fry growth rates?

[dodgefreak8]

hey everyone I just started wich cockatoo cichlids and I was wondering if and when I do have fry how fast will they grow and are 10gal and 15gal longs good grow out tanks? I know that feedign and water parameters are a big factor but given these things what kind of growth can I expect? I have bred convicts so can they be compared to these?

 

[nightowl1350]

They grow much slower than convicts I've only raised up 2 spawns so not the besst to reply. I have some slightly over 3 months old that have a few that are about 1" and the rest smaller.

Mine started in a 5g with a spawn of rams and were moved to a 10g and are now in a 35g. The ram spawn is huge (over 100) so they are starting to get crowded even in the 35. The apistos will be moving to a 65g (it has some adult angels so I will have to watch them) in a few days.

 

[tjudy]

I get very fast growth rates with a combination of lots of food and daily water changes of 30%-50%. I leave the fry with mom for about a month and they reach 1/4" or so. Then I move then to a 10 gallon bare tank with a sponge filter and a piece of driftwood for cover, and they stay there for month number two. Then they go to a 40Br (also bare with driftwood) to complete growout. My A. cacatuoides triple reds are generally 1"-1.25" and sexable at three months. Other species seem to grow a bit more slowly. The slowest I have had were A. borelli and A. panduro, both taking 5-6 months to reach the 1"-1.25" and sexable size.

 

[nightowl1350]

Sounds like for a first try I didn't do too bad for size. I had to pull the eggs as my female kept eating them so they didn't have the first week or so with Mom.

I think all my first spawn are female.....raised at 82 due to the rams with them. What temp produces the best m/f ratio? I think someone said 79??

The second spawn I pulled are still very young, but I can see a few that I think are males (no black on the ventrals and are starting to colour up already) They were kept at 79-80.

 

[orcus332]

According to work done by Romer and Beisenherz 1996, it looks like the best temperature for equal male:female ratio in A. cacatuoides is around 26C or 79F. The period for which sex can be manipulated is 0-35 days after spawning. It was also shown that as pH increased from 4.5 to 6.5, the percentage of males decreased.