Body Mass

[wasklywabbit]

Does anyone know how to work out the body mass of a fish?

[Drumachine09]

Why would you want the mass of a fish?

I can tell you how to do it, but I am awfully curious as to why you want to know.

[wasklywabbit]

Practical Fishkeeping Magazine's website has an aquarium capacity calculator and that is one of the questions they ask. I know these things are not always accurate, but it will be a good guide.

[Drumachine09]

Well, you would need a graduated cylinder, or a beaker of some sort. Fill it with a set ML of water, add fish, record the change. Subract the starting ML from the ending ML, and you have your answer.



However, that would be EXTEMELY innacurate. Stocking does not depend on how big your fish are, but how big your tank is, what kind of fish, filtration, and waterchange schedule.

[Kuli_Loach]

He can just use a container of some sort like a whip cream bowl by measuring the hight and radius times pie I think and then account for the hight of the water and find the mass of that the same way and then add the fish and figure out the difference. I may have gotten the formula wrong.

[Fishguy2727]

Just fill a container with water, weigh it. Then put the fish in, weigh it. The difference is the weight of the fish (plus a little water that was on the fish).

I am guessing this has something to do with bioload. The bioload is not just the mass of the fish but also the food intake. If you don't feed a lot then they won't put off near as much waste.

[wasklywabbit]

Thanks guys. FYI, they ask for the pump cycle per hour, the surface area of the tank, depth and size of gravel as well as a few other things that I can't remember right now. I want to do it to satisfy my isatiable curiosity for mathematical equations but my tiny tetras just aren't worth the effort. Personally I just keep it simple and give them plenty of space.

[Fishguy2727]

Who is they?