[b said:
Quote[/b] ]Doesn't their growth stunt to not exceed the tank size anyway?
NO, this is an absolute myth. Fish do not stunt to fit a smaller tank any more than you would stunt to live in a smaller house.
by putting a fish in a tank that is to small for it you condemn it to stress, disease, and eventual death. Period.
An example from the salt water world would be the Tang, it needs a large tank not neccissarily for it's size, but because of it's habbits, it needs to be able to swim to feel normal.
Putting an aligator gar in a 100 gallon tank would be an exercise in irresponsibility. your talking about a fish with a max weight of 300 lbs.
Tell me how you think a fish that can grow this big:
would be comfortable in a 100 gallon tank?
if you want to keep predators, especially large predators, you need to save your money and start thinking THOUSANDS of gallons, not hundreds. fish this size simply should not be in normal aquariums.
If you want to keep some cool predatory fish that are suitable for a 100 gallon tank, try these:
Fresh Water
Weeksii Bichir - 1ft 8 inch carnivore
Oscars
African Knife
Knife fish
Freshwater Lion Fish (Batrachomoeus trispinosus)
(just off the top of my head)
(note you can't have all of these, predators are messy and you can usually keep only one or two!)
Brakish Water:
Brakish Puffers (there are a few)
Leaf Fish
Salt Water:
(suitable for 100 gallon or less)
Some Parrot Fish
Some Puffer Fish
Trigger Fish
Any of the Dwarf Lions (a single volitans lion if you only want one fish)
Frog Fish <- talk about aggresive!!!!
That is just the tip of the iceberg!
If you gotta go fresh, I reccomend a Bichr, it was my favorite fresh water fish.
Your gonna need one hell of a filtration system for any of these fish.