Why do 90% of vendors exaggerate fish sizes

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SandNukka15

SandNukka15

Goliath Tigerfish
MFK Member
Nov 18, 2010
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Towanda PA
I've noticed over years and years that a fish thats listed for sale by many vendors (prob 90%) is not accurate in size. For example Year after year ive gotten fish that I've thought are legit 3 inches but are only maybe 2.

Its ridiculous considering some species of fish can take years to grow that full inch.

Vendors need more accurate measurements.

No eyebaling go off real measurements
 
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I think the sizes are just estimates a large vendor will have thousands of fish I presume you mean online stores if you have a tank with about 70 say juvenile green terrors it will be impossible to list accurate sizes even if they are juveniles some grow faster than others . Last week I ordered 3 spotted silver dollars said to be 10cm only one was 10cm the others were smaller so they gave me 4 instead of 3 not much you can do .If you go to a store you can choose the one want . It can be annoying getting a fish smaller than advertised best to go where you can see and pick what you want.
 
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SandNukka15 said:
I've noticed over years and years that a fish thats listed for sale by many vendors (prob 90%) is not accurate in size. For example Year after year ive gotten fish that I've thought are legit 3 inches but are only maybe 2.

Its ridiculous considering some species of fish can take years to grow that full inch.

Vendors need more accurate measurements.

No eyebaling go off real measurements
Click to expand...
Sometimes vendors will list sizes based on the maximum/wild sizes of fish, which in reality, is often larger than the sizes you can expect to see in captivity. Maybe not what it is 100% of the time, but that could be part of it
 
bathawk said:
I think the sizes are just estimates a large vendor will have thousands of fish I presume you mean online stores if you have a tank with about 70 say juvenile green terrors it will be impossible to list accurate sizes even if they are juveniles some grow faster than others . Last week I ordered 3 spotted silver dollars said to be 10cm only one was 10cm the others were smaller so they gave me 4 instead of 3 not much you can do .If you go to a store you can choose the one want . It can be annoying getting a fish smaller than advertised best to go where you can see and pick what you want.
Click to expand...

Yes I realize that but why not list different sizes for sale for different prices. Im not going to knit pick when it comes to slight diffrences in size of course but im talking about major differences.
 
xenacanth9 said:
Sometimes vendors will list sizes based on the maximum/wild sizes of fish, which in reality, is often larger than the sizes you can expect to see in captivity. Maybe not what it is 100% of the time, but that could be part of it
Click to expand...

No. Im talking about the sizes they are sold at not what they will grow to.
 
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Yes I know what you mean if the fish you get is a lot smaller than advertised you should get a discount on what you paid . One online store I use are vary accurate with their size of fish you get, another store not so accurate but if they don't have the size advertised the will send 2 I ordered a 6cm jack dempsey they sent me 2 3cm jackdempsey's I wasn't happy with it as I may have problems with them when they mature and may have to seperate or re home one of them.
 
Its not just vendors that do this stuff its private sellers too. Its quite hard to whip out the tape measurement on fish that constantly moves. Usually vendors are posting it could be off by an inch here or there somewhere on their site. I have gotten bigger than advertised before so best thing is to look for yourself in person and decide from there.
 
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Right, seems around here I only see tape measures out for dead fish, presumably for that reason.
Still would be nice if shops listed a "at least" size and that was mostly trustworthy.
 
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