Goldfish Growth Inhibitor...very Discouraging Options

[junkeatng]

Hi All,

Gong Xi Fa Cai to all those who are celebrating Chinese New Year.

I came across this very interesting article about goldfish growth and the factors affecting it.

It is a very 'scientific' article but from what I can derive (from my limited scientific mind), it indicates that goldfish tend to experience growth spurts at the beginning of spring after a cold spell. If that is indeed true, it could well mean that here in the tropics, we may never grow our goldfish to the sizes attainable in more temperate climates. Now isn't that discouraging???

Please comment...in particular Doc Goldrush who may be able to shed more light on this topic.

[goldrush]

The abundance of food available corresponds to an increase in growth rate and conversely a scarcity of food reduces it.In temperate countries which experience the four seasons,the growth rate of fishes experience periodic growth spurts due to availabity of food as well as the rate of metabolism which indirectly is temperature dependent.For example in the summer,the higher rate of metabolism together with their higher capacity to consume food which is now abundant will inevitably result in a sudden growth spurt.In the tropics like ours which doesn't go through this cycle,our fish tend to grow throughout the year incrementally.Perhaps there is no dormancy and inactivity here that we are unable to detect a sudden growth spurt as seen in fishes reared in temperate zone.