Molly Growth Inhibiting Hormone

[clayt101]

I have 2 groups of mollies, about 1.5 months difference in age. The older ones are much larger than the younger ones. The older ones are 6 months old, the younger about 5 months old. They are kept in a 110 gallon aquarium with 15% water changes each week. It seems as though when the older group was the same age as the younger group, they were still larger. I am wondering, do mollies produce some sort of growth inhibiting hormone?:confused:

[zin]

From personal experiance, iv noticed wide variety in sizes of adult fish, ie, my one id shark is about 3 years old and 1ft long my other is about 2.5 years old and about half his size O-o

Also use to have swordtails, one male was about 4 inchs long, really big from what iv seen, the other males that i had never got bigger then 3in.

but thats just me

:p

[travelinman1969]

Probably the liter. Some groups grow more than others. When I used to breed swords and mollies, some groups would be bigger at 2 months than groups at 3 months. Depends, don't sweat it and enjoy em. :D

[Kagh't]

all fish produce growth inhibiting hormones, but they never come into play as water changes dilute them down.

this is just a case of a different growth rate in batches, afterall, genes arn't too predicatable...

[clayt101]

Thanks for the info. I was thinking of moving the smaller ones into my 10 gallon quarentine aquarium, but now I will keep them in the larger. I had always thought that fish produced growth inhibiting hormones but wasn't sure. I am glad the levels stay low.:)