[belltold12]

I have two Festivums that were added to my tank at the same time. After about a month one has obviously gained some significant size while the other seems relatively similar to the size when I bought them. Could this be an indication that the larger one is male? Do the different species of mesonauta (insignis, festivus) have different growth rates? What else would cause two fish exposed to the same conditions, fed the same diet with the same opportunity to feed to grow so differently?

 

[lorax84]

Generally whether you have two or ten of the same fish in a tank, they will all grow at different rates. There is a lot of different factors at play. One big factor with cichlids is dominance. The most dominant fish will always eat the most, no matter what you do.