Making small fish bigger!?

So as you probably already guess, I’m stuck at home bored out of my mind, and I imagine many of you are too! So I was just watching my zebra danio tank thinking of ways I can improve it. Then I remarked that my danios have grow a very large amount since the time I bought them. So I searched up how big they normally get, and I found only 2 inches but most can get 2.5 inches . So I grabbed a ruler and I must say I think that they are all atleast 3.5 inches. I was pretty impressed! Which lead me to wonder if I can get them even bigger. So I have a plan to just start dropping a little food in ever time I’m at the tank instead of a lot once a day. Have any of you guys managed to get zebras bigger? And what did or do you recommend I do to see if I get them bigger, I got lots of time on my hands!!

 

cool like the Idea. if you can please post updates and pics cuz I would love to see

 

It has to do with indeterminate growth in fish. Most species will grow rather quick when young, but even as adults they will continue to grow provided they are in a healthy environment with ample food. In a perfect scenario over many years your danios could be significantly larger. Unlikely in an aquarium setting though

 

Unless you take the fish out and lay it flat, your measurements are over what your fish's actual length is.

 

Most tropical fish tend to grow in an inverse exponential fashion. Meaning, they grow a lot when they're young and begin to reach a plateau as they're older. Most of the time, how they're grown when they're young determines how high that plateau can be. My point being - you can certainly try to drop in a bunch of food and expect them to get bigger, but they're not going to. They might continue to grow the tiniest microscopic bit as they grow old, but it will never be more than they grew earlier in their lives, and you will never get goldfish-size danios by feeding them a bunch.

There are a few reasons your fish appear larger. Danios do often get larger than online sources say. That's because their average, mature adult (but not aged adult!) size is 2-2.5 inches. That's not to say they can't get over 2.5 inches, but that's where most commercially-raised fish end up right around the time people buy them. That, and I'm sure the water-induced light contortion is also making them appear slightly bigger than they actually are, as already hit upon.

Fish that continue on growing their whole lives like carp are a bit of a different ballgame. Like alligators, the older they are, the bigger they are, and they don't really ever stop growing (unless stunted), though the rate at which they grow will still slowly decrease with age. Tropical fish, on the other hand (with some exceptions), often do have that plateau whose limit is mostly affected by their fry-hood. That's why you can't expect to make a giant betta by feeding a normal betta a bunch, but you can malnourish a betta fry and make it so that it never, in its whole lifespan, reaches adult potential.

I apologize for the long-winded explanation. Just got a lot of time on my hands today.

 

Most tropical fish tend to grow in an inverse exponential fashion. Meaning, they grow a lot when they're young and begin to reach a plateau as they're older. Most of the time, how they're grown when they're young determines how high that plateau can be. My point being - you can certainly try to drop in a bunch of food and expect them to get bigger, but they're not going to. They might continue to grow the tiniest microscopic bit as they grow old, but it will never be more than they grew earlier in their lives, and you will never get goldfish-size danios by feeding them a bunch.

There are a few reasons your fish appear larger. Danios do often get larger than online sources say. That's because their average, mature adult (but not aged adult!) size is 2-2.5 inches. That's not to say they can't get over 2.5 inches, but that's where most commercially-raised fish end up right around the time people buy them. That, and I'm sure the water-induced light contortion is also making them appear slightly bigger than they actually are, as already hit upon.

Fish that continue on growing their whole lives like carp are a bit of a different ballgame. Like alligators, the older they are, the bigger they are, and they don't really ever stop growing (unless stunted), though the rate at which they grow will still slowly decrease with age. Tropical fish, on the other hand (with some exceptions), often do have that plateau whose limit is mostly affected by their fry-hood. That's why you can't expect to make a giant betta by feeding a normal betta a bunch, but you can malnourish a betta fry and make it so that it never, in its whole lifespan, reaches adult potential.

I apologize for the long-winded explanation. Just got a lot of time on my hands today.

lol l, thanks for the response, I kinda figured they couldn’t get much bigger, but I plan to breed to biggest ones to see if I can raise fry from them! Maybe if there like humans, typically when 2 tall people have a child, the child can be taller then the two tall people even thought, the tall people are already taller then average