Interesting Observation on Mbuna Juvy Growth

482 Views 5 Replies 5 Participants Last post by Trench, Jan 24, 2011

DrgRcr

Discussion Starter · Jan 19, 2011

A couple of weeks ago, I was moving some mbuna juvies around from one tank to another. Mainly, some bigger yellow labs and fuelleborni were going from a 10g to a 40 breeder. They were also in the tank with a dozen rusties, who were staying in the 10g. While netting the others, I inadvertently got one of the rusties and released him into the 40 breeder. Oddly, since then, the rusties in the 10g are double the size of the lone sibling in the 40b. And they were all the same size when the move happened. One idea would be competing for food and the area in which to do it. 40+ fish in a 40 breeder vs. 20 in a 10g. Thoughts?

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Number6

· #2 · Jan 20, 2011

the stress of being "different" and therefore picked on. It'll do it everytime. I just posted this exact same opinion on another thread 2 seconds ago... funny

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GTZ

· #3 · Jan 20, 2011

I once found 2 lab fry in my XP2 that were about half an inch larger than their siblings in a 10g.

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DrgRcr

Discussion Starter · #4 · Jan 20, 2011

Number6 said:
the stress of being "different" and therefore picked on. It'll do it everytime. I just posted this exact same opinion on another thread 2 seconds ago... funny

LOL! Perhaps that may be the case, but I haven't seen any others going out of their way to harass him. But then agin, I can't watch them 24/7. Maybe just the general uneasyness of being "different"! Regardless, they're all together again in the same tank, so it will be interesting to see if they equalize in size, or if he stays smaller.

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Glaneon

· #5 · Jan 20, 2011

I had a fry escape my breeder net at some point when it was in my 125.

For a time, when the rest were around 3/4", he was only about 3/8".

He was ducking and weaving in the Texas Holey Rock, alive and well, just not getting enough food as he stayed near the safety of the rocks instead of coming up to eat.

He's catching up now it seems. They're about 1.25", he's about 1".

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Trench

· #6 · Jan 24, 2011

This is very interesting, because logicaly one would think it would be bigger. what comes to mind first is feeding differances. amount of food , times feed a day and food competion.
Also there tends to be runts that never seem to grow as fast, plus in my experance females will tend to grow slower (this not always true, *** seen freak female grow faster than the rest of the group.) so random fish in 125 turns out to be a runt? possible but not probable.

Nice post curious to see what others have to say on this topic

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