Will fish grow at same rate in a small or bigger tank?

[Otherone]

There are many factors that play into growth rate. - Question was faster in 55 or 125. The 125 hands down. One of the factors in growth rate is Dominant status within' the tank and another is stress. The 55 is way too small for those 4 even as juvi's. Although all 4 grow to similair sizes - species type - is another factor. Texas and RD's grow faster than JD's and common GT's. JD's are hearty however GT's usually don't do well in stressful enviorments leading to disease within the tank.
Someone prior mentioned genetics, Alpha status within' a brood. It is amazing to see the growth rates of alpha males and if you have one that changes the species type
factor.

Power feeding is a bad idea - it's an oximoron. The fish will only intake what it needs, the rest, solid waste. If power feeding is long term it will work in reverse, it will create a fat bellied sluggish fish with a lower than normal metabolizim thus slowing it's overall growth rate. Oscars don't grow fast because they eat alot, they grow fast because they have a high metabolism. A P-Bass could eat an oscar under the table
but will never grow as fast.

10% water changes weekly is for Salties with Live Rock. 50% or more is better for freshwater fish ie; Fresh Water.

 

[Amphilophus88]

There are many factors that play into growth rate. - Question was faster in 55 or 125. The 125 hands down. One of the factors in growth rate is Dominant status within' the tank and another is stress. The 55 is way too small for those 4 even as juvi's. Although all 4 grow to similair sizes - species type - is another factor. Texas and RD's grow faster than JD's and common GT's. JD's are hearty however GT's usually don't do well in stressful enviorments leading to disease within the tank.
Someone prior mentioned genetics, Alpha status within' a brood. It is amazing to see the growth rates of alpha males and if you have one that changes the species type
factor.

Power feeding is a bad idea - it's an oximoron. The fish will only intake what it needs, the rest, solid waste. If power feeding is long term it will work in reverse, it will create a fat bellied sluggish fish with a lower than normal metabolizim thus slowing it's overall growth rate. Oscars don't grow fast because they eat alot, they grow fast because they have a high metabolism. A P-Bass could eat an oscar under the table
but will never grow as fast.

10% water changes weekly is for Salties with Live Rock. 50% or more is better for freshwater fish ie; Fresh Water.

I Agree, my Green Terrors eat a lot but never grow fast.
But then again more food still does mean faster growth, if my Green Terrors ate less then they do now, they'd grow even slower.

Increasing the temperature also works.

 

[Red devil 1985]

Thank you all for your informational posts. This morning I did a water change. I had originally said I did about 10g but it was more. I made another estimate today and it was about 1/3 of the 55g that I changed. I scooped the remaining debris and rearranged the tank to make better hiding spots. Once I get the 125g or bigger, I plan to separate the fish. I am going to make a video tonight and post the link to my youtube page.

The red devil will not eat pellets. I had one before him and they were the same way. I let them starve once and they began to eat them. Maybe in the video, the texas and red devil can be identified what sex they are by a forum member. None have developed humps yet.

 

[Freshwaterpredators]

I agree 100% if you have a community, it is a dominant status all the way. And same with power feeding, not healthy. Once you get an alpha u could pull him into different tank to allow the next alpha to rise up.

There are many factors that play into growth rate. - Question was faster in 55 or 125. The 125 hands down. One of the factors in growth rate is Dominant status within' the tank and another is stress. The 55 is way too small for those 4 even as juvi's. Although all 4 grow to similair sizes - species type - is another factor. Texas and RD's grow faster than JD's and common GT's. JD's are hearty however GT's usually don't do well in stressful enviorments leading to disease within the tank.
Someone prior mentioned genetics, Alpha status within' a brood. It is amazing to see the growth rates of alpha males and if you have one that changes the species type
factor.

Power feeding is a bad idea - it's an oximoron. The fish will only intake what it needs, the rest, solid waste. If power feeding is long term it will work in reverse, it will create a fat bellied sluggish fish with a lower than normal metabolizim thus slowing it's overall growth rate. Oscars don't grow fast because they eat alot, they grow fast because they have a high metabolism. A P-Bass could eat an oscar under the table
but will never grow as fast.

10% water changes weekly is for Salties with Live Rock. 50% or more is better for freshwater fish ie; Fresh Water.

 

[VRWC]

Tank size means nothing with growth rate.

Can you give us the scenario in which you did this for an extended period of time with more than 2-3 fish & 2-3 tanks with exact same feedings and water changes to see if this were true please?

Also, would you care to explain how I had 12 trimac fry alone in a 265 getting fed 2x a day with weekly 50% water changes and 10 trimac fry from the same parents in a 75 fed 2x a day with weekly 50% water changes and the trimacs in the 265 were double the size of those in the 75 until they were all sold (approx 6 months)?

If anyones answer is going to be because the nitrates in the 265 couldnt get as high as those in the 75 in the same amount of time, then a bigger tank does promote faster growth, which is my contention from deliberately trying it to see.

 

[Red devil 1985]

There are many factors that play into growth rate. - Question was faster in 55 or 125. The 125 hands down. One of the factors in growth rate is Dominant status within' the tank and another is stress. The 55 is way too small for those 4 even as juvi's. Although all 4 grow to similair sizes - species type - is another factor. Texas and RD's grow faster than JD's and common GT's. JD's are hearty however GT's usually don't do well in stressful enviorments leading to disease within the tank.
Someone prior mentioned genetics, Alpha status within' a brood. It is amazing to see the growth rates of alpha males and if you have one that changes the species type
factor.

