hormone inhibitors

[rollntider]

I have been frequenting this site since I have been trying to become a betta breeder. I have been using that site to answer a few question doing google searches. Which brings me to my point, I posted in another thread and to keep from hijacking , I am starting this one. Yes I have heard of fish releasing hormones to stunt the growth of their fellow siblings. To me the theory is flawed because it flies in the face of nature.
I have heard of this before on message forums , but I havent found anything written up on this other than some website that some person made. Does anyone know where I can find this info done by a college/university?
I am interested, because one theory is , the hormone is excreted through poo, the other is it excretes through the gills. I would love more info on this.
The reason I doubt this to be true ( Iheard an argument for this and it made sence)is the inhibitor would also affect the fish giving this off. And an animal would not produce something to stunt its own growth, because it is trying to become, bigger stronger faster (thus the reason for giving it off in the fisrt place). If it were true the animal would have to be imune from its own inhibitor. So would there then be an inhibitor gene that inhibits all fish except its own DNA? But then all of its siblings I would assume have the same DNA and is then rendered useless?
I have read it on a few sites that werent in any capacity of research. But on like sites that do research on ornamental fish , I have yet to read anything on it. My quest for finding this info is still in its infantcy, but I am believinf this theory to be a myth. If any agriculture site has any info on this matter please let me know. I would love to read the article on whether this is proven or not. Please post any links on the matter here. Thanks

 

[yhbae]

I don't have any theories, but I do have some experiences.

I've been breeding platies for the past 12 months (going to give up soon! it is really boring to raise these guys) and it appears that the biggest factor in the growth rate is the frequency of water change. When I neglect WC, they grow slowly while twice a week of 30% WC definitely helps the growth. I don't know if this is because of the hormone production, but I do have alot of java moss and java fern in that tank, so although there's over 40 fishes in that tank, nitrate levels are kept low (under 5).