Panda Not Growing?

[Maxta]

Hey all.

Bought 3 pandas (only had that many in the tank) a few month ago, they were tiny, about 2cm long.

Now i watch my fish all the time, and it wasnt until yesterday when i saw my pandas side by side that one was bigger than the other, then the other came out and he was the same size as the bigger one id seen previously, so i now have 2 panda cory's that are 3 to 3½cms long, and bulkier, and one that is small (2cm) and doesnt seem to have grown since i got him.

What could be the reason? Late developer? Stunted growth?

I feed my fish catfish pellets everyday, algae wafers twice a week, cucumber (apart from this last week) every 3 days, sometimes drop some cichlid pellets in, and some orange catfish pellets too.

Hes cute n all, but is there anything wrong with this?

Thanks
Ian

 

[jollysue]

I don't know cm from hats. haha But I would guess that you have 2 females and a male. The lady Cories get very much bigger and bulkier than the males in most species. But, also, I have heard that pandas are slow to grow. Certainly my lps pandas have never grown and are little dwarfs. But the wild caught ones and the breeders I got from 2 other sources are much larger and not dwarfs at all. So if all 3 came from the same source it is likely that you have 2 females. If the 2 larger ones were optained at a time different from the smaller one, the smaller could be an Asian one from one of the fish farms.

I hope that wasn't too confusing.

 

[Maxta]

Understood. Yes i got them all at the same time, from the same place, and they all looked the same when i first bought them.

Im just surprised he hasnt grown.

 

[jollysue]

What is 3 cm in inches? I am lazy.

The Asian farmed pandas are smaller in my experience so far, and do not grow much. My Asian/lps farmed pandas after 2 years are only an inch to an inch and a half w/o the tail and small bodied. But my wild caught and breeders are easily 2 inches + and larger bodied. The Asian pandas are more delicate and often don't breed. They have been overbred, and hormones are often used to promote breeding in the Asian fish farms. It is the same problem with the neon Tetras.

When I first got my breeders I didn't know they were pandas, because they are so totally different.

It is most likely that the larger 2 of your fish are the females and the slender smaller fella is the male.

I have also, as I mentioned, heard that pandas are slower growing. I don't know if this is both the wild and near wild ones or the farmed ones or both. I am quite sure that the farmed ones are slow growing and smaller.

 

[Maxta]

Thanks for the info.

3cm = 1.18 inches