figure 8 question

[jimi]

so im wondering how fast i can expect them to grow i have had them for 6 months now andthey havent grown much they got fatter but not to much bigger there both in a 45 with soe goby firends and are happy and always trolling for snails and shrimp i will randomly pop in there when should i expect them to get near the 3 inches predicted from the maybe one and a half they are now

[Pufferpunk]

I found mine to be fairly slow growers. They don't get very big anyway.

[bazil323]

I've had mine since the end of March, so a little over 4 months, and he looks about the same. Perhaps a 1/4" bigger. The main thing is that he got a little fatter (the lfs fed him brine shrimp only and any flakes (for the danios that shared the tank!) he chose to eat).

[jimi]

yeah well im fine with slow growers i already have enough fish growing like weeds i don't need to add 2 puffers to the list but i have always been proud of those little guys they never touched brine or flake or pellet or anything they only eat the meatiest food they can get there beaks of course that's whats good for them

[coldmachineUK]

Yes they can be slow growers although mine were pretty fast. They're now 'maxed out', and that took probably ~12 months (got them before April 2007) from when they were about 0.5" (since I got them as little'uns). I've given them a high protein diet though, with plenty of bloodworm, krill, cockles, mussels etc. so that probably contributed. If you are feeding yours a varied diet with good quality food (not brineshrimp, like you say since its nutritional value is fairly low - although it's a nice treat now and then!), they'll do just fine. I wouldn't worry.

[jimi]

ohh im not worried about them there healthy happy and a little portly and yeah i very there diet and i only feed them live brine every once in a while which i cant say is a bad thing they get so happy swimming around sucking up the little things i mean they are the equivelent of a potato chip but why give them frozen poptato chips ?