Power feeding is a bad idea - it's an oximoron. The fish will only intake what it needs, the rest, solid waste. If power feeding is long term it will work in reverse, it will create a fat bellied sluggish fish with a lower than normal metabolizim thus slowing it's overall growth rate. Oscars don't grow fast because they eat alot, they grow fast because they have a high metabolism. A P-Bass could eat an oscar under the table
but will never grow as fast.

10% water changes weekly is for Salties with Live Rock. 50% or more is better for freshwater fish ie; Fresh Water.

Great post there! I am now thinking I can go with the huge tank or go with a 75g and put the dominant fish in there. I might even be able to put 2 fish per tank. 125g tanks are expensive as hell, specially the stand. Before I buy, I will look on craigslist to see if I can take advantage of a tank sale. So far, nobody is the dominant fish

 

[chris_zx2]

Nitrates affecting growth are SUPPOSEDLY a misconception. Nitrates are solely used to measure water quality. All fish secret hormones (may not in fact be a "hormone" but I will refer to it as that) which prevent growth, this allows for population control in small bodies of water. Scientists have another theory that dominant males will produce this hormone to control the growth rate of other fish and keep his dominance.
People use nitrates to determine if a water change is needed, but what you really want to be removing is the hormones.
So what it comes down to is the same idea as nitrates but not in fact the nitrates themselves. Larger tanks take longer to build up the hormones as well as nitrates but if you did a 50% water change daily your tank would also have nearly no hormones or nitrates.
I have also read that carbon can apparently remove this hormone from the water but do not know if it's true.
See this link for more info:
http://www.aquariumpros.com/articles/stockguide.shtml
Read down to the GLH portion.

All in all whether it be the nitrates or the hormones, w/c and larger bodies of water = larger fish.

And just so people get the right idea about power feeding, it's not over feeding it's increasing the frequency of feedings. Feeding a young Cichlid 3 times a day smaller portions will increase his metabolism and help with growth. Full grown adults can and should eat much less frequently, Oscars generally should go a week between feedings when fully grown but good luck with that if it's a community tank and your feeding other fish.

 

[RD.]

I believe that the term you are looking for is GIS (Growth Inhibiting Substances).

Stunting can occur in aquariums, as well as in the wild, this much we know for fact. But the jury still appears to be out as to whether this is caused by pheromones, increased levels of cortisol (from stress) or whatever. Bob Fenner wrote a decent article on the subject of GIS.
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/fwsubwebindex/GrwLmtChems.htm


Juvenile cichlids already have a higher metabolic rate compared to adults, but I agree that with juvenile cichlids 3 feedings a day will typically produce better gains in growth vs 1 or 2 larger meals per day. Having said that many hobbyists do in fact power feed to the point of over feeding.

Well said, Otherone.

There are many factors that play into growth rate. - Question was faster in 55 or 125. The 125 hands down. One of the factors in growth rate is Dominant status within' the tank and another is stress. The 55 is way too small for those 4 even as juvi's. Although all 4 grow to similair sizes - species type - is another factor. Texas and RD's grow faster than JD's and common GT's. JD's are hearty however GT's usually don't do well in stressful enviorments leading to disease within the tank.
Someone prior mentioned genetics, Alpha status within' a brood. It is amazing to see the growth rates of alpha males and if you have one that changes the species type
factor.

Power feeding is a bad idea - it's an oximoron. The fish will only intake what it needs, the rest, solid waste. If power feeding is long term it will work in reverse, it will create a fat bellied sluggish fish with a lower than normal metabolizim thus slowing it's overall growth rate. Oscars don't grow fast because they eat alot, they grow fast because they have a high metabolism. A P-Bass could eat an oscar under the table
but will never grow as fast.

10% water changes weekly is for Salties with Live Rock. 50% or more is better for freshwater fish ie; Fresh Water.

 

[peathenster]

It has happened to me several times that when I moved fish to a bigger tank, they'd almost immediately have a growth spurt. Same feeding routine. So I'd think bigger tanks probably do promote growth.

GIS is an interesting idea. Keep in mind, however, that fish haven't been in a glass box for long. It's hard for me to imagine that they would secret hormone growth inhibitors - what happens to themselves, and how could this possibly work in the vast body of water in the wild....Stress is probably a much more important factor...

 

[BigUmbeeFan]

Can you give us the scenario in which you did this for an extended period of time with more than 2-3 fish & 2-3 tanks with exact same feedings and water changes to see if this were true please?

Right now I have a dovii in a 29 and an umbee in a 75. They both eat the same hikari carnivore sticks.

The dovii eats much more than the umbee and it is growing much faster in a tank 1/3 the size.

I also had a 55 with 6 umbees in it last year. There was a bit of a pecking order but the 1 dominant fish ate much more than everyone else and totally outgrew them big time. When I got the 6 they were all equal in size from Rapps spawn.

Another for instance was an oscar I had a couple months ago. This fish ate more than anything for its size. It grew from a 2.5 incher to a 6 incher in 2 months. This thing at 2.5 inches ate more than an umbee i had at 6 inches.

I have been into fish for over 20 years and from experience it comes down to water quality and eating more than anything for growth rate.