Bigger in the wild, or bigger in a tank?

Do fish grow larger in the wild or do they grow larger in a captive environment?


  • Total voters
    63

AiR foRc3 wUnZ

Feeder Fish
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Sep 14, 2007
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Any way this was brought up in another thread. I was wondering do you think fish can/will get bigger in the wild, or will a fish be bigger in a fish tank? I think a tank would give the fish more of an oppertunity to survive and enough ammounts of food to make the fish grow stronger and have a higher survival percentage then in the wild.

Here is my example. There are 2 identical people who lived their lifestyles the same way. One lives in world A, where the oxygen level is at 18%(Earth). Then there was this person who lived in world B, which has an oxygen level of 50%. The person in world B is living in an easier to live in environment, making his organs use less effort to do the same ammount of work as the person in world A would. So the person in world B would be older and grow to a larger size.

Thats my sort of theory.


Edit: I messed up on the poll. Make yes be "Captive" and make no be "wild"
 

ShadowBass

Feeder Fish
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Jan 13, 2007
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I put no because fish have the POTENTIAL to grow larger in captivity but in general they grow larger in the wild.

Ok, if you're looking at an individual fish, it's likely under the right conditions it will grow larger in a tank than it would in the wild assuming it didn't get eaten or sick and die before it completely matured. This is a lot of ifs.

If you're looking at fish as a group then they're more likely to get bigger in the wild because:

The smaller weaker fish will likely get eaten, sick or killed, so the fish that live the longest will be the larger stronger ones and these specimens will be the ones that grow to max size.

They have more room to swim. They're more active. This aids growth.

There's also a huge variance between natural waterways though. You can't just say "Will a fish grow larger in the wild?". You have to ask "Will a fish grow larger in the wild in optimum conditions as oposed to optimum conditions in a tank?". In that case, I'd assume they'd either grow larger in the wild or there would be little difference. You can't just ask will the individual fish grow larger in the wild in general, because you can have a nice clear, clean, pristine river, or you can have a stagnant lake with low oxygen content and poor water quality.

Of course a fish will probably grow larger in a nice big, clean, healthy tank as oposed to a natural waterway that doesn't have very good conditions, but those aren't equal comparisons.
 

sandtiger

Captain Planet
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Feb 14, 2005
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I'm not really sure. On one hand a wild ecosystem has less toxins (save for man made pollution, watershed depending) but in captivity fish are kept for long periods of time in their own waste and nitrates are known to stunt fish.
In captivity however fish get a constant supply of food and have the chance to live a very long time in a fairly stress free, energy conservative environment.
 

AiR foRc3 wUnZ

Feeder Fish
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Sep 14, 2007
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There's also a huge variance between natural waterways though. You can't just say "Will a fish grow larger in the wild?". You have to ask "Will a fish grow larger in the wild in optimum conditions as oposed to optimum conditions in a tank?". In that case, I'd assume they'd either grow larger in the wild or there would be little difference. You can't just ask will the individual fish grow larger in the wild in general, because you can have a nice clear, clean, pristine river, or you can have a stagnant lake with low oxygen content and poor water quality.
Thats basically what I meant. lol. But that is a good point.

I'm not really sure. On one hand a wild ecosystem has less toxins (save for man made pollution, watershed depending) but in captivity fish are kept for long periods of time in their own waste and nitrates are known to stunt fish.
In captivity however fish get a constant supply of food and have the chance to live a very long time in a fairly stress free, energy conservative environment.
Thats what Im saying:confused:
 

Bderick67

Bronze Tier VIP
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Aug 18, 2006
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This is not really a simple either/or question. Does anyone really believe most your average aquarium fish, I.E. guppys, platies, gouramis, bettas, convicts,firemouths, etc, will get bigger in either sitsuation...no.

As for monster fish if provided the right requirements they will get as large as if they were in a healthy wild environment.
 

Pufferpunk

Fire Eel
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Aug 11, 2007
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I do believe, if housed properly & fed the best foods, it should grow larger than in the wild. It has no predators & doesn't have to hunt for food. that's also if it's not overfed (killed with kindness)--shouldn't be allowed to get fat & lazy!
 

Zoodiver

As seen on TV
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Aug 22, 2005
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Bigger and stronger in the wild. More room to swim, more varied diet and a host of other things. Then again, if you can't provide enough room for a fish to get to it's natural size, you are doing something vastly wrong.

To touch on the human example.... the person with less work to live will probably die sooner. The less the body is worked, the more it will shut down. You end up with weaker muscles, less of an immune system and many other things like that. That is why we all try to stay active and healthy, not sit around and be lazy.
 

Nova 8

Jack Dempsey
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Feb 10, 2007
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Couldn't agree with you anymore Zoodiver. Even though they can have better food and water conditions in aquariums they lack the room to move, even in the biggest tanks fish can still get lazy due to that lack of predators. Exercise increases lifespan and there would be no better exercise then fighting/running for you life.
 
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