Severum/Deacon Sizes

[Relborg]

Hello all

(firstly sorry if posted in wrong area)

strange question

a couple of months ago i got 4 gold severums/deacons all about R2 coin size (yes little babies) and they were completely white. Housing them in my 340 L (+140L sump)

now 3 of the have probably more than tripled in size and have gotten there "golden" color and are starting to show their red spots and lighter stripes but the other little "misfit" hasnt grown at all and is still as pale as he/she was originally
(when i first bought them this one was the most active as well)

The "misfit" eats allot and is as active as my 2 tinfoils - often scuttleing with them back and forth in the tank

The others obviously eat a bit more than him/her because of size but as i said he eats allot and can see how bloated he looks after the feeding

as far as i can see my little "misfit" seems very happy with life but he/she is just not growing

what could this be though ?
could the male/female growth pattern differ so much ?
I can't find any info suggesting any reason or anyone else experiencing this

I spose as long as he seams happy all is good (happy = eating and swimming around fins/scales look all good)

am truly puzzeld though :confused:

for the records:
Amonia/Nitrites = 0
Nitrates lower than 20
PH - 7.3
Temp gets a bit high now 26 - 28

other tankmates (and this is where ppl start moaning at me) rainbow shark; angels ; tinfoils; other deacons, pleco
a little bit of darkbrown and green algea on stones

feed them a mix of 3 dry foods once a day treat them with brine shrimp once a week

shop fitted lights are on from 11 am to 7 pm

so if anyone has any theories it would be cool to hear them ...

Grant

[oscar freak]

are we positive its a deacon?

[Relborg]

Yes we are sure, they look like this:

55095508

Unless a severum and a deacon is 2 different things but as far as I know south africans call them deacons and International call them severums

[oscar freak]

the one on the left looks suspect.

[Relborg]

They come from the internet - my own pics are at home

[oscar freak]

if you can,upload them and lets have a look though im no expert im sure someone on here might be able to help

[Fonkie]

Hi

If you guys get the answer please let me know the same thing happened to me also with golden deacons

[azurekoi]

Dont think this is Deacon specific,but in any spawn one will have fish grow at vastly different rates... this can be due to a lot of factors:
- Firstly,there will always be a "runt" of the litter...Due to many generations of inbreeding,some fish will just have a defect - from a scew fin to an internal problem that will affect its growth rates...
- Secondly,some fishes immune systems are just not as good as others - they expend more energy on fighting off parasitical infections than their more robust siblings... I believe that it is a total myth that there is a completely parasite free fish in our tanks... good nutrition,clean water hower helps the fish to keep these in control,preventing a "outbreak"...
- Thirdly,in fish like cichlids especialy,there will always be a natural pecking order amongst group of fish... Mr. bottom of the pile always gets picked on,less food etc..

Hope this helps?