Re: NANFA-- Growth

EELReprah_at_aol.com
Thu, 13 Jan 2000 13:15:50 EST

My experience is limited to a few sunfish and bullheads, but I can say that
barring untimely death they grow larger in an aquarium and get there faster
than in the wild. This is probably due to three factors:
1) Not much competition for food and a daily supply
2) Year round growth conditions - no cold dormant winter
3) Better balanced diet and water conditions - if the aquarist is minimally
attentive to their needs - Trout Chow works fine. Biweekly 30% water changes
(fresh out of the tap with some sodium thiosulfate to remove the chlorine)

Size of aquarium - for normal sunfish and bullheads my experience has
been primarily a 100 gallon aquarium. Dwarf sunfish like Enneacanthus can do
well in a 50 or 55 gallon.
I have a 12+ inch Bluegill and a similar length Yellow Bullhead in a 100
gallon tank with a 6 inch Long-eared Sunfish and a colony of Convict Cichlids
that were put in there as feeders and have survived, grown and reproduced. I
have to remove the Convicts soon they are getting too big and too many. The
Bluegill and Bullhead grew from about 4 inches in 2 years. Their growth seems
to have slowed down recently - probably maxed out or the dreaded Convicts are
too competitive.

Lee Harper

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