# Calvus Growth Rates



## Gourami (Jan 9, 2005)

I was reading the thread below about calvus and saw that a number of people mentioned how long it takes for a calvus to grow out to 5" or so. I have had a couple of calvus for about 3 yrs now and they have only grown to about 2.25." Could this be a result of them being housed in a 29 gallon for this time. I am starting up a 55 gallon and am planning to move them, will this result in increased size? I am also curious on the life expectancy of the calvus as well. Thanks for the help :thumb:


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## Chris2500DK (Feb 15, 2006)

From what I've read Calvus are some of the slowest growing fish in the world.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

I've had Calvus for about one year in a 36" 38G tank and three of them (males?) are about that size. Started off with six juvies at one inch.

The tank happened to have zero Nitrates due to vallisneria growing in the tank. So maybe it's more a function of low Nitrates than gallons? I feed NLS once daily, but I did start them off with NLS Grow 2X daily.


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## Norse76 (Jul 20, 2008)

I have read that Calvus can take anywhere from 18 months to 2 years just to reach sexual maturity.


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## lcosme (Jan 21, 2005)

I swear my calvus have never grown..


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## Furcifer158 (Feb 16, 2008)

Chris2500DK said:


> From what I've read Calvus are some of the slowest growing fish in the world.


Thats what I thought till my xeno cherry princess had babies.



lcosme said:


> I swear my calvus have never grown..


 :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:


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## Gourami (Jan 9, 2005)

Its kind of a mystery to me. I guess I'll just have to see if there is any progress when I move them to the new tank. Thanks and keep the info coming.


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## TaNgS_RuLe (Sep 26, 2007)

I agree that altos take really long to grow, but they also reach sexual maturity very quickly. I raised a batch of F1 from my WCs, and they spawned after 1 year. My smallest female that spawned was about 1.5 inches, though there were only about 20 fry.


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## prov356 (Sep 20, 2006)

They may both be females. There's quite a difference in growth rate between male and female. My 
male's are 3 inches or so at 2 years old while the females are maybe 2-2.25". I doubt the larger tank 
will make much difference in growth unless you weren't keeping up with water changes. If you keep up 
with water changes, you can grow fish out in a smaller tank just fine.


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## Razzo (Oct 17, 2007)

lcosme said:


> I swear my calvus have never grown..


Ain't that the truth 

I don't have a lot of experience yet. I've had some F1 Calvus fry grow from about 1-inch (when I got them) to about 2.5 inches a year later.

I've got a new group of comps that are about medium in size. If I am fortunate enough to get some fry, I'll be learning first hand how slow they grow.

I'll take the above advice too and feed NLS and keep up with my water changes.

Good Luck,
Russ


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## gideonx5 (Jan 28, 2008)

i have noticed that 1 of my comps i added to the tank about 3 months ago has grown about a half inch since i got it. i have alot of hornwort in the tank with grows about 1-2 inches a day. maybe oxygenation levels make a difference? my oldest comp is 4.5 inches and has grown about 1.5 inches in about a year.


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## FishAreFriends (Dec 23, 2004)

Spend the extra money with these guys to buy larger ones. What usually happens is by the time they actually get to a size where you can see em you already want to get another type of fish you are so tired of waiting!


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## rogersb (May 21, 2007)

FishAreFriends said:


> Spend the extra money with these guys to buy larger ones. What usually happens is by the time they actually get to a size where you can see em you already want to get another type of fish you are so tired of waiting!


Agreed. I was ready to post mine online but then they started spawning and I had to atleast get one successful brood from them.


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## mielkeal (Mar 3, 2006)

I am impatient by nature, but altos are worth the wait IMO. I started with some 1 inch comps and raised them to breeding size, which have spawned, and the resulting juveniles are starting to pair up. It helps if you have other fish to enjoy while they grow.


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