I do not agree.
Crest size is only in so far food related that starving animals develop lower crests.
Crest size is largely genetic and even in the wild you find all sizes.
But offspring of large crested specimens do have the potential to develop as large crest as their parents even in captivity. IMHO the key word is space. Raised in large enclosures the animals can develop very nice crests as I see for several generations I have transferred at the age of 6 months to tanks from 700 to 1100 g tanks.
The second keyword is exercise. Mine have to hunt actively for their prey and quite a large percentage of that is fish which they do have to catch out of the 45g tank included in their enclosure.
Also its a myth that they have to stay dull or turquoise coloured in captivity. Given enough light (having a luxmeter is essential...use strong metal halides, try to provide basking spots at at least 80 000 Lux) the cb specimens become (well, almost) as vividly green as the wild living ones.
And yes, females can develop quite a helmet and in exceptional cases even small sails-which anyhow never exceed 2-3 mm in height.

Regards

Ingo

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