Wow Growth!

[chrisrm]

I dont know wether its me, but since putting my fish in to a bigger tank (about a month ago) they seem to be visibly growing a lot faster, especialy my sev!

Is it me or would they have a 'growth spurt' due to more space?

 

[stevereade]

If your old tank was too small yeah it would have stunted their growth.

 

[rdp50734]

I have read and believe its to do with the growth hormone they release, as it builds up they grow slower. In larger tanks its more diluted so they grow quicker! I think its the G hormone but not sure. Its been discussed on the forum a few times!

 

[chrisrm]

If your old tank was too small yeah it would have stunted their growth.

my old tank was 350l and the new one is 650l, i was just wondering if the bigger enviroment would encourage quicker growth?

 

[Verminator89]

Tank size does depict how much a fish can grow. We commonly know this as stunted growth in fish, where the tank is to small and the fishs growth halts, causing stress. I suppose it is equally true in reverse if the tank is upgraded to a bigger size, if and only if the fish hasnt been stunted at all, or much before being moved to the bigger tank. So its entirely possible your fish have had a growth spurt in the larger tank.

 

[hamfist]

I dont know whether its me, but since putting my fish in to a bigger tank (about a month ago) they seem to be visibly growing a lot faster, especially my sev!

Is it me or would they have a 'growth spurt' due to more space?

As far as I understand, it is not a hugely well understood area. There are certainly some species (eg. discus) which are known to release a hormone into the water, and the greater the concentration of that hormone, the more it inhibits growth. So the greater the tank volume and the greater the % water changes, the greater the growth, because the hormone is diluted more.
Clearly this doesn't happen with some/many species, as they can still completely outgrow a small tank.
Personally, I don't tend to overstock, or try and squeeze large fish into minimal tanks so I generally see good growth in all of them. For me , it seems to be limited by the amount I feed and, obviously, keeping good water quality despite feeding a lot.

It's a really interesting question though ! I suspect for the important commercially fish-farmed species like trout, salmon etc, it has been well researched, but for most of out hobby species we are still in the dark as to the exact nature of the optimal conditions for growth.

 

[snowflake311]

I dont know whether its me, but since putting my fish in to a bigger tank (about a month ago) they seem to be visibly growing a lot faster, especially my sev!

Is it me or would they have a 'growth spurt' due to more space?

As far as I understand, it is not a hugely well understood area. There are certainly some species (eg. discus) which are known to release a hormone into the water, and the greater the concentration of that hormone, the more it inhibits growth. So the greater the tank volume and the greater the % water changes, the greater the growth, because the hormone is diluted more.
Clearly this doesn't happen with some/many species, as they can still completely outgrow a small tank.
Personally, I don't tend to overstock, or try and squeeze large fish into minimal tanks so I generally see good growth in all of them. For me , it seems to be limited by the amount I feed and, obviously, keeping good water quality despite feeding a lot.

It's a really interesting question though ! I suspect for the important commercially fish-farmed species like trout, salmon etc, it has been well researched, but for most of out hobby species we are still in the dark as to the exact nature of the optimal conditions for growth.

Well said. I think why you would see more growth is because it is a fact that more water is easy to keep clean where smaller tanks get poluted quickly. I think it has more to do with water quality not so much growth hormones in the water.

As for our fish that is raised for food they are geneticly working on them and they are given hormons like most cows and chickens. Sad really.

 

[AstonN24vantage]

water refraction?