I couldn't resist shooting a short video of my boy after watching your clip. Bought an app from playstore to see how easy it would be to do some simple edit on my phone.
I could be wrong, but I've noticed over the years that as juveniles - the substrate will have a much more noticeable affect on the fish. But as they mature into adults, or reach sexual maturity rather, their color is constant and the same regardless of substrate color and décor. At that point, the only thing affecting a mature American cichlid's color would be breeding or stress (IME)
Kai is looking nice and chunky lol how big is he now?
That's good to know. Obviously my guy s still young so the change I noticed was well before his final colors are out.
I think he is pushing close to 5" now with an average of .5" monthly growth.
You think I should cut back on feedings? I already have dialed it back a bit from last month. I keep hearing comments like he is fat or chubby. So maybe I am overfeeding.
philipraposo1982 how often do you feed? I'm sorry if I offended you lol I meant he looks very thick in a healthy way, not bloated or overfed by any means. I personally think he looks great. It could just be his body type. If he's a domestic strain then that could just be his body shape. Unless you're feeding 3-4x a day, 7 days a week I don't think you need to worry at all. I feed mine every morning when I get up for work and every night soon after I get home from work. Sometimes when friends come over later on if they want to check the fish out. But I usually skip one day a week - just a random day
i feed him like you do by the sounds of it. skipping a day randomly as well. I don't know what kind of strain he is but I got him from a local pet shop so probably nothing special.
I am always concerned about bloat as I have read its a concern with many fish.
philipraposo1982 you're little Kai has grown a lot. He's a little different (more rounded) which makes him appear more chunky than he probably is. I don't think it's due to over feeding. He's looking good, coming along nicely
Athletic_Amph I'd say around 6". I never measure any of my fish. I'm sure I'm a bad judge. I remember measuring my first GT after it passed and was really surprised to see 10 1/2" I figured more like 9"
Cool thing about having new fish in the fish room is I know I won't be analyzing the bigger guys progress as much, which will in turn see more progress when I do