'Stunted' tends to have a negative connotation, and if it's due to bad
conditions, then it's deserved. It's interesting to note that stunted
fish (I call them runts) are also naturally occurring. I think this is
part of their evolutionary strategy of constant diversification through
mutation. Non-natural runts (stunted by environment rather than
genetics) can occur from a variety of reasons. The most predominant
would appear to be diet (ie: feeding only a flake food), but it was
explained to me that water parameter dilution also plays a major part,
especially with certain species.

The explanation was as follows: A growing fish will release hormones
which it can then detect back from the water.

If the hormones are not detectable or very low, then the body of water is
large and/or there is no or little competition from similar species, so
the proper action would be to expend more energy on growth (until some
other constraint develops, such as genetics, food supply etc).

If the hormones detected back are high, then the body of water is small
(or shrinking), or there is significant competition from similar species
(both indicating a reduced food supply), so a proper action might be to
not expand energy on growth, and stay small (surviving on less food).

If this analysis is correct (and I suspect that there is significant
truth behind it), then it would go a long way to explaining why total
sizes for fish are so different from an aquarium (where these hormones
are in high concentration) and from nature.

Loaches in particular are mostly from the Mekong river system fed from
mountain ranges (refreshed from heavy rainfall and snowmelt), so their
reaction (stunting) to accumulated elements in an aquarium (nitrates,
hormones etc) might be much more acute than lake fish, such as African
mbuna, which do approach and even exceed their natural size in nature.
--
www.NetMax.tk

"Dick" wrote in message
...
Hi Netmax,

I do have several tanks, but as I gain experience I am more and more
hesitant about moving my fish between tanks. I have seen "sick" fish
recover in their community tanks.

As to other's comment about "stunted" Clowns, this sounds negative as
I associated stunted with sickness. All of my Clowns healthy and
active. If they are stunted, so much the better. After I got my
Clowns I read the posts warning about potential size. That was over 2
years ago. It has been over a year since I have noticed any new
growth. I will be quite happy if they remain at their current sizes.

dick

On Thu, 29 Dec 2005 10:56:12 -0500, "NetMax"
wrote:

My Clowns are only 4" long and I've had them for 2 years in a 70g.
Either they are not eating well enough or my water is too hard, and I
should look around to find someone who will take them from me.
Generally
they can be slow growing, especially at certain sizes, but I've found
their growth rates are very much affected by water quality and diet.

I think the issue with sizing the tank to the fish is two-fold. Many
people only have one tank, so they need to be warned about the eventual
size of the fish, to be sure they are prepared to adequately
accommodate
them. Others like myself & Dick have many tanks, so we can simply
rotate
them through increasingly larger tanks as required, or not, if not
needed.

The other issue is that tank size will affect their growth rate, or
more
particularly, water quality (which is poorer in small tanks) may stunt
the fish. If moving the fish through tank upgrades, you need to be
slightly ahead of their requirements to not stunt their growth (imo).

A few more issues particular to botia a
- they are shoaling fish, so you need many of them.
- they are bottom dwellers, reducing their useable space to the square
footage of the bottom.
- they can be light sensitive and burrow for shelter and darkness,
further reducing their usable habitat.
Each of these points, should influence us to providing larger habitats.
jmo