Calculating Goldfish Weight and Food

[StarSapphire22 230]

I'm wondering if there's a way to estimate your goldfish's weight, like a calculator somewhere or a formula or something. Obviously it wouldn't be exact, and obviously a 2 inch tiku pearlscale would weigh more than a 2 inch fantail, but after perusing Tithra's food weighing thread, it really makes me wonder if I am underfeeding my fish. I have no idea what they weigh, not even a ball park, and for how young my fish are, I don't think I am seeing the growth I should be. Other than buying a scale, is there a way to get a rough estimate of what my fish weigh, and how much I should be feeding?

[dnalex 13,633]

You need to get a scale. There is no good way around this, unfortunately.

[tithra 4,917]

I have been compiling the weights/lengths into a spreadsheet, I just haven't gotten around to organizing it for forum use at this point. If you give me their length without tail (just to base of tail) and what type they are I can give you a rough estimate and from there you can use my food weight thread to estimate amount to be feeding.

[tithra 4,917]

haha sniped by Alex

A scale would obviously be the best. I am finding there is a lot of variation in weight particularly as goldies get larger - primarily because they are not growing so much in length and more growth is happening in width which is obviously more difficult to quantify without some serious fish handling.

[StarSapphire22 230]

I know I need to get one and it's in the plans eventually, but I don't know if I should be feeding five pellets or 50, or half a cube of repashy or a whole one. Even a rough estimate would be really helpful.

Tithra, I'll get those measurements to you in a bit...I think Edi has grown and I need to remeasure them. Thanks.

[StarSapphire22 230]

Batman (black moor): 2.25 inches

Sully (ranchu) 2.5 inches

Edi (fantail): 1.5 inches

Claptrap (ribbontail): 4 inches

These are all accurate give or take 1/4 inch. No one wanted to sit still today.

Edi is the smallest, but she is very round and fat. She almost has a pearlscale shape, lol.

Batman and Sully are pretty standard shape for their type.

Claptrap isn't fat, but he's tall. He's my lean mean yellow machine.

Hope this helps.

[yafashelli 9,540]

I bought a scale on amazon for 15 bucks? The pocket scale to weigh the food put me at 25, and got me the free shipping. I've made so much use out of it, you can't begin to imagine. ;D

[HappyPercy 136]

Tithra I still feel like I don't have the right scale. Where can I buy one that can detect such a light weight as a fish?? Do you have the brand name?

[tithra 4,917]

Tithra I still feel like I don't have the right scale. Where can I buy one that can detect such a light weight as a fish?? Do you have the brand name?

Sorry for the delayed response.

I personally use this scale to weigh my fish:

http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?SKU=40094229&RN=1151&

And this scale to weigh my food:

http://www.amazon.com/American-Weigh-AWS-100-Precision-Pocket/dp/B001ODPFXE

You just need to look for a kitchen scale that goes down to a gram for weighing fish (most fish will be above a gram unless you have a really tiny little guy). And if you want a scale to weigh food it should go down to .1 grams

[tithra 4,917]

Batman (black moor): 2.25 inches

Sully (ranchu) 2.5 inches

Edi (fantail): 1.5 inches

Claptrap (ribbontail): 4 inches

These are all accurate give or take 1/4 inch. No one wanted to sit still today.

Edi is the smallest, but she is very round and fat. She almost has a pearlscale shape, lol.

Batman and Sully are pretty standard shape for their type.

Claptrap isn't fat, but he's tall. He's my lean mean yellow machine.

Hope this helps.

Sorry for the late response

Here are my best guesses, I will give you a general range

Batman (black moor): 2.25 inches - 25-35 grams

Sully (ranchu) 2.5 inches - again 25-35 grams

Edi (fantail): 1.5 inches - 10-20 grams (I don't have much data to go on for ones this little at this point)

Claptrap (ribbontail): 4 inches - 100-120 grams

Hope this helps

[StarSapphire22 230]

Thanks Jess! That's super helpful.

[Banjo123 1]

All i no is to be very carefull and cautious as your goldfsih might get scared of weighing them..

Sorry for the spelling mistakes im on my ipad