# Stunted growth?



## bartho14 (Feb 26, 2009)

A quick question. I bought a male Taiwan Reef off a guy about a yr or so ago, he was around 3.5" at the time. To my amazement he managed to grow to a full 7" in my 140 gallon tank, a gorgeous fish but he passed away a few back weeks back, due to a heater malfunction.

Anyways i got a hold of that guy i initially bought him from looking for another one. He said he still has a few he could sell me and that they were actually brothers of the one i had, same batch from a yr or so ago. BUT, theyre only 4"-4.5" having lived there entire lives in his 50-70 gallon tank.

So, im just curious if I bought another one off this guy, could it still reach 7" like the one i had before, or have they lived too long in a small environment that they've pretty much stunted their growth potential?

Thanks


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## solgood (Sep 23, 2009)

It should grow just as big. If I was you I would invest in a heater controller.


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## GotCichlids? (May 21, 2010)

The size of the tank will NOT stunt the growth of a fish that is just a silly little rumor haha. Another common rumor is that a fish will only grow as big as the tank will let them this is also not true. I have seen a 14" Oscar in a 20g tank that was only 24" long. I like to look at fish like humans in a way you see some NBA basketball players say 7 foot tall so for example purposes say the if you were to classify humans like fish you would say max size 7 ft. Certainly no every human is going to grow to full max size. With that said as well you may have lucked out and got the "cream of the crop" from his brood. This meaning that he was the one with the most dominate genes to grow to maximum size. This doesn't mean that your new fish aren't as good you just can't expect every fish you get even if same species to get to the same size and in some cases they might surprise you and become even larger. Hope this helps


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## Number6 (Mar 13, 2003)

*bartho14*
Yes, I have seen it where growth was slowed by dirty water, tank mates, etc. and as soon as they were added to a proper tank they "caught up". 
1 year of moderate stunting may be permanent by now... I would not expect the fish to reach their full size and the dominant 7" will likely stop them growing as fast as their genes would allow.


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## bartho14 (Feb 26, 2009)

Thanks for the input


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