Boys that arent growing

[sunnylass]

These two boys were in with my girls from my spawn earlier this year and its only been in the last few days that I started thinking they might be boys. Well, they most certainly are boys, just small!

All their siblings are a lot bigger than these two and I'm not sure why.

[y2jdaze]

very cute boys :thumbs:

[Callatya]

Very nice. It doesn't seem to be out of proportion, give it a few months and see how it goes Sometimes the change of environment works wonders.

There is a theory do do with a hormone released from larger fry that retards the growth of smaller fry to give the larrger ones a higher change of survival. I'm not sure if there have been any studies on it, but a lot of people have mentioned that when the larger fish are removed or water changes are increased that the growth rates shoot up a bit. Not sure if it applies here or even if there is any truth in the science, but it is a decent theory :)

[lpiasente]

I hope you don't mind me adding to this. I have in the past 3 months added discus to my 3ft tank that also house my female bettas. They are all fed 3 times a day beefheart in the morning flake or pellets for lunch and brine shrimp for tea. Water changes of 30% every second day and temp at 30. I had what I thought was a bonsai betta for about 6 months and she just never grew,very cute, since the discus addition and above changes to the tank she has come along in leaps and bounds just about caught up to the others. I also had a little boy with the same problem so I started the same routine and agan he is now a big boy.

[jusdeb]

I believe that frequent water changes are the key to rapid growth......I have read that when fish a confined to a small amount of water they produce a chemical which slows down their metabilism to enable yhem to survive limited food and water ....by constantly changing water fish must feel that a fresh water supply is available and thus grow rapidly...