How to measure fishies lengnth?

[aardvark1]

Got curious the other day as to how big my Jack Dempseys are (fish in my avatar). I guesstimate at 8 and 6" long, but ....

Problem is whenever I get close to the tank with a tape measure, they freak out. No problems with out the tape!

How do you measure your fishies?

[UCF-Planted]

I actually taped a clear ruler to the side of my tank for a while. The fish didn't notice it because it was clear, and I think even if they did they would get used to it before too long.

[Weezer]

I just kind of eye ball it,...........:)

[ct-death]

I use the tank-scape to see where they measure up and measure the distance.

[Ed209]

I put them on a wet paper towel and lay a ruler beside them. Only takes a few seconds and they're fine afterwards.
Usually I would eyeball it too,but I have a lot of fry to get rid of and people whine if your estimate is too long.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v136/Ed_209/calvus-fry-large.jpg

[dbcb314]

The best way to do it is to eye ball it, and add 2-3 inches to overexagerate like most people do...


or you could tape a ruler to the tank for a little bit.. the fish will get used to it.

you could also tape something up that has a standard size and eyeball it that way. Like a dollar bill or a pencil

[pugwash]

Ed209 - would you class that as 1.5" or 1.25"? I've always been told to ignore the tail....

[Weezer]

Iv always thought that fish with flowing tails like betas should be measured in body length, and other types with standard tails are full length. the one pictured looks to be 1.5..........:)

[jm1212]

i usually iball it, but i sometimes underestimate

[Ed209]

I have them advertised as 1 1/4 inch. I put the ruler pics on the ad as well so people can determine what they feel the length should be.
Some real fish breeder had posted this on another forum:
Standard Length (SL): tip of the nose to the end of the body, minus tail/caudal fin.
Total Length:tip to end tail.