Size Potential and Factors Influencing Growth in Aquarium Environment
The Green Terror may grow up to 30 centimeters (12 inches) in length; however, 6–8 inches is more typical. Factors influencing maximum size attainment can be size of the aqaurium relative to population density or the size of the tank relative to the maximum size potential of the fish, water condition and availability of food.
Generally, if kept alone or with few other fish, a 75- to 90-gallon aquarium is adequate to realize the full size potential of most cichlids with an upper size limit of 10–12 inches. Despite the ethic relating "inches of fish" to "gallons of water," many cichlid keepers subscribe to a more cichlid-specific ethic in which the maximum size potential of a fish is considered relative to the auquarium dimensions. Cichlid enthusiasts have long realized that a 15-gallon aqaurium is not adequate for a 15-inch fish, as the base dimensions of a typical 15-gallon aquarium are usually around 12 inches by 18 inches. This would render a 15 inch fish practically immobile, preventing the fish from being able circulate water over its gills.
The "inches to gallons" ethic may still be applicable for, say, ten 1-inch fishes in a ten-gallon aquarium, as their total biomass would occupy very little of the available square inches of space.
Similarly, if the number of fish an aquarium impedes free movement, or if territorial disputes frequently occur, growth will retard in response to the restrictive environment. In addition, increased susceptibility to disease or a disease-like state will be conferred upon cohabitants. In overpopulated tanks, it becomes difficult to maintain healthful water parameters; metabolic waste (excrement) accumulates rapidly, even when a highly efficient filter is employed. Frequent gravel vacuuming is required to keep nitrate and nitrite levels within acceptable parameters. Although bona fide infectious diseases such as Ichthyophthirius multifiliis (Ick) do not spontaneously appear due to overcrowding itself, a disease-state results from elevated nitrates. Fish will gasp at the surface in a futile attempt to absorb oxygen because the elevated nitrates block the metabolism of oxygen from the water i.e., the fish begin to suffocate. Also, in crowded aquariums, there is often an increased incidence of fin-nipping, which can lead to infection, decreased fitness, elevated stress and death.
Feeding is the most obvious factor contributing to growth. Two approaches are commonly applied to assess adequate food intake. First, some aquarists like to let the fish eat all they want for several minutes. When active feeding abates, any excess food is removed from the tank to prevent clouding. Second, the specimen's bellies can be evaluated for "roundness." This is a prime opportunity to assess the health of the fish. Those who do not eat will have a characteristically concave-looking belly. Such a fish may be sick or unfit for cohabitation due to incompatible temperament. Feeding should follow a somewhat-regular daily pattern. Some feed once a day, others feed smaller portions 2–3 times per day. Some aquarists have found that multiple feedings coupled with lower-limit temperatures decreases aggression.
Read more about this topic: Green Terror
Famous quotes containing the words size, potential, factors, influencing, growth, aquarium and/or environment:
“Delusions that shrink to the size of a woman’s glove,
Then sicken inclusively outwards:
. . . the incessant recital
Intoned by reality, larded with technical terms,
Each one double-yolked with meaning and meaning’s rebuttal:
For the skirl of that bulletin unpicks the world like a knot....”
—Philip Larkin (1922–1986)
“Not many appreciate the ultimate power and potential usefulness of basic knowledge accumulated by obscure, unseen investigators who, in a lifetime of intensive study, may never see any practical use for their findings but who go on seeking answers to the unknown without thought of financial or practical gain.”
—Eugenie Clark (b. 1922)
“Language makes it possible for a child to incorporate his parents’ verbal prohibitions, to make them part of himself....We don’t speak of a conscience yet in the child who is just acquiring language, but we can see very clearly how language plays an indispensable role in the formation of conscience. In fact, the moral achievement of man, the whole complex of factors that go into the organization of conscience is very largely based upon language.”
—Selma H. Fraiberg (20th century)
“Do you believe that the dead can influence the living?... Could you conceive of a superhuman mentality influencing someone from the other side of death?... There is such a one.... Someone, something that reaches out from beyond the grave and fills me with horrible impulses.”
—Garrett Fort (1900–1945)
“The Past—the dark unfathom’d retrospect!
The teeming gulf—the sleepers and the shadows!
The past! the infinite greatness of the past!
For what is the present after all but a growth out of the past?”
—Walt Whitman (1819–1892)
“The Aquarium is gone. Everywhere,
giant finned cars nose forward like fish;
a savage servility
slides by on grease.”
—Robert Lowell (1917–1977)
“Modern man’s capacity for destruction is quixotic evidence of humanity’s capacity for reconstruction. The powerful technological agents we have unleashed against the environment include many of the agents we require for its reconstruction.”
—George F. Will (b. 1941)