jawfish, gobies, and a topless tank

[josepha]

I am thinking about a jawfish. Am I certain to have it jump out unless I get a top on the tank? Should I use 1/8" acrylic or the white eggcrate/light diffusing drop ceiling? I have two engineers and neither have jumped. Had a white sand sifting goby, disapeared after 1 day, never found the body, can't confirm or deny his jumping are most gobies jumpers. Experience welcome.
Thanks
Joe A

 

[bigkev76]

I have a plywood multi-cube tank system and put 3 engineer gobies in together in 1 of them. After about a week, I had 1 in each cube, they wanted their own residence and separated themselves into the neighboring cubes. Any fish will jump, and measures to keep them from doing so can have pro's and cons. people are going with plastic egg crate over glass tops if heat is an issue. good luck

 

[coralnut99]

After losing more anthias than I care to admit to, I went the eggcrate route. This was under the theory that it actually focusses the lighting downward. Well, that may be so, but I think it severely limits the way the light "spreads" over your tank. I've since gone to a doubled screen of bird netting used on fruit trees. The difference in light coverage is more than noticable, and less obstrusive than the the eggcrate, imho. Velcro strips on front and back stretch it over the tank very nicely. Cheaper than eggcrate too. Though it was nice to be able to put stuff down on the eggcrate when you needed to.

 

[Sk8r]

I have a nine-inch painted board surrounding my tank which makes a jump far less likely to end on the carpet. The fish that clears the full 11 inches to open space is a real artist.

 

[josepha]

cover

cover

Thanks Coralnut99,
I think the mesh sounds interesting, where did you get it? Any other suggestions are welcome, especially jawfish and goby owners.
Thanks
Joe A

 

[coralnut99]

You can get the bird netting at just about any garden center, and that includes HD. It's really light, and the only reason I doubled it was because I thought the mesh size was just a little large and the fact that this isn't rigid stuff, would let a jumper squirm through. I really like it over the 125 I just set up, and I'll be putting it over two more tanks, when I find the time.