Fry growing-out tank too small to support growth?

[manzoherz]

Morning - by some miracle I've managed to keep one of our first batch of clownfish fry alive for 3 months and have moved him to the main tank in a isolation box as he is still tiny. I've moved him onto chopped up myces and he's eating 5 times a day, but still remains rather small and will definitely either be eaten or sucked into the filter in the main tank. I've looked everywhere for decent isolation boxes of a larger size as this one just feels far too small for him. But after several purchases and flotation fails I'm stuck. Will the current size of his isolation box stunt his growth? I'm debating setting up our quarantine tank with an air filter and putting him in there (possibly with any survivors from the next hatch) but worry about moving him from the super balanced display tank. Any guidance or advice much appreciated. Picture attached of Billy.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Morning - by some miracle I've managed to keep one of our first batch of clownfish fry alive for 3 months and have moved him to the main tank in a isolation box as he is still tiny. I've moved him onto chopped up myces and he's eating 5 times a day, but still remains rather small and will definitely either be eaten or sucked into the filter in the main tank. I've looked everywhere for decent isolation boxes of a larger size as this one just feels far too small for him. But after several purchases and flotation fails I'm stuck. Will the current size of his isolation box stunt his growth? I'm debating setting up our quarantine tank with an air filter and putting him in there (possibly with any survivors from the next hatch) but worry about moving him from the super balanced display tank. Any guidance or advice much appreciated. Picture attached of Billy.

Generally, larval fish "stunting" is based on water quality issues or lack of feed, not the size of the container (since it has tank water flowing through it). I recall studies that grew trout in tubes with water flowing through them and the trout reached large sizes, filling the inside of the tubes.

However, given that this is one clown that survived from a larger batch, there was likely some developmental problems with it and those WILL stunt a fish's later growth. There could also be a genetic component to the stunting, depending of the relationship between the parents (I've often seen clowns paired up from the same batch of fish, so they were siblings).

Finally, growth rates slow down as a fish moves from larval to juvenile stage, so you may just be seeing that.

 

[manzoherz]

Thank you very much - that's really helpful. Yes i do wonder if there's some inherent stunting given the rest of the batch didn't make (although some of that was inevitably down to incompetence on my part and not realising how brutal the ammonia spikes could be!) and it was the first set of eggs the pair laid. I will feel a bit less guilty about his tiny box and keep feeding him the good stuff! Thanks again