"Large" fish in stores

[Sixo]

Hi all,

Lately i've seen fish for sale advertised as large versions such as keyhole cichilids and bolivian rams for example (heard of XL Blue rams too but never seen them in person) but I was wondering what are these really? Are they just older fish that have grown a bit before going on sale or are they likely to be bigger through selective breeding or use of hormones & stuff?

[Ric]

I have seen XL rams in shops before which just looked like larger versions of the normal rams. Behaviour wise, in a shop tank, they were the same as the smaller ones, so from that point of view I did not get the impression that they were simply old. But it did make me wonder, too, whether they've been pumped up with hormones and special feeds or whether they are a breed type - not sure.

[Ruth]

Never heard of such a thing!! Imagine a huge Cardinal!! Or a big massive Rummy!!

[Martinspuddle]

Anything list as 'XL' or 'Jumbo' as in Neons I have seen before, my advice, avoid.

They could be fully grown wild caught stock sold at inflated prices or raised to a fully grown size by commercial breeders, from Singapore or Holland wanting to off load their old stock for fresh and purchased at low price by your local stockiest.

Either way most wouldn't last that long because their near to the end of their natural lifespan.

[Ruth]

Anything list as 'XL' or 'Jumbo' as in Neons I have seen before, my advice, avoid.

They could be fully grown wild caught stock sold at inflated prices or raised to a fully grown size by commercial breeders, from Singapore or Holland wanting to off load their old stock for fresh and purchased at low price by your local stockiest.

Either way most wouldn't last that long because their near to the end of their natural lifespan.

I was just imagining - can you actually get such a thing?! Not in my LFS!

[Sixo]

There's a question, if you could pick a fish you could have a giant (or smaller) version of what would it be?

I'd go for:

Giant Yellow Honey Gourami
Small Clown Loaches

[Stephen]

A large Keyhole cichlid or large Bolivian ram is likely to be several months old as opposed to a youngster.
I bought my Cupid cichlids quite large so basically have been in store for a while or maybe returned by a fish keeper who no longer wants them.
Their lifespan is probably up to about 5 years, mine were probably 6 months old when I got them, I've had them about 15 months and returned three earlier this week.
So those three are probably getting towards 2 years old and the LFS will sell them at a premium, maybe £25 each.

[Ruth]

There's a question, if you could pick a fish you could have a giant (or smaller) version of what would it be?

I'd go for:

Giant Yellow Honey Gourami
Small Clown Loaches

Giant Sterbai Cory

[black ghost]

XL versions of all farmed fish are available. Shops generally don’t get them because they work out a lot more expensive than the regular sizes. The market is very small for ‘show quality’ or ‘breeders size’ fish (at the dearer prices). Most customers would rather buy regular sizes at regular prices and keep them for longer...

They’re just large adults, no hormones involved.
They’re often not that big, especially the larger species, just the next size up from Large. But I’ll always remember the XL biggest bestest show quality guppies from Singapore we asked for one time.... females nearly 4”, males 2” and more colourful than any other fish that exists....

[Ric]

Good point @black ghost , didn't think of the 'show quality' market...I know that 'show budgies' are usually larger than regular budgies, too.