fish size question

Ohh and the naso in your avatar is a good example as well.. they will outgrow your tank quickly. The rate of growth on tangs depends on how much you feed them.

 

Copied from a artical on gold fish.
Did you know?
What you hear about goldfish growing to the size of their environment is a particularly nasty myth. Yes, it's true goldies secrete a growth hormone that, when concentrated enough, will cause them to stop growing...but by that point they're already too big for their environment and if their growth is stunted long before they reach full size then their life span will be stunted.



So yes they do. But as you said it is not healthy for them and they will die earlier.

 

This isn't exactly correct. That hormone has more to do with telling the other fish to slow down the growth, not their own growth.

It does seem to stunt breeding...

Koi can outgrow a pond too. I've seen it more than once in family ponds (not my own, I admit). It just takes them a long time to do it. And for the average Koi/pond keeper... "outgrow" the pond might simply mean "no longer fits" which is, of course, absurd.

+1

 

Ya my Koi seem to be growing like no tomorrow. But I only have 2 in a pretty big pond. The store I got my Koi's from originally told me about the hormone thingy, but they also said that its bad for them, and to never over stock or put them in to small of a pond/tank thinking that will protect them. I just thought it was an interesting tid bit.