Tropheus fry growth

[mikevxr]

Just a general question, how long does it take you to get your Tropheus at to 2" - how often do you feed, do you run fry tanks hotter, any recommended growth foods.
it takes me about 9-12 months to get upto 2", feeding three times a day, at a temp of 27 degrees, feeding Northfin pellets and good quality Spirulina flake.

[gturmindright]

What about water changes? Do you use any salts?

[renoguy]

Oct 8, 2018 13:58:42 GMT -5 mikevxr said:

Just a general question, how long does it take you to get your Tropheus at to 2" - how often do you feed, do you run fry tanks hotter, any recommended growth foods.
it takes me about 9-12 months to get upto 2", feeding three times a day, at a temp of 27 degrees, feeding Northfin pellets and good quality Spirulina flake.

I bought my colony of bembas about 13 months ago.  They were all fry (maybe 1") and are now 3-4".  I feed 1 time per day.  25% water change every other day.

[mikevxr]

Yes I add salts - I add bicarbonate of soda and Rift Lake salts to my tanks. Thinking of just adding Bicarbonate of soda and Epsom salts going forward though.

[mikevxr]

Regarding water changes - I do a weekly water change of 30-50% on my established colony's and a 30% water change every 3 days on any newly purchased fish. Seems to help them acclimatise to my water.

[mikevxr]

Oct 10, 2018 19:54:04 GMT -5 renoguy said:

Oct 8, 2018 13:58:42 GMT -5 mikevxr said:

Just a general question, how long does it take you to get your Tropheus at to 2" - how often do you feed, do you run fry tanks hotter, any recommended growth foods.
it takes me about 9-12 months to get upto 2", feeding three times a day, at a temp of 27 degrees, feeding Northfin pellets and good quality Spirulina flake.

I bought my colony of bembas about 13 months ago.  They were all fry (maybe 1") and are now 3-4".  I feed 1 time per day.  25% water change every other day.

That's really good growth probably down to water change routine - I would struggle to do that many water changes due to tank numbers. Do you run your water off in advance of water changes?

[...]

Mike when I was raising troph fry it would take approx 12 months to raise from 1" to 3"+ feeding 2-3 times daily and changing 75% water weekly initially, then every 2 weeks after they hit 2.5". TBH I got lazy as time went on but it honestly didn't seem to greatly impact the growth rate once they hit sub-adult size.
HTH mate

[mikevxr]

I think we all cut corners to save time eventually. Regarding growth think I've come to the conclusion that feeding regime and water change regime are equally important.

[renoguy]

Oct 11, 2018 5:10:13 GMT -5 mikevxr said:

Oct 10, 2018 19:54:04 GMT -5 renoguy said:

I bought my colony of bembas about 13 months ago.  They were all fry (maybe 1") and are now 3-4".  I feed 1 time per day.  25% water change every other day.

That's really good growth probably down to water change routine - I would struggle to do that many water changes due to tank numbers. Do you run your water off in advance of water changes?

Yes I keep a 65g tank full and at the right temp for wc's all the time.

[...]

Having good lighting to create a nice coverage of biofilm & algae is also a big plus because it gives the fish plenty to graze on between feedings, and good algae does consume nitrates which assists water quality. I had a 6700 lumen blue/white beamsworth which i ran about 8 hours a day on my 21" tall (deep) 125 gal. I had a good thick covering of algae on all flat exposed surfaces that my troph's would chow down on. Good nutrition and their natural behavior in the wild, so great viewing.