaten as much they can, you add some live baby brine shrimp and let them graze on that for the next few hours.

My feeding regime for baby fish included powder or liquid fry food, infusoria and green water for rainbows, tetras & barbs. Then I added microworms and newly hatched brineshrimp. After a few weeks on that I added finely chopped marine mix and crumbled/ powdered flake foods. The marine mix is prawn, fish & squid blended up and frozen in blocks. I used a pr of scissors to cut it into tiny bits. After a month I added frozen but chopped bloodworms, brineshrimp, daphnia and mysis shrimp.

My feeding regime for baby cichlids was the same except I skipped the powdered fry food, infusoria and green water. I started feeding them with newly hatched brineshrimp and microworms. After a couple of weeks I added finely chopped marine mix and powdered flake food.

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If any of the fish sit on the bottom most of the time instead of swimming around, they are usually deformed and called belly sliders. They should be euthanised because they don't get better. Belly sliders also grow slower than other fish.

 

[Magnum Man]

When I was raising Tilapia... the seller addressed runts, 1st they culled for them, so I wasn't supposed to get them... I still did on occasion, but maybe 1%, and they didn't live long in a farming tank.. they said it often happens, when the fry don't get all the want to eat, multiple times a day... so if you were just feeding a little more than they could eat, and sucking up the rest, then feeding 6-7 times a day... you would likely have less runt issues than feeding them an amount they could eat in 10 minutes, 2 to 3 times a day...

also any accumulation of hormones could be a cause as well... bigger tanks are a plus, as well as more frequent water changes...

all this assumes they are correct genetically... the more line bred / inbred they are, one would assume the more actual genic issues you could have... our indoor dog, is / was a runt, and we were concerned he would have health issues associated with his "runtiness" he's been a good dog so far, but there are no guarantees, when you start out