Making Fish Grow

[moochy13]

could be a long post, be prepared

yesterday i went to see a mate, and he told me had to rehome a purple spotted goby he had because while he was working away it killed (without eating) 4 of his fish including 2 discus (his missus was still at home to see proof). i was with him when he brought the goby a few months ago, and hadnt seen the fish since. when he got it was only an inch or 2 long, yesterday it looked like a big hearty purple sausage with fins and a mouth ! it was roughly 6 inches long and quite chunky.

another of my mates also brought one, from the same group in the same tank at the same shop. however his goby has hardly grown at all (probably not a bid thing considering whats happened now).

the bigger goby lived in a big tank (roughly 5x3x3 bowfront i think at least) with lots of other fish. the tank is well overfiltered (because my mate works away a lot), and he doesnt skimp on the quality of food he buys. i dont know what he feeds and how often, im seeing him again tomorrow to find out.

the smaller one is in a juwel that i think is about 3-3.5ft long. i think its at least the 180 if not bigger. he feeds bog standard catfish pellets and even more bog standard flake. his water/filtration is fine, and his tank is quite lightly stocked. when i told him how much the other goby had grown to, he was gutted. not so much about not having a fish murderer in his tank, but just because it hadnt grown.

and its a problem he and I have had. i very rarely see any decent growth in my fish and niether does he, yet the stocking and water is all good, so we're thinking it must be food. ive got a humbug catfish that is tiny. i got it from the shop, and they still have some left in the same tank, and they're twice as big as my one now - living in a tiny overstocked LFS tank !! this annoys me. i feed the same as my mate with the juwel, but i also add hikari algae discs for my plecs. we both only feed our fish once a day, a pinch of flake and a couple of pinches of pellets. i also add 1 and a half algae discs.

sooooooo........ what are we doing wrong? should we be feeding twice a day ? will getting far more expensive 'brand name' food make a huge difference ? if so what is suggested ? i have a lot of great looking young fish and want them to grow to be little beasties, not stay midgets.

 

[the biffster]

water changes good quality water
is what make fish grow that and
a balanced diet

 

[VaegaVic]

Hi there,
Feeding little and often with a food that's high in proteins and vitamins will generally result in better growth.
Feeding often gets a fish's metabolism really working, your friend would have had to do this with the Discus anyway.

The quality of fish food does matter, same with us, same with other pets. New Era is currently one of the best available on the market and also not too bad on the old wallet.

Also, as many water changes as you can possibly manage.

 

[moochy13]

i change 50% + a week, though im yet to put any fresh veg in for my fish. so is a balanced diet not neccessarily inclusive of the more expensive fish foods ? i just looked on ebay and to me, paying like 14 quid for some tetra brand food (300g) seems a massive amount of money. but if its going to be a huge benefit over the cheap flake i buy i guess theres not much choice.

vaegavic - sorry was typing as you posted. when you say often, what is 'often' ? i always read the backs of food packs andhave seen anything from feed every other day to 4 times a day. i shall investigate the new era food.

 

[VaegaVic]

i change 50% + a week, though im yet to put any fresh veg in for my fish. so is a balanced diet not neccessarily inclusive of the more expensive fish foods ? i just looked on ebay and to me, paying like 14 quid for some tetra brand food (300g) seems a massive amount of money. but if its going to be a huge benefit over the cheap flake i buy i guess theres not much choice.

vaegavic - sorry was typing as you posted. when you say often, what is 'often' ? i always read the backs of food packs andhave seen anything from feed every other day to 4 times a day. i shall investigate the new era food.

No worries,
When I'm raising baby fish, I always feed up to 12 times a day, just very small amounts at a time.
Also do a water change daily.

For my adult fish, they get fed 4 times a day and water change once a week.

 

[moochy13]

right, i think i'll start feeding twice a day from now on, keeping an eye on the water for a little while. i forgot to mention i do also add either bloodworm or daphnia as a treat every 2 or 3 days. i'll also start getting some cucumber or courgette or soemthing in there.

 

[Carlovel1]

Hi there,
Feeding little and often with a food that's high in proteins and vitamins will generally result in better growth.
Feeding often gets a fish's metabolism really working, your friend would have had to do this with the Discus anyway.

The quality of fish food does matter, same with us, same with other pets. New Era is currently one of the best available on the market and also not too bad on the old wallet.

Also, as many water changes as you can possibly manage.

And to add to that, a higher temperature makes fish grow a tad faster

 

[moochy13]

mine is about 25/26C at the moment, its hard to see where the thermometer is, but its towards the top of the green section on the scale.

 

[Vin Swords]

temp 28, good water change, over filtertion, heavy meat and iorn rich veg and lots of pea.

they will go 2,3 time bigger in a month.