Frustration

JTL

JTL

New member
I am having a bad time keeping fish in the tank and off the floor. So far in 6 months and in two different tanks I have lost a beautiful orchid dottyback, a clown, and now a very nice midas blenny. The midas is the first one to jump out of my DT. I am getting to the point of wondering what fish to keep in a reef tank that are small and interesting. Well my mandarin probably won't jump since he never leaves the bottom. The midas is really distrubing because they are not known jumpers and there are no aggressive fish the tank, just a coral beauty and a couple of chromies and a tail spot in a 100g tank with perfect conditions.
 
I have heard of mandarins jumping before, and angels. If your having such a hard time don't you think a lid would the next step?
 
A lid is an obvious solution, but not one I care to use at this point. I was hoping to get some suggestions as to the causes and non-lid suggestions. For example I think my dottyback problem was cause by the 6 line that I have in the same tank which in not my DT. I suppose any fish could jump, but not all are classified as "jumpers". Many fish that are known jumpers are sold with that warning, especially on sites like liveaquaria.com. One thing I have read is that small fast swimming fish are more likely to jump when startled than slow swimming varieties or sand and bottom dwellers.
 
+1 on a lid


do you have moonlight led's on the tank? i have run lidless for over a year with a few fish that are known to be jumpers and have yet to find one on the floor. running them at night will help them see so they dont think the surface is farther than it really is.
 
hybridazn said:
+1 on a lid


do you have moonlight led's on the tank? i have run lidless for over a year with a few fish that are known to be jumpers and have yet to find one on the floor. running them at night will help them see so they dont think the surface is farther than it really is.
Click to expand...

You may have a point on the ML, I have never had them although my midas jumped during the day. That fish was in there for many months with no problems. A lid would ruin the clean lines of my rimless, so I need to explore other solutions.
 
I don't trust many fish without a lid. Maybe a puffer or scorpionfish/angler. But your "clean lines" aren't really the best captive environment for fish. And yeah your sixline probably was the reason the dotty jumped, but what do you expect? Many people have also had clowns and blennies jump. Also your chromis, mandarin, tail spot, and coral beauty could definitely jump.

Sorry if sounds harsh, but a lid is the best option. Rimless tanks IMO are more meant for corals (they can't jump) for the top down effect. Fish are unpredictable and people have had all sorts of fish jump for no reason, plus there are those fish that just seem to hate us and jump all day like firefish, jawfish, and fairy/flasher wrasses.
 
If you are adverse to lids go with mesh. It won't be as clean as a rimless, but mesh is not as bulky as acrylic covers.
 
Actually several people have had pretty good luck with non-jumpers in a rimless.

tmcfish, your list of jumpers pretty much covers all species. Angels, manarins, clowns and even the tailspot and six line are not known jumpers, not to say they couldn't under some circumstances. The point here is that there are alternatives to a cover/canopy, which by the way also has some drawbacks espescially a canopy. I will probably just follow the rimless crowd and limit my fish and increase my corals. Maybe a moonlight and/or a night cover. Thanks for all the comments.
 
I don't think fish necessarily need to be stressed or frightened to jump. A lot of them jump because they can. I had a juvenile clown jump and a diamond goby make it through egg crate. Now I have every bit of my tank covered in 1/4" mesh and a screen kit. I've watched my Flasher Wrasse bounce off the cover like a ping pong ball. There is simply no other way to insure no fish will end up on the floor.
 
That is because pretty much all species jump... Not all fish jump off the lid like ping pong balls like EllieSuz said with her wrasse, but without a lid, I bet you more of the your fish jump down the road.

Why not, think of a way to suspend the lid inside the tank so that it is flush with the edges, that way you can have the clean edges of the glass, but also keep your fish wet? I think that could look very nice, but I don't know of a good way off the top of my head.
 
If you cut eggcrate right, it fits on the lip inside the rim, you cant see it when looking at the tank straight on. Same would go for a window screen frame.
Or you could build youself a 4 sided canopy, that should keep the fish if its tall enough.
 
Even if eggcrate kept fish in the tank, which it does not, it really cuts down on the light. That's why, when it is used to cover fluorescent lighting in a ceiling, they call it a defuser. This is made with a Home Depot screen kit and 1/4" mesh. That fella to the left there in my avatar is a young, slim wrasse and he can't make it through the mesh.

TankCover.jpg
 
boilermaker1 said:
If you cut eggcrate right, it fits on the lip inside the rim, you cant see it when looking at the tank straight on. Same would go for a window screen frame.
Or you could build youself a 4 sided canopy, that should keep the fish if its tall enough.
Click to expand...

Of course egg crate won't keep fish in.
 
After losing several 6 line wrasses and a clownfish I put glass tops on my 180. I would prefer not use tops but I just give up..... Such a waste of money and I always feel guilty when I lose a fish due to negligence.
 
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