Misinformed

[Toki]

When I started my tank, I knew nothing about fish, I just wanted the pretty ones. I bought them at PETSMART (yeah yeah) and actually didn't have many problems with them, so I thought it was all good. I started researching tropical fish when I decided to get more, to find out what ones would be good with my fish and how big they would get and so on. I also looked up my fish and info on them. I have had a TON of fish that shouldn't be in a tank together, let alone a tank so small. (44 Gallon corner tank). So far, it's worked out for me, as my fish have not grown much at all since I got them. I've had my bala sharks (2) for 2 years and they've pretty much stayed the same size. I have a kissing gourami, which grew since I got him almost 3 years ago, but he's not getting as big as everyone says. I have a parrot fish, not growing at all since I bought him. I have a kenyi cichlid and an electric yellow, both not really growing. I also have a bottom feeder fish that looks like a cat fish because it's got (long) whiskers but I always forget it's name. It's also not growing.

I HAD common plecos but they died and I bought another one and it disappeared COMPLETELY and I stopped buying them when I went to a REAL aquarium store and saw how big they get. (Although, in my defense, I had them for 6 months or more, and they didn't grow at ALL.)

All my fish seem healthy, but they're not growing! They get blood worms and tetra min tropical fish flakes (and the rich mix) and tetra min cichlid flakes...The woman at Petsmart said it's probably because I have a corner tank and not a long, thinner one, because fish like to swim back and forth better than they like to swim up and down. And now I'm all irked. Is there a reason my fish aren't growing?

 

[smb]

If I had to guess why they aren't growing and haven't for 2 years I would say that with that many fish in a 44g, they're being stunted.

This is no knock on you at all because like you said, you were misinformed, but I'm guessing the water quality might not be the best. You would probably have to do 10% daily wc's to keep up, imo. What are your Nitrates?

 

[Toki]

I don't know, I don't even know how to test that... )

Oh, and the catfish is a pictus catfish.

 

[aquamanis]

In one word, OXYGEN. I would say the oxygen demmands on the tank is too high. Something I noticed when we changed our pond configuration to make it more oxygenated, fish started growing much more quickly. I remember reading somewhere a guy grew a 3 foot koi in a 5 foot tank. The tank didn,t stunt growth because he was the only fish in there and the oxygen levels were good. People always say too small a tank or pond stunts growth but I,m pretty sure oxygen levels play a big part in the growth of fish. I have over 45 inches of fish in a 35gal with no problems because I have plenty of plants, at least one plant per fish. At one stage I stopped surface agitation because I didn,t want my CO2 to escape. After a couple of weeks I noticed my fish weren,t so active so I attached an air tube back onto the venturi of the powerhead to create oxygen bubbles and the fish have all perked back up again. Its interesting to note my plant growth hasn,t slowed down by doing so either. All my fish have grown incredibly in 3 months, My silver shark has doubled in size as has my bristlenoses and tigerbarbs. Oh and the corys too have grown quickly.

 

[Toki]

Do you think if I added another bubble maker it would help? I've tried live plants but I don't really like them because the fish like to pull them out of the pebbles and then they just float all over the tank, and I have to fix them every day.

 

[Morrgan]

Regarding live plants, you could consider getting java ferns. They're quite tough and attach themselves to rocks and roots, so digging fish won't disturb them.

 

[aquamanis]

Do you think if I added another bubble maker it would help? I've tried live plants but I don't really like them because the fish like to pull them out of the pebbles and then they just float all over the tank, and I have to fix them every day.

It cant hurt, creating more bubbles will give more surface agitation hence more CO2/oxygen exchange. Bubbles generally don,t do anything as far as saturating the water with oxygen though, only plants can do that. Do you have enough water movement throughout the tank also. Tropical fish typicaly like to swim against a current, in a corner tank the front will be the longest side so i would have an outlet pointing along the front for the fish to swim against. As morrgan said, plants can be attatched to rocks and driftwood or use floating plants.