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I was just wondering if anyone could guess the age of my cockatoo apisto, I picked up a pair yesterday. Here is the female (male was hiding too much but he's similar size just more colourful):
Also at what age do these guys usually get to full size?
Hard to say without more information. When do cold-blooded animals reach full size? Actually, they never do. They continue to grow throughout their life, but much more slowly once they reach sexual maturity. A better question would be 'at what age do these guys usually reach sexual maturity?' Even this is hard to give a definite answer. It depends on how they were raised: food, feedings, water quality, etc. How big are your fish, BTW?
I would say they are about 1" the male a little bigger but not 1.5" yet.
This is my first time with Apisto's I'm just wondering what to expect in terms of when they will get their full color and the majority of their growth. So i guess my question is more so are my apisto's still younger than sexual maturity? I just read they are usually at sexual maturity at 1.5" so I'm guessing mine haven't reached it yet?
Should I expect them to get more colorful or are they just about as colorful as they will get?
Yes - darker colored sand will bring out more color in Apistos. A dark-colored background may also help. Light-colored surroundings cause their melanophores and chromatophores to contract to make them less conspicuous.
At 1-1½"/25-35mm TL (Total Length; includes tail) they are most likely not sexable. At 1-1½"/25-35mm SL (Standard Lengh; body only, not tail) they should start being sexable. It really depends on the species. It also assumes that the fish haven't been stunted.
Wow thanks for the tip Gerald, minutes after I added black sand they both had much nicer colors and markings on them. I read darker substrate was better but a had a whole bag of white sand already so I just used that, little did I know scientifically more color comes out on these little guys with dark substrate.
Wow - I didnt realize color would come back THAT quick, although I've seen fish LOSE color within a couple minutes. When collecting wild fish to photograph, we never use a container that is white on the inside. Colors will fade before you can get the bucket back to shore where the camera is waiting. We call it "white bucket syndrome". Dark color containers only, if taking stream-side photos.