# Ask The Biologist!

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-biologist/212625>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [November 11, 2003, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-biologist/212625 "2003-11-11T15:35:13Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 4

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![NajaNivea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/22d042/32.png) [@NajaNivea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NajaNivea)\
**Post date:** [November 14, 2003, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-biologist/212625/61 "2003-11-14T23:42:02Z")

</div>

Mr. Armadillo is currently trucking along, working at a PhD in Molecular Biology. He’s constantly debating the merits of various post-graduation employment options, and can’t seem to decide which is a better track: private industry, or academia. Any thoughts on this?

Also, do you know much about wolf behavior?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Ilsa\_Lund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a6a055/32.png) [@Ilsa\_Lund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ilsa_Lund)\
**Post date:** [November 15, 2003, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-biologist/212625/62 "2003-11-15T17:21:21Z")

</div>

Well, I’m going into Academia. Job security (kinda), tenure tracks, a lab and money. Plus, I like teaching. It’s his decision, though.

What do you want to know about wolves?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\
**Post date:** [November 21, 2003, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-biologist/212625/63 "2003-11-21T20:56:53Z")

</div>

Maybe you’d be the person to answer my questions about goldfish.

1. Is it true they only have a three-second memory? If so why do they always zip to the correct side of the tank when it’s feeding time, even before the food container is opened?

2. Is it true you can keep feeding goldfish until it some how causes them to die because they don’t know enough to stop eating? Do they get fat if they’re being over-fed?

3. How much does tank size affect how big they’ll get? Would a gold fish in a 50 gallon tank get a lot bigger than one in a 5 gallon tank? And does having tankmates change this at all? (less fish -\>bigger/more fish-\>smaller?)

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-biologist/212625.md?page=3)