Is there a way to grow a fish to its max potential size in home aquariums?
- Thread starter pokebird
- Start date
I'd say house said fish in the biggest tank/pond you can, feed quality food, keep stress levels to a minimum, and always keep the water pristeen.
You've done your bit then, the rest is up to mother nature, and maybe genetics of the fish.
You've done your bit then, the rest is up to mother nature, and maybe genetics of the fish.
The maximum potential size is a freak of nature as far as I understand. Take a look at Robert Wadlow, world's tallest documented person to live.
en.wikipedia.org
8'11" and still growing when he died, one could say that is the maximum height for humans, will any of us reach it? No. I would say in my personal opinion that you should take those "max sizes" and accept that not every fish is going to hit that in some species. However my opinion is just that, an opinion.
Robert Wadlow - Wikipedia
8'11" and still growing when he died, one could say that is the maximum height for humans, will any of us reach it? No. I would say in my personal opinion that you should take those "max sizes" and accept that not every fish is going to hit that in some species. However my opinion is just that, an opinion.
The maximum potential size is a freak of nature as far as I understand. Take a look at Robert Wadlow, world's tallest documented person to live.
Robert Wadlow - Wikipedia
8'11" and still growing when he died, one could say that is the maximum height for humans, will any of us reach it? No. I would say in my personal opinion that you should take those "max sizes" and accept that not every fish is going to hit that in some species. However my opinion is just that, an opinion.
Robert Wadlow must have been kept in a huge aquarium to have attained that size!
Maybe I could word my post better, but yea I don't mean to max fish to their species potential size, more like maxing each fish to its fullest potential. It's like we somewhat frequently see silver arowanas that reach 1.2m in wild life documentaries but we rarely see one reaching 1m in the home aquarium hobby, there must be a reason that home aquarium fish are smaller in average(or some one can point out to me that they actually aren't) and I was wondering how we as aquarium hobbyists give them a little boost and let them reach full potential.The maximum potential size is a freak of nature as far as I understand. Take a look at Robert Wadlow, world's tallest documented person to live.
Robert Wadlow - Wikipedia
8'11" and still growing when he died, one could say that is the maximum height for humans, will any of us reach it? No. I would say in my personal opinion that you should take those "max sizes" and accept that not every fish is going to hit that in some species. However my opinion is just that, an opinion.
There’s no exact formula, but I’m always looking into this as well because for me I find a great sense of pride in rearing a fish to its maximum potential. My oversimplified ideals that I try to follow are,
Firstly, totally unproven but I believe how a fish is handled as a fry can set the whole tone for its life. In the first year they will be growing more rapidly than ever again. Any growth lost from long shipments, stress, weaning of food, all comes off the top of the final max size at the end in my opinion.
As for what should be provided:
An aquarium far beyond the minimum size for a species. A steady source of high quality foods that fill all nutrient requirements (I’ve read multiple smaller meals over a day as opposed to one large is better for consistency in growth). Depending on species, a level of current to assist in metabolism. Very clean water, or as clean as economically possible. A lack of chemicals that may damage cells, cellular growth, or replacement. Lack of competition.
these are just my educated guesses but they all have some evidence of truth from everyone’s experiences in the hobby
Firstly, totally unproven but I believe how a fish is handled as a fry can set the whole tone for its life. In the first year they will be growing more rapidly than ever again. Any growth lost from long shipments, stress, weaning of food, all comes off the top of the final max size at the end in my opinion.
As for what should be provided:
An aquarium far beyond the minimum size for a species. A steady source of high quality foods that fill all nutrient requirements (I’ve read multiple smaller meals over a day as opposed to one large is better for consistency in growth). Depending on species, a level of current to assist in metabolism. Very clean water, or as clean as economically possible. A lack of chemicals that may damage cells, cellular growth, or replacement. Lack of competition.
these are just my educated guesses but they all have some evidence of truth from everyone’s experiences in the hobby
As Blakewater said, growth depends on many things. Consistent feeding of high quality foods from a young age, pristine water and a bit of genetic luck for long term growth. Public zoos tend to have tremendously large fish due to a combination of the above. Their diets are high quality and mimic what they eat in the wild, smaller and more frequent feedings, huge tanks and pristine water. Doing all of this isn't always possible for everyone. This is a philosophy I intend to apply to my aquaria when I have the space and money to do so.
In summary large tank, water changes and varied diet.
Yes I totally agree, the sense of pride of having such a big fish and I also believe that size reflects health too which is also something worth being proud of.
First time I heard about how the fry stage can impact its growth, it does make a lot of sense to me though, I would definitely be more aware of it in my future fish keeping. Thank you for sharing your experience!
I'm not sure about the frequent smaller feedings everyone is talking about... do fish feed in nature frequently? I thought sometimes they could go a week or weeks in between feeding depending on what's available to them in their environment... IMO the growth is mostly about the constant replenishment of freshwater we would have an extremely hard time to imitate in home aquaria... but we can try?
my 2 cents
my 2 cents