Questions about my angels...

[ginnie5]

I bought 4 angels at the same time. They were all about the same size. Two are the wild coloration and two are black and gold. When I got them the wild looking ones were bigger than the others. They all went in the 38 at first but the two wild colored ones picked on the black and golds really bad. When I got the 75 I moved them over there. The black and gold in the 38 have doubled their size at least but the other two in the 75 are not growing anywhere near as fast. The water in both tanks is about the same. GH is 6, KH is 4, and the ph is about 6. No ammonia or nitrites and both tanks are heavily planted. Other fish in the 38 are 2 apisto cacatuoides, 7 glolites, 1 clown pleco, 1 lone otto. In the 75 I have 2 angels, 2 curviceps, 5 lemon tetras, 1 ram, and 1 female apisto agassizi. I have had some deaths in this tank but I think it was due to the ph swing over the weekend. I lost a curviceps, 2 apistos, a lemon and my siamese algae eater. For some reason it seems that most of the co2 went into this tank. So that's all the tank history and parameters I can think of. Any idea on why these angels are not growing as well? Oh they all eat a mix of flake and frozen foods. I usually switch everyday.

[shadowcat_7]

I have noticed similar difference in Angel growth. My traditional angel grow much slower than their colored counterparts, could possibly have something to due with the breeding for the different types. My blacks veil tail grew faster than the traditional, but slower than my Koi style.

[ginnie5]

I will just take it as normal growth. I was worried that something was wrong with them.

[jay60640]

There is a phenomenon called hybrid vigor that contributes to abnormal health and growth in some hybrids. This affects all hybrids whether plant or animal. Maybe your tradition silver angels have not been outcrossed enough and are from a small gene pool. That's just a guess. Other factors could be smaller parents, weaker lineage, etc.

[jay60640]

Before people start replying to my previous post: yes, I know that bredding a scalare to a scalare is not creating a true hybrid, like say breeding a true convict to a blue-eyed convict. I based my hypothesis on the benefits of diverse gene pools in general.

[Buck]

An excellent site for Angelfish, very knowledgeable folks on breeds over there...
http://www.aquaworldnet.org/tas/ The Angelfish Society