Any way to make a fish get bigger?

[Phishnoob]

This is probably in the top 2% of stupid questions but our yellow watchman goby eats like a piggie piggie and won't grow over 3/4" after having him for five months. Did we get the runt of the litter or do fish take years to grow to the size the books say? He is in a 55g with no shortage of swimming room. The other fish are getting bigger.

This goby can eat a chunk of food about 1/4 of his body size easily and he is our favorite fish.

[Alice]

I was going to say "feed it" but it looks like you're taking care of that. As long as he looks fat and sassy, I wouldn't worry about it. If he eats like a pig but doesn't put on any weight then I'd worry about a possible internal parasite.

Garlic is really good at flushing out internal parasites; you might want to feed him some garlic just to see if that will tip the scales.

Alice

[Witfull]

i have a fish stretcher that i use when a trout is 11" and legal take is 12"...lol

[Doug1]

I was going to recommend force feeding and pampers as well as a catheter, but time is an issue

[motorslave]

make a harness for him, put all your flow going one direction. Tye him so hes head on into the flow and strap a parachute to his but then watch him GGGRRROOOWWW!!! Might be skinny but longer!

Robert

[rockstar]

his growth could be stunted do to the possibility of stressful tankmates, i often seen and hear of fish that dont grow, or grow slowly because of other fish being more aggresive/territorial toward them. also(depending on your situation, and tank) maybe try and get a pistol shrimp to pair with the fish, if the fish has a symbiotic relationship with another organism it will feel less stressed(again depending on your tank situation), and it will develop more of a territory of its own to protect, which would possible cause it to grow a bit. and last but not least I as well as many other aquarists can attest that it is sometimes hard to see the growth in things when you see them every day, you can see amazing differences in your fish and invertibrates if you have pictures from when you first got them and compair them to now. =) well anyway good luck

[yardboy]

I have a yellow tang that I've kept plump fro 2 years and he hasn't grown that much, though you might say he's on a starvation diet (not really) but I have three atlantic blues I caught early this summer as very small juveniles and they are growing like crazy. The 20H refugium they are currently in is already too small; they are to be moved this weekend. Cool to watch them grow and change their personality though. So shy and nervous at first, now when they see me coming they all crowd to the front of the tank anticipating the food.

[Phishnoob]

Thanks for the advice. Goby is pretty timid so I will try the pistol shrimp thing. Our royal gramma gets a bit pushy now and then. I looked at him and he looks like he is not skinny. Also, we do the garlic thing at least weekly as part of our ich control regimen. The stress thing might be part of it..he lived in the refugium half his life but found a good hidey hole in our new 55g.

Well finally thought up a name for him..."piglet"

[ShirleyM]

Ours grew slowly at first, then grew quite large...and always had a pistol shrimp, and lived in a 10-gal minireef either by himself or with one other tinier fish. He wouldn't have been happy w/o his pistol shrimp, and likewise. We went through 3 pistol shrimps with him before we finally and unfortunately lost him...he was about 4+ yrs old.

Here's a pic of the pair taken quite some time ago...



~ Shirley

[Alice]

If the goby's name is piglet, what will you name the shrimp?

[AnemicOak]

Just feed him this & he'll grow like crazy.
http://www.store.yahoo.com/joelsward/17me15wecy.html


~Brian

[Phishnoob]

Originally Posted by Alice

If the goby's name is piglet, what will you name the shrimp?

Talked to Christy about it and Pooh is out so Tigger the Tiger Shrimp is it. Time to try and find one now.

[Phishnoob]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

Just feed him this & he'll grow like crazy.
http://www.store.yahoo.com/joelsward/17me15wecy.html


~Brian

Wow that looks just like me with my shirt off

[Mrs_Phishnoob]

Originally Posted by Phishnoob

Wow that looks just like me with my shirt off