Fish caught in overflow!

[Gilby]

I have a 120g AGA tank with dual overflows. One my green chromis jumped in the overflow. The tank is about 3-4 inches from the wall so its hard to see back there exactly where he is but I can see him. Any ideas on getting him out?

Thanks.

 

[UnknownFish]

Man I hope I never have this problem with my 180, the top of my tank is at forehead height and I am 6'0", the best thing I can tell you to do is shut your pump off and get on a ladder and try to net the fish, good luck.

 

[UnknownFish]

One other thing, dont fall off the ladder and ruin your tank.

 

[Gilby]

ha yeah, I already almost got my head stuck between the wall and the canopy trying to see in the overflow to get the fish out. I'll turn the pump off and try to fish him out.

Any other suggestions would be great!

 

[cpl40475]

Is it possilbe to remove the pipe in the overflow (is it connectected to a bulk head) and let the chromis go to the sump? You may have to rig something up to block the top of the overflow off so water doesnt keep running into it.

 

[tibob32]

syphon him out or fish him out (hook and line)

 

[stumpovrtyme]

catch it on a string/hook if all else fails, just like you would with a fishing pole.

 

[Gilby]

Yes i can remove the pipe from the bulkhead. There's just not that much room for me to work with the canopy and lights but I'll try it. If it doesn't work I'll try and siphon him out. I'll try just about anything at this point.

 

[hillscp]

Hah!

That's why my tank is 16" from the wall. (I can walk behind it)

 

[noobtothereef]

leave him in there and suffer the consequences of his mistake lol, just get a fish hook and remove the barb and fish him out, just a tiny hook with a worm

 

[wrott]

I've used a 2" diameter piece of vinyl tubing to siphon them out, or at least siphon out the water down to 1-2" and scoop it out. Just take your time, it will work.

 

[Skins]

If your drain is ball valved, close it and allow the return pump to fill the display to just under the rim of the tank and then cut off your return. The fish will be able to swim over the overflow. Had this happen before with a sixline and it worked perfect.

Get some eggcrate or acrylic covers for the future.

 

[CRASHJT]

WOW so somebody else had this problem too!! I tried a total of 6 of those brainless fish every single one of them did the same thing I got tired of fishing them out everyday so back to the store they went.....

Prolly not the best method but with some patience you can catch them with your hand they are pretty hardy and the stress doesnt seem to effect them at all....

 

[ghostman]

My flame hawkfish goes into the overflow weekly. I remove the durso pipe and catch him in the filter sock of the sump. He probably enjoys the the ride!

 

[Duke76]

My diamond goby went into my overflow. He kept swimming over or around the net I was trying to capture him with. I wound up turning off the return pump and then lowering the water level in the overflow with a siphon until he had no where to go but into the net. Good luck.

 

[billdogg]

As mentioned above - the easiest method, by far, is to pull the standppipe and flush it to the sump. I have had to do that more times than I care to remember. My solution, on the overflow without teeth, was to take a piece of eggcrate the same width as the overflow and ziptie a similarly sized piece of vinyl gutter guard to it. Place the eggcrate inside the overflow and the gutterguard on the outside and it is pretty much invisible.