# blue dolphin moorii growth rate?



## phillum (Jul 22, 2019)

Hey,

I got a new goup of 10 blue dolphin moorii cichlids and was wondering on the growth rates of these cichlids? This group of fish range from 1 inch to 2 inches each. Just added them in yesterday and they are already eating on the first day and seem to be pretty active. They are in a 180 gal tank in a community with other fish as well. I would like to breed these in the future so I'm hoping a group of 10 will hopefully get lucky and get a somewhat good male/female ratio? Is 10 enough for a good possibly breeding group? I also have 2 slightly bigger ones at around 2.5inch to 3 inch from the LFS but those 2 don't really go with with the group. Any information would be appreciated thanks.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

How long is your tank? What other species are in the tank, and how many males:females of the other species?


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## ken31cay (Oct 9, 2018)

I have two of these in my 450gal from when they were 1". They are now 5.5"-6" and were slow growers compared to the other haps I have in the tank.


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## phillum (Jul 22, 2019)

its a standard 180 Gallon	72" x 24" x 25"	tank. The other tank mates are:

All these are juvies so i'm unsure of their sex at the moment:
6 frontosa around 2-3 inches each 
6 uaru about 1-2 inches each 
5 clown loaches 3-4 inches each 
2 dolphins at around 2.5-3 inches

4 blue dolphins at a mature size 4-5 inches each 1 male 3 females these were bought at this size a few months back.

I only know the sex of the adult dolphins because of their behavior. The one male shaking and his head turning really white and his colors got really dark at one of the females and 2 females had dropped eggs before but were all eaten up. I haven't had much luck with the adults breeding as the male only seemed to be interested in one specific female. The other female he wasn't really interested in as much dropped eggs and i separated him with her but he decided to go and eat her eggs instead of fertilizing them which caught me by surprise. Once the fish get bigger and i can sex them i will make some adjustments. So far everyone is pretty peaceful no fighting and it even stopped one of the 2.5 inch dolphins from chasing constantly the other 2.5 inch dolphin once i added these 10 in.

Also how long did you have your dolphins in your tank from 1" to get to 5.5-6 inches?


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## phillum (Jul 22, 2019)

Also the adults have no problem so far with the juvies only sometimes one of the 2.5 inch ones will just charge at them but other than that everyone is peaceful.


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## ken31cay (Oct 9, 2018)

phillum said:


> its a standard 180 Gallon	72" x 24" x 25"	tank. The other tank mates are:
> 
> All these are juvies so i'm unsure of their sex at the moment:
> 6 frontosa around 2-3 inches each
> ...


I've had my two in there around 14 months now. Both are females and have been very mellow in my tank.

A couple of thoughts on your setup: the Uaru kind of stand out since they are SA fish and have a different water temperature requirement (82F-84F) than the Frontosa (75F-77F). They also come from opposite water pH & hardness, though they can both adjust to different water.


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## phillum (Jul 22, 2019)

ken31cay said:


> phillum said:
> 
> 
> > its a standard 180 Gallon	72" x 24" x 25"	tank. The other tank mates are:
> ...


My tank temperature usually hovers around the 77F so it is more catered to the frontosa than the uaru. The uaru are still growing fast despite the lower temperature. I really like the uaru alot and that is why i have a group of them despite the differences. The uaru do seem happy and they do alot of exploring and they eat a ton too.

That is really fast for your dolphins to get that big from only 1" in just over a year especially for females. Your tank is much bigger so i guess that also helps alot with them growing that quickly and your feedings?


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## ken31cay (Oct 9, 2018)

> That is really fast for your dolphins to get that big from only 1" in just over a year especially for females. Your tank is much bigger so i guess that also helps alot with them growing that quickly and your feedings?


I suppose the larger tank does help. I also do 75% weekly WC and am a stickler for tank maintenance (weekly cleaning filters, etc) as I've always believed a 'clean' environment is key to quick growth. That being said, the Dolphins have grown the slowest in my tank besides for the female Frontosa which were slower. I feed a slightly heaping tablespoon of Northfin pellets once a day for the 27 fish in there.


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## phillum (Jul 22, 2019)

ken31cay said:


> > That is really fast for your dolphins to get that big from only 1" in just over a year especially for females. Your tank is much bigger so i guess that also helps alot with them growing that quickly and your feedings?
> 
> 
> I suppose the larger tank does help. I also do 75% weekly WC and am a stickler for tank maintenance (weekly cleaning filters, etc) as I've always believed a 'clean' environment is key to quick growth. That being said, the Dolphins have grown the slowest in my tank besides for the female Frontosa which were slower. I feed a slightly heaping tablespoon of Northfin pellets once a day for the 27 fish in there.


