accelerated fry growth and lifespan?

[CyberCoyote]

Hi,

I feed my grow outs four times a day(at least), at 15 weeks they are almost big enough to sex. However I have a pair that I never moved to the grow out tank and they are still very small compared to the ones getting all the extra food, they just gather scraps during regular feedings.

Does the mega feeding to grow them quickly have any affect on their overall lifespan? Or would fry in nature be hunting and feeding all day long to satiate their hyped up growth and metabolisms?

 

[Mike Wise]

As long as water quality remains high, heavy feeding should have no negative effect on fry growth. Longevity? It hasn't been studied in apistos as far as I know. Other factors affect it more: water temperature, nutrition, stress level, and frequent breeding will reduce life span.

 

[CyberCoyote]

Yeah, keeping the nitrates down is a matter of tons of water changes, I let the algae go crazy in that tank to help. Their parents are breeding once more but I think after this I will separate them so they can live happy monogomous lives. Someone in the house has to!

Thanks for the input.

 

[larryl]

What is your water change schedule in the growout tank as compared to the other tank? I've seen papers that suggest frequency of water change can be one of the biggest influencers in fry growth.

 

[CyberCoyote]

It's a 20 gallon tall, I change out 5 gallons 2 or 3 times a week as my schedule allows. Is that too often? Not enough? My other tanks are on a 1 time a week (usually) schedule. If nitrates aren't inching over 40 in those I usually let them be.