Fish Size And Tank Size

[Ishin]

hello everyone, this is my first post here because im a little confused about the size of a tank needed vs fish that will grow.
when i first started, all i read about was the best rule of thumb is 1 inch to 1 g of water, i had 13 small fish when i started my first 10g tank, everyone gasped and said "thats to small u need a bigger tank" the fish will get bigger and grow out of that tank
so i went out and bought a bigger tank, here it is a year later my black high fin tetra has grown barely if any at all and my pleco has mayb grown a 1/2" if that so my question is what is the growth rate for fish?

 

[wuvmybetta]

Quality food and water changes are the key in growing them faster. Your pleco should most definitely have grown more than that by now. Tell us a little more about your tank. How big is it? What do you feed? How often do you change some of the water?

Welcome to the board!

 

[Ishin]

thxs wuvmybetta
well it was a 20g, but after a serious ich infestation, where i lost all but my tetra and pleco, i broke the 10g back out and after cycle the new tank, testing nitrates, ph and ammonia i slipped them into it and put the 20g away. every week i take water out (around 10%) and add 10% back in. once a month ill add a 1/4 of cucumber in the tank, a little romainefor other times.

 

[wuvmybetta]

You can clean your twenty out with a water/bleach solution and bust it back out again. Don't feel that a tank is no longer valuable because it had a disease outbreak, you can clean it up You could even transfer your water/gravel/ decor from the ten directly into the twenty and it will be instantly cycled. Your pleco would love you for it!

With that said, it still seems that your pleco should be a bit larger than you've said he is, even in unsuitable conditions (common plecos usually grow larger than 12" in length...not knocking your tank but a ten for a plec is very small, a twenty is too for that matter) You could also try feeding some frozen,meatier foods like bloodworms and brine shrimp.