# Venustus Growth



## Nathan Shaw (Jun 20, 2014)

I bought a pair of Venustus a few months ago along with a bunch of other fish. The others seem to be steadily growing, however, the venustus are still really small.

I have a mixed tank and I alternate the food I feed them. Sometimes I feed them spirulina and also Hikari Cichlid Gold pellets. :-?


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

What are the other fish? IME haps and large fish grow more slowly than say mbuna.


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## Nathan Shaw (Jun 20, 2014)

Yeah the majority of the fish I got were mount. They seem healthy enough, they just don't seem to be growing as quick.


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## noki (Jun 13, 2003)

If the Venustus are around Mbuna, they may be a little stressed and might not grow as fast. Also, how big is the tank.

I don't think they grow slow... if you put a school of juveniles in a large tank with lots of water changes and no other fish to intimidate them, they will grow fast. If you put two in a tank with more aggressive fish or larger fish, they may grow slow. Water changes are a factor.


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## Nathan Shaw (Jun 20, 2014)

Yeah there are mbuna around them, but they are not getting picked on or anything like that. The tank is 250 litre and I do two water changes a week (30-50%) 
Water parameters are spot on Ammonia=0 Nitrite=0 Nitrate=10-25 ppm. If anything the pH is low around 7.7 but I have never tinkered with the tap water pH i all the time I have kept fish.


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## noki (Jun 13, 2003)

They don't have to be picked on to feel less comfortable. Simply out of their comfort zone. Mbuna can be boisterous stressful fish, very active and territorial. Venustus are more of an open water schooling fish. One on one, they tend to usually be less dominant than the Mbuna, lower on the pecking order scale.

As far as "Haps" go, Venustus are better than others with Mbuna, but Haps and Aulonocara on average tend to feel intimidated by Mbuna, grow slower, get skinny, have poor color.


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## PiccoloJr (Oct 14, 2013)

My Venustus was an EXTREMELY fast grower. He is in a tank with Haps and Peacocks.


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## Nathan Shaw (Jun 20, 2014)

Does anybody have tips to promote their growth ie feeding ideas.

I have just started trying to distract the larger mbuna with some pellets, whilst dropping in a few bloodworm for the venustus.

I obviousl;y want ot help them grow on as well as possible, but do not want to go overboard and overfeed them, or any of the others.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Growth is most impacted by water changes. Foods have very little impact IME.


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## Nathan Shaw (Jun 20, 2014)

DJRansome said:


> Growth is most impacted by water changes. Foods have very little impact IME.


In what ways are they impacted. Do you mean the more frequent the water changes the more the fish will grow ? :-?


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## audierou (Jul 25, 2012)

DJRansome
Re: Venustus Growth
Mon Jun 30, 2014 7:37 pm
Growth is most impacted by water changes. Foods have very little impact IME.

Very true!!! Water change atleast once a week. This is the key! That venustus will have nive growth within 3-4 months!


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Cleaner water makes them grow more than special food.


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## Nathan Shaw (Jun 20, 2014)

A bit of an update on these. I have been doing regular twice weekly water changes and one of the venustus is growing now a little bit more than the other, however they are still behind the other fish.


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## Nathan Shaw (Jun 20, 2014)

Another couple of months down the line and these are still not growing.

Could they possibly a different species altogether to Venustus ??


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## Iggy Newcastle (May 15, 2012)

Try posting a picture-

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=255437


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## Nathan Shaw (Jun 20, 2014)

It's been easier said than done to actually to get a decent picture of the venustus alongside one of the other fish to show the size difference in comparison. I will have another look, when I get home to see if I can get one.


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## Nathan Shaw (Jun 20, 2014)

I have been trying for ages to get a good picture. Here is probably the best one I could get. It shows the bigger of the two Venustus against the mbuna which I bought around the same time. March 2014


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## noki (Jun 13, 2003)

As I tried to say before, Haps and Aulonocara don't always thrive when kept with Mbuna. They may grow slower and males may not show full color. Mbuna are rowdier and more territorial. Venustus may be put off by all the caves and jockeying for territory. If more stressed than the Mbunba, they won't grow as fast.


