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I have been told by my LFS that fish grow to the size of the tank but now i have been told by people they dont and i dont whant to buy fish and have to give them away because they out grow my tank.

I am not a believer in the "fish won't get any bigger than there tank". I saw an Angel fish once that was kept in a 20 gal to long and it was deformed from not having enough room to grow. I think the rule falls in line with 1" per gallon for stocking rule. Can you imagine a 20" fish in a 20 gal tank?

When a fish's size has been limited by it's tank size, where that fish would naturally have grown bigger if given the correct conditions, this means it's growth has been stunted by the cramped conditions in a tank too small - and that's not a good thing.

Cheers
TW

Yes, they do grow to the size of their tanks. Because once they've been sickened, stunted, deformed and then killed by being in too small of a tank they stop growing.

Fish in a confined space just will not grow to its full extent.

People who keep fish in tank that are far too small for them "usually" dont know enough about keeping that particular fish. I know I have some huge fish in very small tanks.

This is also where many get confused on fish sizes, If you see some of these fish in massive tanks at public aquariums they can very easily be grown to their natural full growth and age as if in the wild and the reason is they are being looked after by people who understand what each fish requires.

I recently made inquiries about a 12ins SS for sale. One quick phone call corrected it very quickly. The measure was a guess "about a mans hand span" to add a bit more he had small hand. I dont think many men can span 12ins

Keith

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In the same way that a bound foot will not grow larger than its confines, a fish kept in a small aquarium can be stunted by cramped conditions (as well as other factors, such as insufficient nutrition). It is the opinion of many aquarists, however, that stunting is unethical.

However, some fish stunt at larger sizes than others, and some fish, even when they're stunted, outgrow their tank.

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The aquarist is one who must learn the ways of the biologist, the chemist, and the veterinarian.

Think of it this way: a tree can live hundreds of years time with little care and just simple watering, not even pruning... however the longest living bonsai tree has only lived to 100 years. Once an organism is stunted it will shorten its healthy life and make the care for it much more intensive... a healthy fish with plenty of room will need much less car and live longer than a dwarfed stunted unhealthy fish in a container that barely fits its body.

That paint a better picture?
Hope this helps you understand as well as I hope that the fish you have can find larger homes when the time comes.
-Brandon

\\\\\\\"an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of the cure\\\\\\\"

also what happens sometimes is the fish break the small tank they are in and thats not good.....