posted 02-17-2004 11:13 PM         

well, I've been trying to think of an easy way to put it, and I came up with this...

Fish are like people, or any living creature, they will continue to grow to what their genetics specify.. now I know this might not be the best way to put it, and I wouldnt want anyone to experiment it, but this is the only way I can think of putting it to be easy to understand.
Say you take some sort of living thing that starts relatively small and grows big, (larger dogs, horse, person, just examples) and put them in a set sized 'cage' if you will, like take a little baby for instance, and keep it in a crib or playpen, (thats something like 4x3x3ft?, and we'll say its covered, cause most home aquariums are) you feed it properly and everything, its in good health and everything, and the baby will grow, and grow and grow, now that baby's grown up a bit, and its now 4-1/2 ft, now that playpen doesnt properly fit it anymore, does it? the child cant stand straight up, so the child will start to develop growth defects/deforming, because it isnt free to grow properly. But, the child keeps growing, because you're still feeding it and everything, so now its been some more time, the child's grown more, and is now 6"2', and is crammed into a ball pretty much to just fit in the playpen, and who knows how badly its been stunted and physically changed by being kept in suck tiny quarters. Thats just like fish, they'll keep growing and growing, to their genetically determined size. it might have been cute and small when you got it, but it will grow, and grow.