What is it about my carpet?

[papagimp]

Had another carpet surfer this weekend, and of all the fish, it was my green mandarin. Oldest saltwater fish I've had, in fact, the first I ever purchased for my very first SW attempt. Not only did this guy manage to jump over the tank edge and onto the carpet, but my fuge's return pump was off (until I could run to the LFS for some DI water) and the water level in the tank itself was at least 6 inches below normal, so he had to have gotten a good runnin start. Anybody else have troubles with jumpin' dragonettes? I didn't think they were the type for this behavior?

 

[jeeperrs]

I remember reading that when they breed they tend to rush to the surface of the water. It is just my guess but since they do it when breeding I can see them doing it anyways. I am impressed by how far it did jump though. I would have never guessed one to jump that high.

 

[pwhitby]

When I had my tank emptied to the last 8 inches of water (the 225) and was catching the fish, my blue tang leapt out and sailed above my head and came pretty close to the ceiling. I estimated it went at least 4 feet if not more. They can jump along way....
Now I know that a blue tang and mandarin are very different fish, but I was stunned at how high it went.

P.

 

[papagimp]

Maybe he got a girlish looking reflection in the glass or something and rushed the surface with "her". I don't speak fish well so there's no tellin' how much cabin fever the poor fella had in my tank. Heck, the way my amphipods move around, he may have been chasing one right out of the tank, I know I see many of those critters on my carpet! What really suprises me is that even when startled into hiding, the mandarin never really seemed to move that quickly, not enough to make a jump like that, let alone 4 ft towards the ceiling or anything, lol. He was always one to take his time with everything, even fleeting. Wierd.

 

[nIx_tank]

Wow, that sucks Adam.

You had a real good fish there with that mandarin.

 

[cmc0814]

I'm sorry bud. I've lost many a fish to the carpet. It's probably because they see my big jar of food right next to it. Forbidden fruit....

 

[Nat'nCritters]

We have a mandarin, and 2 months ago he surprised us and jumped out while we were not home. We got in and were alerted immediately by my 2 wonderful European Burmese cats, who were quite allarmed! They were just watching him wiggle on the carpet! We plopped him back in the little QT tank, dust and bits of carpet on him stuck to the slime and everything, fed him heaps of brine, and away he went, to become the longest survivor of our tanks yet! We are considdering a suicide netting around the back of the tank though since our sailfin blennie jumped a week later (he lived too!) and the cats still look for finned-ghosts around the back of the tank every day...LOL