Quality, Quantity and Temperature affecting Tropheus growth

[thefishdaddy]

www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://corescholar.libraries.wright.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi%3Farticle%3D2781%26context%3Detd_all&ved=2ahUKEwisx7jL2pLbAhVDwWMKHYkqA-0QFjAOegQIARAB&usg=AOvVaw3QHuwoj-ylTNd2FDQXEsis








etd.ohiolink.edu/pg_10?0::NO:10:P10_ACCESSION_NUM:wright1409625207
Author: Lesley Kim


This are interesting reading for someone geeky enough to go through over 200 pages of paper, but to sum it up for the lazy ones basically said that fish that are feed high quality food grow faster than low quality food and fish that are feed high quality and high frequency grows the fastest while increasing the frequency of low quality food did not result to a better growth rate, interestingly even a low frequency but high quality food still yealded better results than increased frequency of low quality food, the added bonus is that the better food produced less ammonia because most of the food is absorbed, the author used 60 Tropheus brichardi but she calls it Tropheus moorii each placed in 10 gallon tank for 7 weeks.

On the other hand the other thesis involves growth rate of Tropheus
duboisi in 26°C/78.8°F, 29°C/84.2°F, 32°C/89.6°F with varied diet, the fish at the highes temp. Grew at half of the rate compared to the lower temps. The best result was the 29°c coupled with the high quality food. The author use 48 Tropheus duboisi with 4 fish partitioned in 15 gallon tanks for 6 weeks.

Happy reading
Chuck

[gturmindright]

Does faster growth indicate a healthier fish?

[thefishdaddy]

I can't provide you data on that because I've never grown any of the fry I produced but saw some maswa's I gave a friend of mine grown in a cold, small octagonal tank that he barely cleaned, they grew to adults and not a single fish died, the kicker is he only fed them trout chow, the fish grew old but never colored up and never produced any fry even after he moved them to a bigger tank.

[...]

this is not a scientific answer, but through observation and the test of time, that if you provide optimum conditions (water quality & temp) with a high quality feed that the fish will grow at their optimum rate, be happy, healthy and with vibrant colors. In my almost 40 years of fish keeping, this rule of thumb has rung true