The Puffer Forum

whats the biggest fahaka on this forum

Filbert's 10-12".

theres gotta be bigger thats the size of mine and they get alot bigger

Mine is definitely not the biggest - lol little Nala is only 2.5 inches

I think Filbert is pretty small for a fahaka.. I know the one the Shedd used to have was probably twice his size (in girth) and significantly longer.

Keep in mind too.. fishkeeping generally measures fish NOT INCLUDING THE TAIL.. that's the proper way to do it.

Myaj wrote:

Keep in mind too.. fishkeeping generally measures fish NOT INCLUDING THE TAIL.. that's the proper way to do it.

You are very correct to point out the scientific way of measuring a fish is Standard Length (SL) where the fish is measured from the front of the fish to the furthest end of the Caudal Peduncle (LCP) however this is very hard to do on many fish while alive and easier for scientists to do when the fish is lying dead on a table.

Just an opinion: I find that nearly everyone on this forum and the others I am a member of, measure their fish by it's entire length including the tail which is called TL (total length) and is accepted by every biologist and ichthyologist I have met.

I always assume that every hobbyist is referring to the length of a fish as being TL unless specifying SL.

Every hobbyist, Aquarium curator, fish collector, scientist, biologist, author and ichthyologist visiting my home have used the Total Length when telling their fish stories (and multiplying by 50 to 100 %) depending on whoever had just mentioned an equally hard to believe Big Fish story. I have had a tough time listening to people at conventions who have added a foot or two to the length of MY FISH and then have hobbyists come up ask me how my 2' Mbu (actually only 18" TL) or very common my 8' Arapaima (actually only 6 feet TL) are doing. I often get them and me out of it by bringing up the 3rd and also very popular way of measuring fish (DOHMTD) which means "Depends on how much they drank" measurement and the furthest from SL you can get.

When grandpa took us fishing he taught us to measure body length not including the tail. I've thought that way ever since.

My Fata55 is 12", and around 2 years old.

Arapaimag, how often do you swim with your fish? awesome tanks!

arapaimag wrote:I often get them and me out of it by bringing up the 3rd and also very popular way of measuring fish (DOHMTD) which means "Depends on how much they drank" measurement and the furthest from SL you can get.

There's also a fourth one, used by sport fishers: TOTE (The one that escaped).

SL is used in many fishbases on the Internet (most of the ones I use). One of the reasons why it's better to use SL when measuring the lenght of a fish, is that many species has big differences in the length of the tail between the different specimens. You find good examples of this in species that has been bred into very different kinds: goldfish, bettas and guppies. It would be meaningless to compare the lenght of those using TL.
There are also species that has so long tails that it would be strange using TL, i.e. this one: http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/im ... ge_id=9132