# Show me your full grown hap!!



## abhinaba (Oct 7, 2008)

Hi guys,
I always wonder about the growth rate of my haps.. in my experience, all my haps reached 5.5 to 6" in a year to 1.5 years, but then almost stopped. In nxt 6 months they have grown like 1/2". But, many of them are described to reach 10+", and I wonder whether they will ever reach that lngth.

Can you please show your full grown hap(+-2" of described length) and provide the time it took to reach that length? It will give me an idea about how long I need to wait or if I am doing something wrong here.

Thanks,
Abhi


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## tony2323 (Jun 26, 2010)

hi

here is a scieanochromis i bred ,he is 9" and took 18 months to reach this size










here are some moori they are 10-11" and took three years to reach this size




























here are my protomelas steveni tiawan reef,these are 8" and took about 14 months to reach this size from fry



















heres a nimbochromis fuscotaeniatus i bought last december @ 3" he is now 8"










here is a nimbochromis livingstoni i bought last october @ 4" he is now 8"










here is a protomelas ornatus i bred ,from fry to 10" he took around 2 years










here is a tyranochromis macrostoma i bought last september @ 2" he is now 7" and just starting to colour



















here are two videos,the first video is when fish where first introduced last december,the second video was taken some time in june this year,you will be able to see the growth rate in six months,

video 1






video 2






the best way to grow fish i have found is regular massive water changes ,this keeps the pheramone and nitrate levels low,and good regular feeding

i hope this helps you :thumb:


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## abhinaba (Oct 7, 2008)

Oh man, that is awesome!!! Thank you for taking the time to show the photos..
Please give me the detaill of your tank size, filtration, food (what food and what frequency) and water change regime. Also, the parameters if possible.

Man, I am awestruck!!

Others,
Please share your details.


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## tony2323 (Jun 26, 2010)

abhinaba said:


> Oh man, that is awesome!!! Thank you for taking the time to show the photos..
> Please give me the detaill of your tank size, filtration, food (what food and what frequency) and water change regime. Also, the parameters if possible.
> 
> Man, I am awestruck!!
> ...


hi,

the tank in the video is 300 imperial gallons including filter and pipe volume,
dimensions 8ftx30"x30"

filtration on this tank is the only tank i dont have undergravel filters on (because of the coral sand)
it is run with an 18" lacron sand filter 2,200 gallons per hour ,and a fluval fx5 with seachem matrix as media

it is heated with an electro 2kw swimming pool heater inline with the lacron filter return.

on this tank water changes are 150 gallons 3 times a week,on the undergravel tanks that are running independant i do an 80% water change weekly

feeding i use mainly a premium granular food very similar to tetra prima and occasionaly prawns,

regarding how much food....as much as they want is the only answer i can give you on that one,

just one golden rule when feeding heavy is always make sure you have the filtration to withstand the excesive feeding,

here is a video showing the filtration i use on my centralised system,(excuse the water clarity but the video was taken just after a heavy maintainace day on the filters and every thing had not had time to settle)






as for water perametres,i am a big believer in if you dont need to use addatives then dont,i am lucky in the respect that i live in a relativly hard water area so i stick to just using tap water ph 7.2-7.4 and a tds of 350-400

cheers tony


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## abhinaba (Oct 7, 2008)

Tony,
Thanks again!!
I really really appreciate you taking the time to give all these details..
I think I will up my filtration and water change frequncy after seeing this.

Thanks,
Abhi


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## iplaywithemotions (Dec 18, 2008)

Your fish are gorgeous, Tony! :thumb:


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## exasperatus2002 (Jul 5, 2003)

Red fin borleyi I've had him for a year now. 6"-7" long


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## abhinaba (Oct 7, 2008)

Nice kadango ex..
Oh, I should have mentioned that the kadango that I have is 6.5" and looks to be on track. But I also have a venustus and a P. milomo that are of same age, but actually a little smaller than the Kadango.


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## TheBanker (Jun 14, 2008)

9" venustus in a qt tank 









colored up in the main tank


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## abhinaba (Oct 7, 2008)

Nice... how old is that Venustus?


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## GotCichlids? (May 21, 2010)

Red Empress... Probably fully colored not fully grown... about 6.5" now


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## GoofBoy (Jul 3, 2007)

I have a clear ruler I place on the bottom lip of the tank and compare fish against it for my best guess on sizing - I don't pull fish to get exact measurements - so based on that...

Protomelas sp. "Spilonotus Tanzania" (Liuli)- 7+in got him as a 1.5in Juvie Apr '08










Same guy with an adult male Yellow lab in the background for scale.










Placidochromis sp. "Phenochilus Tanzania" - same size as the Liuli - 7+in got him as a 1.5in Juvie Oct '07



















Placidochromis electra - a very under-rated fish. Right around 5in, got him Jul '09 as a 2in Juvie










Otopharynx lithobates (Zimbawe) - 5in or so - actually got him as a 4in sub-adult Sep '09



















Protomelas sp. "Steveni Taiwan" (Taiwan Reef) - Got him last Aug at around 2.75in he is now just over 4in.










Same guy 6months ago when he was top dog in a 40Br










A few peacocks for completeness...

