noticed that my 2nd batch of panda cories seem to be growing very slowly also there's 1 which seemed deformed?
my pother cories including the 1st batch i got seem to be growing well.
they are in the same tank..
any reason for this? i feed them tetra bits, sinking pellets, hikari algae wafers, and sometyimes frozen bloodowmrs..
will frequent feeding of bloodworms increase the growth rate?
What's your nitrate levels? Nitrate levels above "normal" will stunt any fish's growth (but some fishes more than others...). Anything above 25 ppm and you should be looking at more frequent water changes and/or better filtering.
If you put more cories in the same tank, then that would increas the nitrate load on the tank.
Also check for ammonia and nitrite which of course are even worse culprits in preventing fish from behaving normally.
MatsP wrote:What's your nitrate levels? Nitrate levels above "normal" will stunt any fish's growth (but some fishes more than others...). Anything above 25 ppm and you should be looking at more frequent water changes and/or better filtering.
If you put more cories in the same tank, then that would increas the nitrate load on the tank.
Also check for ammonia and nitrite which of course are even worse culprits in preventing fish from behaving normally.
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Mats
thanks... so nitrate stunbts fish... ?
i have to get a nitrate tester... since i don't have one,...
but i do 50 % water change weekly.
Yes, I've read more than once that Nitrate will stunt fish's growth (or slow it).
A large water change may be fine, but two smaller is actually better. Let's say you have 50ppm nitrate at the end of the week, you replace 50% of the water with no nitrate. You now have 25ppm nitrate. A week later you'll have 50ppm again. Your average for the week will be 37.5ppm. [And the daily rise is about 3.5ppm]
Now if you do a 50% water change to get it down to 25ppm, then 3 days later, at 35ppm (or so), replace 25% of the water, you drop it to 26ppm again. Now go another 4 days and your nitrate level will be at 40ppm. Your average for the week is now well below 37.5 ppm (roughly 32 ppm). You'll need to replace a little bit more than 25% on the 4th day, say 33%, to get it back to 25ppm.
Of course, doing twice weekly 50% replacements will be even better, as that will further lower the nitrate levels.
[Note: The above numbers are just "random" pickings, and not suggested values that you should have in the tank. Your aim should be to be below 25ppm at all times, and lower is better, although zero is unachievable and will (eventually) kill any plants in the tank. Also note that tap-water isn't guaranteed to be nitrate free, but it should be fairly low in nitrate. If it's not, you'll need to find a way to reduce the nitrate before it goes in the tank, for instance a Reverse Osmosis unit or a "nitrate filter". If you have relatively high levels of nitrate in the tank as it is, you may want to check the tap-water for it's level of nitrate.]
I'd recommend getting a kit of Nitrate, Nitrite and Ammonia tests. You can either by individual test kits for each substance, or buy a "complete" setup that containts those three tests (and sometimes one or two more tests, depending on what kit it is).
also there's 1 which seemed deformed?
i'll try do 2 water changes per week