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## rennsport2011 (Oct 21, 2013)

As noki said, it is likely the venestus are stressed by the more aggressive mbuna at this stage and not growing. N. venestus when comfortable are a very fast growing fish, and that is what you have. Once full grown, venestus can compete with all but the more aggressive mbuna, unless that tanks have too many rocks. They should be nearly double the size of most mbuna in length, and probably quadruple the weight.


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## jlose600 (Aug 6, 2012)

I kept one male and five females in a 75 gallon tank, which is way too small for this species and they were growing almost an inch a month.


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## Nathan Shaw (Jun 20, 2014)

Back around September, I took some advice from the owner of a LFS and changed the food. The Venustus have come on leaps and bounds now.


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## BDASTRK (Dec 12, 2014)

Nathan Shaw said:


> Back around September, I took some advice from the owner of a LFS and changed the food. The Venustus have come on leaps and bounds now.


This does not surprise me, the notion that Food does not have an impact on growth is not a well thought out statement. And don't believe what you read about Mbuna's, Haps and Peacocks not living well together in the same tank. There is a balance for sure that needs to take place but its easily achievable...............I know I have been doing it for a LOOOOOOOOOONG time.


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## plug (Nov 10, 2013)

what food did you start feeding them to increase their growth

I have 3 venustus myself which are close to years old but the size is max 4.5 - 5 inches...I believe they are females as no blue on faces and they all have rounded anal and dorsal fins

I feed mine NLS and Omega One

Like to hear what you fed them to get them growing faster


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## Nathan Shaw (Jun 20, 2014)

BDASTRK said:


> Nathan Shaw said:
> 
> 
> > Back around September, I took some advice from the owner of a LFS and changed the food. The Venustus have come on leaps and bounds now.
> ...


Well said BDASTRK, I always say that nothing is ever ideal in the fish keeping world. When keeping fish I have not only kept Haps, mbuna and Peacocks together, but Fronts and other Tanganyika too.


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## Nathan Shaw (Jun 20, 2014)

plug said:


> what food did you start feeding them to increase their growth
> 
> I have 3 venustus myself which are close to years old but the size is max 4.5 - 5 inches...I believe they are females as no blue on faces and they all have rounded anal and dorsal fins
> 
> ...


The food I moved them onto was called Tetra Cichlid XL stick, made in Germany. I drop a few full sticks in and break the others up for the smaller fish. They all go absolutely mad for them, so much so I have to take a towel with me when I feed them to mop up afterwards :lol:


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## jw85 (Dec 24, 2013)

BDASTRK said:


> Nathan Shaw said:
> 
> 
> > Back around September, I took some advice from the owner of a LFS and changed the food. The Venustus have come on leaps and bounds now.
> ...


Of course food has an impact, but it has been pretty well documented fish grow better with better conditions.

Noki answered this guys question back in June. There was no amount of food or new food that was going to change what he said in June. Even if they have started growing now, they would have grown more in better conditions suited for them.

I'd be interested in knowing... Are they bigger than the mbuna now? How much bigger are they than when you got them?


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## gverde (Mar 3, 2010)

The venustus I have was one of the fastest haps that grew in my tank. In a couple years he grew from an inch and a half to over 10". I have no mbuna in my 220 but only large haps and peacocks.


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## Nathan Shaw (Jun 20, 2014)

jw85 said:


> I'd be interested in knowing... Are they bigger than the mbuna now? How much bigger are they than when you got them?


They are all around the same size now. The mbuna have been growing in the same sort of fashion as they were, but the Venustus has had a bit of a growth spurt to catch up. They have probably doubled in size from around 1.5-2" to between 3-4" now. Still a bit to grow but they hardly grew at all in the first six months I had them.


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## jlose600 (Aug 6, 2012)

I had six - one male and five females in a 75 gallon tank. I was doing two fifty percent water changes a week and feeding them twice a day. They started out at three inches each and were growing almost an inch a month!!


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## zhewitt04 (Nov 25, 2014)

PiccoloJr said:


> My Venustus was an EXTREMELY fast grower. He is in a tank with Haps and Peacocks.


My fastest growing fish! He and the ruby red are growing quicker than anything else in my peacock hap tank!


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