Firemouth growth rate questions

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
S

swifty

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jun 13, 2013
268
1
0
California
http://imgur.com/a/4YQ9j


This is the growth I've seen from my firemouth after almost 6 months. He (I assume it's a male?) is currently at about 2-2.5 inches from mouth to base of tailfin. I'm aware firemouths don't grow as fast as ocars, but just how fast are they supposed to grow?


The first picture was with his old female convict tankmate. I removed her since then and he is with a festivum, which is about 3-3.5 inches and of which he also bullies. No damage, just flares and occasional chases.


I feed a small pinch of NLS pellets (about half a penny size full of pellets) which gets devoured by the 2 cichlids and black skirts in around 20 seconds 4 days a week. I also take a small Omega One veggie round and break it up into about 4-6 pieces, and feed them this 6 days a week which gets eaten by the 2 cichlids and bristle nose pleco. Twice a week I'll feed 1/3 a cube of Hikari frozen, once for mysis shrimp and another for blood worms. Once a week I don't feed since I've read it's good to give them a "rest" day for their digestive systems.


I do 50% water changes weekly, and have 2 ac50s running on my 20g long. Temp is kept at 80 degrees.


I may upgrade to a 29g someday, or remove the festivum as I know in 5 years time this setup won't be ideal, but for now this is currently how it is.


Any thoughts/suggestions/opinions/experiences?
 
Firemouths are VERY slow growers, so have patience with it. FMs tend to grow in spurts and not constantly like some of the bigger fish. Obviously the bigger the tank the better, with plenty of water changes and not having tank mates that will attack it are all good.
 
When I decided on the firemouth to be the fish for my return to fishkeeping I read some bits here and there about them being slow growers but wow, I didn't think this slow. I was just concerned I wasn't feeding properly, so that's comforting to hear.

How long do they generally take to reach 3-4 and 5-6 inches? I'm guessing 1-3 years?
 
I agree with dogofwar. I'd say u really need atleast a 40 gallon. You'd see faster growth in a bigger tank.

Sent from my SGH-S959G using MonsterAquariaNetwork App
 
I have a pair of Firemouths and a massive EBJD in a 55gallon Tank... Heres my largest male FM who's 4.5" in body length and approx. 2 and a half years old.

firemouthmale.jpg
 
Yeah, if I could get a bigger tank I could, but my landlord told me no bigger than 20 gallons, and I'd be pushing it with the 29g as it is. I did a lot of research and seen a few people keeping firemouths, silvanis, keyholes, and convicts as solo specimens in 20g long tanks as a long term home with no issues. I chose the firemouth because silvani/keyhole look too plain, and convicts are so common. The firemouth really stood out and I'm glad I did.
 
You could house a single male FM or a breeding pair, if thats what you've set your heart set on. Just make lots of small water changes no more that 10% twice a week to keep ontop of the enzymes the fish secret that can restrict their growth... Firemouths tend to thrive when not stressed... that to can affect their eating habits and growth.

Good luck :)
 
Cyberman said:
You could house a single male FM or a breeding pair, if thats what you've set your heart set on. Just make lots of small water changes no more that 10% twice a week to keep ontop of the enzymes the fish secret that can restrict their growth... Firemouths tend to thrive when not stressed... that to can affect their eating habits and growth.

Good luck :)
Click to expand...

I looked into the breeding pair possibility, but don't want to deal with any offspring as I don't have anywhere to reliably send them to. My only good LFS told me they're as easy to breed as convicts and with convicts they only take 5 fish max and everywhere else doesn't take fish trade ins.

Would the BNP and black skirts eat the eggs or fry if I tried the pair route?

Also, since I currently do 1 50% a week, I was thinking of doing 2x 50% changes a week, once on Sunday/Monday and another on Wednesday/Thursday.

Would reducing that to 10% twice a week be better than the 2 50%?

http://imgur.com/U5pXSiQ

Here is his current home, I only used to do 1 50% a week so as to not remove too much nutrients from my water as I use liquid fertlizers for my plants.
 
No 10% or 15% max is best in a small tank like that... changing to much water can upset the filteration system which, in turn, upsets the fish... its the chlorine in tap water that kills the good bacteria so introducing as little as possible or dechlorinating the water beforehand is the best way forward.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
MonsterFishKeepers.com
Top Bottom