i know you can tell by the appearance of larger eyes on some other fish. Does the same hold true on goldfish?
Signs of stunting of goldfish?
- Thread starter amyandlars
- Start date
Dangerdoll
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Dangerdoll
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Well a fish does grow to its environment and the more room you give it the bigger it grows. Ive never seen a fish where its organs burst out because it was kept somewhere small.
You can get goldies that are only a couple of inches long kept for a number of years in say a bowl with maybe a few litres of water and the fish grows very slowly, and the tell tale sign is a bigger head and maybe a deformed spine and or fins..
Here is a pic of my own fish that i bought from a fish store. She was kept in a display tank for two years and was only around 3 inches long. You can see by the head its too big and the fins are too short for a shubunkin.
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v...ent=P1010314.jpg&refPage=40&imgAnch=imgAnch48
She has been in my pond since july and ive just brought her in. I wish i had a pic but my camera isnt working but she is two inches longer and filled with eggs and doing really well.
Its not good for the fish as they are stressed and the lifespan is shortened.
I dont know if its been scientifically proven but I just dont believe that organs keep growing. You dont see it on people with dwarfism, any animal thats smaller than what it should be. Its just a myth to frighten people into getting larger tanks.
By the way im not saying to put fish in bowls either as its cruel and unnecessary, but for people to say the fish bursts open just isnt true. Im on a number of boards that deal solely with goldfish and its never been reported.
So if anyone can prove me wrong then I would love to hear it.
Fish that have opened up are those that live in ponds where they have picked up an internal parasite that wasnt meant to grow in them and the worm gets too big and comes out the side of the body.
You can get goldies that are only a couple of inches long kept for a number of years in say a bowl with maybe a few litres of water and the fish grows very slowly, and the tell tale sign is a bigger head and maybe a deformed spine and or fins..
Here is a pic of my own fish that i bought from a fish store. She was kept in a display tank for two years and was only around 3 inches long. You can see by the head its too big and the fins are too short for a shubunkin.
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v...ent=P1010314.jpg&refPage=40&imgAnch=imgAnch48
She has been in my pond since july and ive just brought her in. I wish i had a pic but my camera isnt working but she is two inches longer and filled with eggs and doing really well.
Its not good for the fish as they are stressed and the lifespan is shortened.
I dont know if its been scientifically proven but I just dont believe that organs keep growing. You dont see it on people with dwarfism, any animal thats smaller than what it should be. Its just a myth to frighten people into getting larger tanks.
By the way im not saying to put fish in bowls either as its cruel and unnecessary, but for people to say the fish bursts open just isnt true. Im on a number of boards that deal solely with goldfish and its never been reported.
So if anyone can prove me wrong then I would love to hear it.
Fish that have opened up are those that live in ponds where they have picked up an internal parasite that wasnt meant to grow in them and the worm gets too big and comes out the side of the body.
I don't think the stunted fish ever actually split open. My understanding is that the organs continue to grow inside the body, and they grow too big for the body to be able to provide enough energy for them to work, and the organs just stop working. But like you, I don't know exactly what the truth is, its just how I interpreted what was said to me.
Also, it does happen in humans with dwarfism, although rare. I once read this book, it was a true story, but I can't remember the name of it if my life depended on it, it was about this kid who had dwarfism and died in his teens because his heart kept growing and got too big for his body, and he died of heart failure. Very sad story.
Also, it does happen in humans with dwarfism, although rare. I once read this book, it was a true story, but I can't remember the name of it if my life depended on it, it was about this kid who had dwarfism and died in his teens because his heart kept growing and got too big for his body, and he died of heart failure. Very sad story.
fballguy said:
Exactly, the fish don't burst open in the tank. The organs just fail and the fish dies, or the fish becomes so weak that it becomes susceptible to other diseases and dies.
fantail said:
Eek, whoever told you that was trying to freak you out.
Part of why the myth that "a fish only grows to the size of its container" continues is that with stunting you won't ever see protruding organs or a fish explosion. If that happened, I'm sure less people would stunt their fish! You'll (well not you specifically) just end up with a sick fish then a dead fish and think, "Gee, it looked fine right up until a few weeks ago".