Oh thats very good you keep your tank super clean. I don't change that much at once but the frontosa i have in my tank i got them as tiny fry less than a inch and its been a year now and they are all around 3-4inches each, i was very surprised at how fast they grew from fry. I'm going to document the dolphins and see in a year how big these will be in a year. I'm not sure how to sex the frontosa, how were you able to sex your frontosa male/females? My biggest one is at around 4 inches its a inch bigger than most of the other frontosas is the biggest one in the group most likely a male?


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## ken31cay (Oct 9, 2018)

phillum said:


> Oh thats very good you keep your tank super clean. I don't change that much at once but the frontosa i have in my tank i got them as tiny fry less than a inch and its been a year now and they are all around 3-4inches each, i was very surprised at how fast they grew from fry. I'm going to document the dolphins and see in a year how big these will be in a year. I'm not sure how to sex the frontosa, how were you able to sex your frontosa male/females? My biggest one is at around 4 inches its a inch bigger than most of the other frontosas is the biggest one in the group most likely a male?


That's a decent growth rate for Frontosa. In my previous Frontosa tank before this one, what I assume are the females grew at about that rate, the males grew faster to 5"-6". Yes your 4" Frontosa is likely a male. Venting is the most reliable way to sex them but I haven't done this yet with mine. I currently have 16 Frontosa in my tank, 14 have been there 4 months, and 2 have been there 14 months. The 2 were around 2" when they went in and now they are 5.5" (female?) and 8" (exhibits male behavior).


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## phillum (Jul 22, 2019)

ken31cay said:


> phillum said:
> 
> 
> > Oh thats very good you keep your tank super clean. I don't change that much at once but the frontosa i have in my tank i got them as tiny fry less than a inch and its been a year now and they are all around 3-4inches each, i was very surprised at how fast they grew from fry. I'm going to document the dolphins and see in a year how big these will be in a year. I'm not sure how to sex the frontosa, how were you able to sex your frontosa male/females? My biggest one is at around 4 inches its a inch bigger than most of the other frontosas is the biggest one in the group most likely a male?
> ...


Ah good to know, i'm not sure on venting so i just go by behaviour and size. That 4" frontosa is the alpha of the frontosa group as well. The 5 larger ones are zaire moba and the smallest one is a burundi. I'm hoping for at least 2 females, but its hard to figure out females as they could be smaller sub males. One of the moba fronts behaved strangely for awhile I believe it was holding bubbles or a pebble in its mouth its mouth looked full and i read some young female fronts display this type of behavior fake holding?

generally male fish are usually more likely to become bullies and alpha male behaviour so they are easier to pick out but i recently had bought a adult female dolphin hoping to add her with the adults and she was the nastiest biggest bully fish i ever owned! She got very dark with male coloration and acted like a male,bullied shook her body and intimated chased all 4 of my adult dolphins including the male who was terrified of her. Last owner of her said he can confirm it was a female because he saw her drop eggs twice, her vent was still bulging when i got her she lived as the sole dolphin in his tank with other haps. I only had her for a week and i had to get rid of her right away as she was stressing the rest of my dolphins out. I watched her behaviour and i believe she just couldn't accept the fact there were other dolphins her size. She never bothered any of the other fish and the fronts were not scared of her and pushed her away too.


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## ken31cay (Oct 9, 2018)

Do you have plans to move the Frontosa when they get bigger in the future or the Dolphins if their breeding behavior becomes a problem in the tank?


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## phillum (Jul 22, 2019)

I will likely move the dolphins since I got a large group of them if that does become a problem but 3 of the adults the male and 2 females have tried to breed and drop eggs in there before with the frontosas in there, But the frontosa's and the other fish all went in and ate all the dolphin's eggs. The male and females did nothing to stop all of them and just let them eat the eggs. Was surprised the dolphins showed no aggression at all. The Frontosa's hold their own against the dolphins and watching them and the dolphins i would say they are more dominant over the dolphins. The dolphins i got are very docile.


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## ken31cay (Oct 9, 2018)

phillum said:


> I will likely move the dolphins since I got a large group of them if that does become a problem but 3 of the adults the male and 2 females have tried to breed and drop eggs in there before with the frontosas in there, But the frontosa's and the other fish all went in and ate all the dolphin's eggs. The male and females did nothing to stop all of them and just let them eat the eggs. Was surprised the dolphins showed no aggression at all. The Frontosa's hold their own against the dolphins and watching them and the dolphins i would say they are more dominant over the dolphins. The dolphins i got are very docile.


Sounds like it. Dolphins can usually be a little more on the aggressive side compared to Frontosa, as I'm sure you know. I'd also want to have my breeding group be the focus of their own tank. Frontosa are my tank's focus, though I still have years before most of them are mature enough for breeding.


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