how high/far can fish jump?

[kkil4life]

I'm going to go open top due to my new lights being the hanging type.
my tank has about 5-6 inches of RIM, so what that means is that I have 5-6 inches above the water level.
most of my fish are in the 2-3 inch range.
so what I'm wondering is can fish jump out?
I'm talking about gobies, firefish, anthias and maybe a jawfish down the line.
thanks guys

 

[snorvich]

ABsolutely, they can jump over your rim.

 

[kkil4life]

so ur telling me my fish have cat-type jumping abilities?
do I really need a cover?

 

[wrasseguy2]

so ur telling me my fish have cat-type jumping abilities?
do I really need a cover?

yes you need one or your tank will be without fish..they can clear that with no problems

 

[malis]

i have a lyretail wrasse and he jumps all the time. would clear 6" easy if i never had cover
+1 on wrasseguy definatley keep covered

 

[anbosu]

When I purchased my fuzzy dwarf lion a few years ago it jumped about a foot out of the water at the store, and fuzzies aren't exactly known for their lightning speed or jumping ability.

 

[SDguy]

so ur telling me my fish have cat-type jumping abilities?
do I really need a cover?

Yes, and good aim to boot. My regal angel cleared the eurobracing and the overflow

 

[Yogre]

Re: how high/far can fish jump?

Yes, and good aim to boot. My regal angel cleared the eurobracing and the overflow

Yup. I got in a hurry one day after feeding and left about a 2" opening in my screen top. My beatiful male oscellaris shot the gap, and I found him crispy on top of the screen next day. Can't remember the last time I was that mad at myself.

 

[38bill]

Build a nice screen top and your fish will thank you. I have fish hit mine all the time. Cant believe how hard they hit (and bounce off). They for sure would have cleared 12"+.

 

[Paul B]

I have never had a cover on my tank but I can not keep jawfish, firefish or long nose hawk fish for that reason. In 40 years I have never had any other type of fish jump out.

 

[WestTexasReefer]

I removed my screen covers to feed and my solar wrasse jumped out over my head and landed on my couch about 4 feet behind me. Glad I was there put him back in and he was fine. I hear mine hit the mesh top constantly.

 

[velvetelvis]

I once had a maroon clownfish launch herself right out of an open-top aquarium to attack me when I pointed at her anemone (my hands were outside the tank, no less!). I also lost a beautiful female black ocellaris when she jumped out of my Solana while I wasn't at home. Fish can jump a lot higher than you might expect.

 

[AuroraDrvr]

I have had fish jump out of 5 Gallon buckets with only 2" of water in the bottom, so a 13" jump. Imagine with some more water and "running-speed".

 

[SDguy]

My problem with jumping fish was this:

I looked for trends...which fish are more likely to jump than others. Well, that bit me in the ***. It only takes one time to lose a prized fish. Why risk it?

 

[Wolverine]

I've seen wrasses get several feet above the water line.

Any fish can jump. I've seen frogfish and stonefish go carpet surfing.

 

[kkil4life]

lol, some of the stories are hilarious
ok, guys, will make sure I have a screen

 

[lostintheocean]

if you dont want to find yur fish on the floor then you will need a cover, some of my fish have even made it through my egg crate cover

 

[Dizzle63]

At the LFS I work at, we had a stingray, not one of the more pelagic rays, jump from a Eurobraced tank. Mesh tops are absolutely vital!

 

[SkyPapa]

Continuing rays...
I have seen rays jump 10-15 ft out of the water.
Remember the woman killed by a leopard ray in the keys a while back?
She needed a covered boat.