# Growth rates of africans?



## Nav (Nov 13, 2009)

Hey all,

Just curious, at the moment I have a lot of juvenilles in my tank, of various sizes and species, just wondering how often do you guys generally feed juvenilles? The reason I ask is the growth of some of my fish seem severely stuned (electric yellows haven't really grown much, one or two of them are growing but the rest seem to still be the same size i bought them at). At the moment I feed once a day only as I leave for work at 6:30am and don't generally get back home till around 5pm-6pm. I normally end up feeding the fish at around 6pm. Ideally how many times would I want to feed the fish a day? How many months should it take for my fish to get to their adult sizes?

Fish in tank:
electric yellow (varying in size from 3-5 cm)
maingano (varying in size from 4-7cm)
synodontis multipunctatus (3-5cm)
yellow tail acei (4-7 cm)

Nav


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## cichlidbarn (Mar 3, 2010)

It all depends

Food alone is not the source for growth. Tank size and water changes contribute to the growth rate.


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## Nav (Nov 13, 2009)

Hi Cichlidbarn,

My tank is 5.12 feet x 2.43 feet x 2.01 feet (~180g with a 4 ft sump filtration system) which I believe is plenty of room for them. I do weekly water changes of 30-40% as well.

Nav


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## fox (Jun 11, 2009)

Our labs are slow growers also, especially the girls.

The warmer tanks exhibit faster growth rates. I would suggest keeping up on the water changes it seems the more often I do them the quicker they grow, and spawn.


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## cichlidbarn (Mar 3, 2010)

Nav said:


> Hi Cichlidbarn,
> 
> My tank is 5.12 feet x 2.43 feet x 2.01 feet (~180g with a 4 ft sump filtration system) which I believe is plenty of room for them. I do weekly water changes of 30-40% as well.
> 
> Nav


Nice tank size - water changes weekly at what you are doing is great. Set your water temp to about 80F - good filteration of 6 times water turn over is a must.

However if you have juveniles - the 180g puts a lot of energy on the cichlids. It makes them work harder at chasing/hunting for food. Just dont put too much food or you will get high nitrates which you do not want. Spread the food out across the tank.

Enjoy watching them grow as many of us do :thumb:


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## punman (Oct 24, 2003)

My adult fish get fed twice a day - sparingly.
But I will feed fry in a fry tank up to six times a day if I am around. Again sparingly.


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