Aulonocara sp. "Walteri" - got him in Jul '09 as a 2in Juvie - now about 4.5in










Aulonocara "German Red" - got him in Jul '09 as a 1.75in Juvie - now about 4in










Aulonocara stuartgranti (Chiloelo) - got him in Jul '09 as a 1.75in Juvie - now about 4in










I do a 80% water change each week at this point.

I really think a dramatic increase in tank size would give a corresponding increase in growth at this point with the Liuli and Pheno in particular.


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## TheBanker (Jun 14, 2008)

abhinaba said:


> Nice... how old is that Venustus?


not sure exactly, i've had him 2 years. He was about 7" when i got him.


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## tony2323 (Jun 26, 2010)

all cracking fish,but loving the Spilonotus Tanzania :thumb:


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## FlyHigh (Nov 15, 2009)

this has been one of the better threads on this forum. Loving the pictures and just as importantly the info that's going along with them. My biggest are still sub-adult, about 3.5" so I'll refrain from posting pics but I'm loving what they should grow up to look like. Nice work guys.


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## chefrific (May 25, 2010)

My ahi went from 2" to 5" in around 6 months!


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## PiePuncher (Feb 1, 2005)

You guys have great growth rates. It takes about 2 years for almost all my fish to hit 6+ inches. Seems the first four inches come quick but after that, the growth rate slows. My Prot. Spil. Tanzania liuli has probably grown the quickest over the past two years and is now about 7 inches long. After two years, My taiwan reef is only about 5-6 inches long. My peacocks growth rates tend to very depending on the type and my blue neon seems to be the slowest growing peacock in my tank.

My lithobate at about 6-7 inches passed this morning by jumping out of tank. took him about three years to get that large. Seems slow to me.









Taiwan reef is a little over 2 years old and still only 6 inches.









Prot. Tanzania liuli is about 7+ and only two years old. He rules the tank except for when my demasoni or polit are spawning. 









Things I dont do that most of you probably do. I do not use a heater and I do not do water changes but once a month or two. When I do water changes, I only do about 75 gallons or so, which is 1/3 of my tank. I clean filters every few months and only clean one at a time. I also make sure not to overfeed in order to keep waste down and nitrates low. If I fed often and did lots of water changes like the rest of you, I guess my growth rate would be similar. However, I like the fact that my tank is a no hassle tank that requires very little upkeep.


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## limpert (Aug 28, 2007)

9" Father










8" Son


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## tony2323 (Jun 26, 2010)

very nice :thumb: :thumb:


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## abhinaba (Oct 7, 2008)

Piepuncher,
All nice specimens.

Limpert,
Both look good..how old are they?

Thanks everyone for the responses. I added one more eheim 2217 to the 135G and got rid of the internal filter(reomoved the media, but kept the power head for water movement though). So now it is filtered by 2 2217s and power head for circulation.

Also trying to do two 50% water changes per week. I have also got rid of all labs from the tank(now its a haps only tank with the exception of an white tail acei which will also be moved soon ) in order to be able to feed them more protein food freely.
Please comment whether these were right decisions.


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## alanastar (Mar 6, 2006)

Some stunning fish here, :drooling:

Hi Tony, you have too much time on your hands :lol:


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## alanastar (Mar 6, 2006)

OK some of my haps i had quite some time ago.
Venestus








Taiwan reef








Euchilus


















Milomo - super vc-10


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## BigFish77 (Feb 1, 2009)

F. Rostratus, bought as 1.5 inch fry. All other pics are when they were a little over a year. I am unsure of size, they just keep growing.
























My Borely is at least 5-6 inches then.


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## tony2323 (Jun 26, 2010)

hi ,
*** had fossis at 12",stunning fish and quite peaceful :thumb:


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## tony2323 (Jun 26, 2010)

alanastar said:


> Some stunning fish here, :drooling:
> 
> Hi Tony, you have too much time on your hands :lol:


hi paul

so have you,go lay some bricks :lol: :lol: :lol:


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## abhinaba (Oct 7, 2008)

Here is my kadango at almost 7"


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## fox (Jun 11, 2009)

tony2323 said:


> hi ,
> I've had fossis at 12",stunning fish and quite peaceful :thumb:


When they want to be :lol:

Our sub dominant fossie male colored up when a venustus went into spawn. The dominant male almost made a quick dispatch of him. For about two weeks it was touch and go wether they were going to kill each other or just destroy the tank.

That was some weeks ago, since then the sub dom grew from 9" and silver to twelve inches  and just as colorful as the Big Guy. For the most part they play nice now since I removed all the girls from the mix. Gonna trade one of them in for a Tyrannochromis nigriventer pair.


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## fredd1e (Jun 19, 2021)

Buccochromis Nototaenia


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## gverde (Mar 3, 2010)

Here are some haps that are current and some I had prior. The growth rates on my haps were different. In my 220 gallon the Champsochromis caeruleus were probably the fastest growing. Around 2-2.5 years to be about a foot long. The N. Venustus has a pretty fast growth rate similar to the champsochromis. He was about 8-9 inches. Phenochilus tanzania was probably the longest time. Over 3 years and is about 7 inches probably a couple more inches to go. The exochromis is also slower growing. 2 years and is only around 6". I do water changes of at least 50% once a week and feed every other day omega one pellets.


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