Retirement and forum shutdown (17 Jan 2022)
Hi,
John Howell who has managed the forum for years is getting on and wishes to retire from the role of managing it.
Over the years, he has managed the forum through good days and bad days and he has always been fair.
He has managed to bring his passion for fish keeping to the forum and keep it going for so long.
I wish to thank John for his hard work in keeping the forum going.
With John wishing to "retire" from the role of managing the forum and the forum receiving very little traffic, I think we must agree that forum has come to a natural conclusion and it's time to put it to rest.
I am proposing that the forum be made read-only from March 2022 onwards and that no new users or content be created. The website is still registered for several more years, so the content will still be accessible but no new topics or replies will be allowed.
If there is interest from the ITFS or other fish keeping clubs, we may redirect traffic to them or to a Facebook group but will not actively manage it.
I'd like to thank everyone over the years who helped with forum, posted a reply, started a new topic, ask a question and helped a newbie in fish keeping. And thank you to the sponsors who helped us along the away. Hopefully it made the hobby stronger.
I'd especially like to thank John Howell and Valerie Rousseau for all of their contributions, without them the forum would have never been has successful.
Thank you
Darragh Sherwin
how do you measure your fish?
- kaki alkaki (jenasky)
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- Homer (Kevin)
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H.
The Glass is always greener on the other side.
It's NOT "Chee lick", NOT "Chee Chee Licks"!!! Cichlids is pronounced as "Sick Lids"!!!!!
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- paulv (paul vickers)
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Anglers use a measuring board but it means taking your fish out of the water.
ive tryed using a measuring tape outside thd glass and wait for the fish to swim by, but its a guess at best.
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- JohnH (John)
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This is the 'more modern' ruling as - back in 'the day' it used to be from the nose to the centre of the tail.
As stated, none of this really matters, but I was just in a reminiscing mood this morning.
John
Edit:
A further suggestion to getting an accurate (well, fairly accurate) indication to the length of a given fish would be to have a given article within the tank - perhaps a piece of rock or bog wood or whatever - and know the length of that. The length of any given fish could then be gauged against that when the fish is close to it.
Location:
N. Tipp
We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl - year after year.
ITFS member.
It's a long way to Tipperary.
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- paulv (paul vickers)
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- JohnH (John)
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This is why john gets the big money
Nothing on the Lotto (Again!!!) last week.
I'm beginning to think it's 'fixed'.
John
Location:
N. Tipp
We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl - year after year.
ITFS member.
It's a long way to Tipperary.
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- Homer (Kevin)
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This is why john gets the big money
He wishes, a thankless job for no remuneration and all the criticism he can eat!
H.
The Glass is always greener on the other side.
It's NOT "Chee lick", NOT "Chee Chee Licks"!!! Cichlids is pronounced as "Sick Lids"!!!!!
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- Melander (Andreas Melander)
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Obviously the fish needs to be moved for this and I would not move the fish for this reason only but it’s easy to do if they are being moved anyway.
Here's an example:

Andreas
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- CrustyCrab (Peter Biddulph)
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- paulv (paul vickers)
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i know admin is a thankless job, I only mean the best answer wins the big prize.
This is why john gets the big money
He wishes, a thankless job for no remuneration and all the criticism he can eat!
H.
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- kaki alkaki (jenasky)
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I tried but its always an estimate.Stick a Tape measure to the Tank and wait till one swims past.
H.
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- kaki alkaki (jenasky)
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tnx for the suggestion.I have found the most accurate way is to use a ruled sheet usually used for drawings places beneath a see trough container, a measurement tape below the container would work too but it could be trickier to get the fish to stay in the right place.
Obviously the fish needs to be moved for this and I would not move the fish for this reason only but it’s easy to do if they are being moved anyway.
Here's an example:
![]()
Andreas
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- kaki alkaki (jenasky)
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how about when they measured "Goldie" (the second largest captive goldfish in the world), how they have managed to measure her?It's just worth pointing out that with FBAS show standards (hardly likely to be relevant here, but still) the actual tail length does not form part of a fish's overall length measurement - so the length of any given fish is from the tip of the nose to the caudal peduncle (which is - very basically - the bit at the end of the body which the tail grows out of).
This is the 'more modern' ruling as - back in 'the day' it used to be from the nose to the centre of the tail.
As stated, none of this really matters, but I was just in a reminiscing mood this morning.
John
Edit:
A further suggestion to getting an accurate (well, fairly accurate) indication to the length of a given fish would be to have a given article within the tank - perhaps a piece of rock or bog wood or whatever - and know the length of that. The length of any given fish could then be gauged against that when the fish is close to it.
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- kaki alkaki (jenasky)
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how about when they measured "Goldie" (the second largest captive goldfish in the world), how they have managed to measure her?It's just worth pointing out that with FBAS show standards (hardly likely to be relevant here, but still) the actual tail length does not form part of a fish's overall length measurement - so the length of any given fish is from the tip of the nose to the caudal peduncle (which is - very basically - the bit at the end of the body which the tail grows out of).
This is the 'more modern' ruling as - back in 'the day' it used to be from the nose to the centre of the tail.
As stated, none of this really matters, but I was just in a reminiscing mood this morning.
John
Edit:
A further suggestion to getting an accurate (well, fairly accurate) indication to the length of a given fish would be to have a given article within the tank - perhaps a piece of rock or bog wood or whatever - and know the length of that. The length of any given fish could then be gauged against that when the fish is close to it.
Please Log in to join the conversation.