Yes ive seen it happen both ways,ive seen goldfish outgrow a tank litterally,being a 1ft tank and the goldfish was 10inches, but also ive seen oscars than someone has had for around 5years and only around 5-6inches, needless to say they died soon after,they did not look at all healty, my local fish shop the old owner actually beleives this,when i told him my oscars grew from 2inchs - 12inchs with in the year he nearly called me a lier,until i showed him the video and pictures i took, i brought them from him along with a tigershovel nose who grew from 2inch-10inch in a couple of months,when i was there and said "rem the shovelnose i brought he's 10inch" he said stop changing the water then,otherwise you remove a chemical they relase to stop growing,pointing to the tank,one still in there at 3-4inch,thats the last of the group that you brought yours from, i said you cant treat fish like that,he said exscuse me ive been open 30yrs selling fish...ok i just walked...
The "Fish Grow To The Size Of Their Tank" Myth.
- Thread starter THD
- Start date
south coast nelly;4558372; said:
LOL, ask him what that chemical is....
Ammonia -> Nitrates
Tell him a human would stop growing in a room full of feces and urine too
elting44;4558388; said:
mate i couldn't entertain the idea after he said that and i burst out laughing, i just steer clear now, shame really,,,people being so narrow minded,but its the same, people believing what sounds the best to them and thats all they will listen too, like most people keeping the beautiful ariprima giga,so many people still now are buying these beautys and beleiving they will be able to keep them for life, not many people can house them beautys
george carlin said it best "Think of how stupid the average person is. And then realise half of them are even stupider."12 Volt Man;4558325; said:most people in the world are dumb.
sorry, but its true
Stunting is not caused by too small a tank stunting is caused by increased level of growth inhibiting hormones typical of a small body of water. If you did tonnes of water changes on a 20 gallon tank theoretically your oscar will grow to it's full size. But usualy this is not the case.
I actually used to believe this as well, but that was a time long ago when I was much greener in the hobby. I will say however I have come across a few strange cases.
Case #1: Friend has a RTCxTSN that he kept in a 125 grow out for about 7 months, he bought the fish when he was 3-4 inches, the rtcxtsn stayed in the 125 until it was about 12-13 inches and then was moved to his larger tank (I believe somewhere in the 400-500 gallon range) he has had it for somewhere in the ballpark of 5-6 years and after reaching 20-24 inches it simply has not grown, all the water parameters are in check, the other fish that he has kept over the years has grown and either been moved or still in the tank.
Case #2: Friend with an indoor pond has a few natives (SMB, GAR, LMB, Common Plec, and a Chain pickerel that I donated to him). However this case isn't really clear cut as it is a very large pond, all of the fish except for the LMB continue to grow, all of the fish are reaching adult size and the LMB has pretty much hovered around 19 inches for the past 2 years. Again all parameters in check and all of the fish have plenty of room but we have been quite stumped on why the one fish will not grow, especially considering that the fishery that he got it from stated it was the larger florida/tiger strain that is supposed to get quite a bit larger than the northern strain.
Case #1: Friend has a RTCxTSN that he kept in a 125 grow out for about 7 months, he bought the fish when he was 3-4 inches, the rtcxtsn stayed in the 125 until it was about 12-13 inches and then was moved to his larger tank (I believe somewhere in the 400-500 gallon range) he has had it for somewhere in the ballpark of 5-6 years and after reaching 20-24 inches it simply has not grown, all the water parameters are in check, the other fish that he has kept over the years has grown and either been moved or still in the tank.
Case #2: Friend with an indoor pond has a few natives (SMB, GAR, LMB, Common Plec, and a Chain pickerel that I donated to him). However this case isn't really clear cut as it is a very large pond, all of the fish except for the LMB continue to grow, all of the fish are reaching adult size and the LMB has pretty much hovered around 19 inches for the past 2 years. Again all parameters in check and all of the fish have plenty of room but we have been quite stumped on why the one fish will not grow, especially considering that the fishery that he got it from stated it was the larger florida/tiger strain that is supposed to get quite a bit larger than the northern strain.
Some fish actually do grow to the size of an aquarium, for example, my pacu is about the size of a 5.5 gallon tank (although I think a 5.5 gallon is a little shorter).
