Growth Splurt

[goldenpuon]

I have noticed this for a while one when I transfer fish to new tanks.

Whether they were in a similar size tank before, even with no fish, if they get put into a new tank they go through a growth splurt. This seems to happen even if the new tank they are put in have more fish per gallon than their previous tanks.

My most recent case of this is with French Fry, a young guppy who just got moved into a 5 1/2 gallon with 3 other adult males including his father (or uncle) Tyler.

He was in a 3-4 gallon plastic container before and for all of his early months after I found him in the adult female guppy tank where he was born.

Anyway, after the move 3 weeks ago, he has about doubled in size. Before I was worried that he was small enough that the largest male in there might try to nibble at him (since big fish try to eat little ones) even though he was still way too big to fit in his mouth. Now he is about 3/5 the length of Tyler. I have made many similar observations in the past.

All of that said, what causes a fish to go through a growth splurt when it enters a new tank?

Thank you.

Renee

[Carl]

Several factors can explain this.
The most obvious is tank size, however filtration, quality of food, water chemistry, & tank mates (including aggression levels and numbers).

This article may help:
Aquarium Answers; Stunting

Carl

[goldenpuon]

The strange thing is there were no fish in with the guppy before. Now that he is in a tank with the other males, he seems to be growing faster. Since there is chasing now and again, it is probably water chemistry or just that the guppy isn't finished growing. He is under 6 months old.

My guess is it is mostly water chemistry and maybe being in the company of other guppies somehow helped.

Thanks for posting the article by the way Carl.

[kagome]

Renee, maybe in this particular case having the other fish in the tank has made him pay more attention to food. Maybe the other fish going after the food helps trigger his feeding behavior and so he is eating more. This is just a wild guess by the way.

[Carl]

Nov 15, 2009 0:47:22 GMT -5 kagome said:

Renee, maybe in this particular case having the other fish in the tank has made him pay more attention to food. Maybe the other fish going after the food helps trigger his feeding behavior and so he is eating more. This is just a wild guess by the way.

I think this is more than a wild guess kagome

I have seen fish on multiple occasions that were either isolated or in tanks with little interaction that began eating and growing after being moved to a tank with a more interactive group of fish.

Carl

[fishfever]

I have observed quick growth spurts as well in some fish, usually livebearers it seems. As recently as about a month ago we moved a couple of slow growing platy fry from the 10g fry tank to our 26g and they seemed to have doubled in size in a couple of weeks... the food source is somewhat different (and more variety such as frozen/fresh foods) in the 26g plus there is probably less competition for the food size they target (only the 4 that we moved are small in the 26g, while there are still at least 40-50 fry in the 10g tank). So I suspect food quantity and quality are primary reasons since water quality is very similar in both tanks.

[goldenpuon]

I think everyone here is right about what is going on. The young guppy (whose real name is French Fry lol) didn't have as big an interest in food back in his old 3-4 gallon container. Now he is interacting with the other fish (including trying to mate constantly with the other males lol) and searches for food vigorously. He is also probably growing like this because he is still very young and not quite fully grown.

Thanks for the responses guys, I think I likely figured it out.