Growth Rate Overreactions/Exaggeration?

[MonsterMinis]

suggested minimum tanks sizes are just that.. as perviously stated, taking into account habits ect some fish can be kept in smaller tanks while some smaller fish need bigger tanks. Just like species of dogs.. some dogs do just fine in a small appartment with minimal physical activity while others need a large back-yard and miles of walks a week... basing tank size needed on the fishes size alone is a poor substitue for doing your research... it's not just about adult size, but natural tendancies ect. But with that being said alot of people don't honestly know how big their ifsh can truely get. my own personal experiances I wanted a motoro ray.. I did my research knew it would need a pond ect, they are one of the easiest species to maintain ect... then I actually Saw an adult female ( imo fully grown, she was the size of a trashcan lid easily!) I decided to opte for one of the much smaller species that was more challenging ...

some fish are also exceedingly dirty fish... so for example the Oscar... in a 55 gallon tank w/ max bio-capacity ( = your running 0ppm ammonia/nitrites/ fully cycled functioning system) Keeping your nitrates at or below 30ppm a week is goign to be alot more water changes then just 50% weekly... I speak from experiance on that one.. Unless you're going to be runnig nitrification systems ect as well. Then your still going to run imo into TDS issues... Quite frankly most people don't think/understand/rationalize all of this when taking into consideration what size tank they need for their fish... and as we know... larger water volume ='s larger room for error/ consistently level water perameters. which is why I preach "Bigger is better"

as for growth rates.. feed a high qulity diet tailored for that species.. give it ideal water conditions... and you will see 3-4 inch growth spurts in most the monster species. I've had it with Gar, TSN, silver arrow, fire eels, Oscars, aba aba knife... and now I'm working on endlicheri's and a clown knife. Tanks size doesn't matter.. water quality and food do.

 

[petspoiler]

(red font color added by me)

.........I wanted the experience of keeping an RTC. It may not have been as long as I would've liked, but ...I had a baby RTC. A few years ago, I bought it at 1.5" and placed it in a 55g tank. ....... It grew from 1.5" to 11" in 8 months....... One to two feedings a day, weekly water changes, filtered with a Fluval 405. Very basic, no rush to make it a "Monster," but not depriving it of food to slow down its growth........
.....An example would be people stating that a 14" Oscar would not fare well in a 75g (which I believe it will do fine, providing proper maintenance). I had an 11” Oscar in a 75g with no health issues........ These were maintained with weekly water changes and 1-2 feedings daily.

People who are experienced, educated, & diligent can succeed with setups that are much less than "generous", and still be humane.
People who lack the skills, can't. Their fish might not even be OK in a giant tank.

IMO, there is value in experiencing different species for a while. Not everyone will purchase fish with that thought in mind. However, we have all done it, hindsight being 20/20.

People learn to not make posts with "full disclosure". Or, when veering slightly off the "ideal", they beg not to be flamed. LOL.
Perfection is nice. I'd love to always have that in my tanks.
but all the "Go To" people for information, I know have lost many beasts along the way. Look at the aggression and breeding deaths. "Oh, that male killed the female".. or, "he killed everything in the tank". Nobody is expected to provide a whole river for every "known" aggressive species. That is what they have in their natural environs. I bet few wild fish kill their mates, bcuz they have miles of fleeing space! yet, there is no corresponding standard: "Never breed 'this species' without a 500G minimum tank size... and don't have any corners where a fish could get trapped & murdered."

I'm just saying, "what the minimum standards are" is constantly being negotiated. What is impossible to provide, we discard every day.
We're all zoo keepers who want to feel good about it! LOL.