Growth Seems Slow.

[Skydz]

So this may be a question thats been asked a bazillion times but, ive started my cichlid tank about for months ago. so far i have 10 cichlids, 3 kuhli loaches and two cory cat fish and a albino rainbow shark. i have two heaters, two air bubbers and three filters ( one 70 gallon and 2 - 30 gallons.) all this fish get along great in my 55 gallon, ( ihear they dont school but mine love to chill in groups for some parts of the days and they ALL play in the bubbles or follow each other in a line, including the cories!) surprisingly, since my gf bought a couple of corys cause they were reticulatus. (guess she liked em the look of em then the normal ones). Im wondering if they had stopped growing or maybe i see them everyday? or is this too over stocked. most of the cichlids are juvi's except for one who is pretty big compared to the rest (almost full grown i believe . some of the cichlids ive had look like they've grown but only to a certain point. ive done water changes and all that jazz. I was just wondering. if there were a sure way to tell? my maniago i believe hasnt grown too much, other frys i had purchased had caought up to his size and hes probablly on 2 inches.. is this normal. the first electric yellow and auratus that i had purchaed a couple months before the maniago, havent grown much ethier. have i stunned thier growth some how? pls help put my brain at ease! lol thank you!

 

[JenJ]

What cichlids are they? There are a wide variety of cichlid species that are different sizes and have different needs.

Plus your cories should be in a group of at least 6.

 

[Skydz]

3 Auratus two regular. one albino. Either a Maingano or a Electric Blue johanni. Peacock cichlid i believe hes orange with brown spots, kinda like a cow. Electric Yellow. 3 zebras i believe, two orange one blue. and on venustus. they are all African cichlids i believe. Yeah the cories i kinda have to leave em in there. but getting four more? would that be over stocked? i didnt mean to have cories

oh and im going to do about a 15 percent water change every other day from now on to see if anything changes, instead of doing a 25 - 30 percent water change once a week. you think this is a good idea? or should i stick with once a week?

 

[The Taffy Apple]

3 Auratus two regular. one albino. Either a Maingano or a Electric Blue johanni. Peacock cichlid i believe hes orange with brown spots, kinda like a cow. Electric Yellow. 3 zebras i believe, two orange one blue. and on venustus. they are all African cichlids i believe. Yeah the cories i kinda have to leave em in there. but getting four more? would that be over stocked? i didnt mean to have cories

oh and im going to do about a 15 percent water change every other day from now on to see if anything changes, instead of doing a 25 - 30 percent water change once a week. you think this is a good idea? or should i stick with once a week?

Although, no doubt, a more experienced member may be able to comment on your stocking... i can only give advice on water changes...
Unless you are having PH or Gh/KH level issues, or using certain medications,then regular water changes will probably NEVER be a bad thing. A personal judgment of the size of your tank would have me doing 40-50% water changes weekly, more so if my water test results told me i needed to....if you can take the Corys back, then great..if not then you may need to start putting consideration into getting a few more (they live best on a sociable group of 5/6+), but again, you need to take into consideration filtration, water change regime and tank size.

Terry.

 

[Skydz]

ok thank you for your replies!

 

[Wills]

In four months or so you would normaly see a little growth but its a longer term thing for big changes - if most of the fish were fry when you got them its natural for them to grow faster to the same size as the larger ones as they do slow as they grow.

As for helping - regular water changes will help and feeding high protien food - I dont know a great deal about african cichlids but generally frozen blood worm pakcs on some weight I have found. With water changes try 30-40% water changes twice a week for a few weeks and see if its helping.

Wills

 

[Skydz]

Cool! thanks im going to have to give a it a couple weeks and experiment. and ill see how it goes. can anyone tell me if what i have is too over stocked to add 4 more cories or should i just get rid of the kuhlis and cories

 

[Wills]

Personally I would get rid of the Khulli and Cories - its a bit of an odd mix really with the Africans. Your better off with them in a community tank with thinks like tetras and small barbs maybe dwarf american cichlids.

Wills

 

[snazy]

What are you feeding them, how often, and do all the fish get a bite to eat? If you've had them as fry it needs more feeding, more variety and lots of water changes.

 

[Skydz]

I feed them 3 times or 4 a day. but only what they can eat in 30 seconds. i mostly i feed them mostly sprinula with garlic. for breakfast. omega one super cichlid pellets. i have frozen brine shrimp cubes i give them once in a while. and plankton (they don't seem very fond of em) and alge wafers. yea i got the fish in a mixed african tank at pjs pets for $1.99 each so i guess ive had them since fry.

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

The "Kuhli" Loaches (likely to be really Pangio semicincta) and Corydoras have no chance in that setup, they need peaceful tankmates no more aggressive than a Keyhole or African Butterfly Cichlid.

They will eventually be regarded as live lunch if you mean Nimbichromis venustus, these big (>25cm) cichlids are natural pistivores in Lake Malawi and need a 5x2x2 tank.

 

[Skydz]

ok ill have to trade the cories and kuhlis, does that mean even if the others dont bug any of them. they will be lunch in the future