How do I tell the age of my Midas?
- Thread starter Jimmy16
- Start date
Jimmy16;5116678; said:
You missed the point. He got you to take it off his hands telling you it was 8 years old when he could have had better success of you taking it by telling you 4 years, or 5 years etc. He said 8 years risking you would walk away from a fish with a limited life span. You didn't, to your credit. I would believe the age to be true using that logic, regardless if money changed hands.
You can age fish microscopically using scales, vertebrae, fin rays, and other structures (including otoliths if the fish is dead) BUT this doesn't work for many captive fish that are kept under constant temperature conditions. So... there's not really a way to tell the age of your Midas, but he's gorgeous!
baldtaxguy;5116961; said:
The point of this thread was to see if there are ways to tell the age of a fish, not if I believed him or not.
He told me he had the fish for 8 years and had a very good relationship with it. He gave me specific instructions to acclimate him and he requested me to send him pictures of his living conditions afterwards. On top of that, he gave me a free 30 gallon tank to put him in for the 15 minute drive home.
He seemed to be a very believable guy.
Like Natalie said, scales and bones grow as fish age. Fish in the wild grow slower in the winter, so a denser (darker) ring forms on scales or bones (e.g. otoliths or ear bones). I've seen documentaries where conservation biologists count the number of rings to figure out the age of the fish. Natalie also made an excellent point that this may not be possible for fish living the aquarium. But, if you have access to a dissecting scope, pull off a scale and give it a try 
peathenster;5117384; said:Like Natalie said, scales and bones grow as fish age. Fish in the wild grow slower in the winter, so a denser (darker) ring forms on scales or bones (e.g. otoliths or ear bones). I've seen documentaries where conservation biologists count the number of rings to figure out the age of the fish. Natalie also made an excellent point that this may not be possible for fish living the aquarium. But, if you have access to a dissecting scope, pull off a scale and give it a try
How about looking at the size of the eye?
I guess by looking at the size of the eye can only tell you if the fish is under size or not.please correct me if I am wrong
Yes I believe you are right. For example stunted discus have big eyes. I don't think a 3 year full grown Midas has smaller eyes then an 8 year one.thaicoconut;5120353; said:
