do fish grow to their surroundings?

Question

what is their memory capacity? need to improve the quality of life for my gold fish!

Answer 1

Ok, most of these people are full of crap. Don't listen to them.

The one inch of fish per gallon rule is usually a bunch of crap - it only works with very small minnowy type fish like neon tetras and danios and the like.

Here's what happens when a fish is in a space that is too small for it's adult size:

Fish omit a growth regulating hormone. The outside of their bodies will stop growing as they get too big for the tank. Their insides however, continue to grow. Their organs become very cramped, their eyes will seem too big. Then they will die.

Try to picture what it's like to die because your insides are growing into each other.

Answer 2

Goldfish have good memories and have been trained to swim through hoops to get their food (this took place over a month or two, so they have memories AT LEAST that long). Fish will technically grow to their surroundings, but only because lack of space kills them before they can reach their full size. Common Goldfish should reach about 2 feet, so you either need a massive tank (starting at 125 gallons), or a pond. Fancy Goldfish will reach about 10 inches and should be given no less than a 20 gallon tank (and even that is a bit cramped). The average, well-cared-for Goldfish should live in excess of 20 years. Email me if you have any questions.

Soop Nazi

EDIT: If you put a Goldfish (a 2 foot fish) in a 24 gallon tank (12 inches x 2), the fish will be as long as the tank! This doesn't work for many reasons (aggression, waste production, tank dimensions, oxygenation, and swimming level). Completely disregard the "one inch of fish per gallon of water " "rule", as you can see, it just doesn't work.

Answer 3

Fish do not grow to there tank size. If a fish get 2 feet long in the wild it will still get close to that in the tank.
goldfish dont have a long memory but they can remember things like what side of the tank you put the food on good places in the tank to find food little things like that.
and all it really takes to give a fish a good life is to feed it keep the water clean and have a tank big enuff to house it in.

Answer 4

No they don't grow to their surroundings - it's a myth. What's true is that they wont reach full size when kept in too small tanks, but their organs will continue to grow. You can often tell if a fish was raised in a too small tank as their eyes will be abnormally big compared to their size.

You should have close to a gallon of water per inch of fish, at the very least you should have 1 gallon per 2 inches.

Best regards
Carsten
http://AquaInfo.dk

Answer 5

No, fish do not grow to their surroundings. They don't actually stop growing...their growth will slow if they are in a tank that is too small. And that is bad for them. A rule of thumb that most people use is 1 gallon of water for every inch of fish. That is an alright rule, but I would never go less than that.