One of the saddest things are fish jumping to their death...

[Mark Gray]

Had a few but the worst one was probably 25 to 30 years ago. Had a Vlue Ribbon Ell. My 7 year old son loved him had him about 3 years in a 200 gallon tank. My son feed him that night and guessd he didn't get the top closed well he was dead on the floor.

 

[JCTReefer]

Had a clownfish jump once. Happened to be in the room at the time. Heard a soft thud. Sure enough, there she was, flopping around on the floor. Thought about just letting her die. Such a mean fish. All jokes aside, that was my only jumping experience. Now, what’s worse than that is the PRICE OF YELLOW TANGS.

 

[burningmime]

I've had a close call, but no deaths. I was working from home with my old nano tank right next to me at my desk. Six line wrasse sailed right out of the tank onto the floor. Would've made a better story if it had jumped the other direction and landed on my keyboard while I was typing . Picked 'er right up. She didn't skip a beat.

I was considering getting a net, but then I moved and couldn't take the tank, so it's jumping at the pet store now. Next tank is going to have a ClearView lid because it's a lot cheaper than the eels I want.

 

[BigRedReefer MT]

I lost two so far in both fresh and salt tanks. One blue/green chromis jumped out the open glass top and landed on the lid of my water change brute. The other was a long finned dinosaur bicher that was about 12" long and squeezed through the gap between the hood and the canister intake/outake hole. Found the chromis the next morning and the bicher i heard hit the floor. Unfortunately, he damaged his swim bladder and went belly up about 20 minutes later.

 

[DaddyFish]

Not counting jumps from the acclimation bucket...

I put a Picasso Trigger and a Snowflake Eel in a DT on the same afternoon. That night somebody got too curious and they went at each other. Found them both on the floor the next morning, jumped out of a 2"x4" feeder opening.

Lost a Niger Trigger of all things during a late-night tank maintenance session. Kept hearing something off in the darkness of the adjacent room. Didn't discover him until about 3 a.m. when I happened to remember and do a fish count.

I had numerous male guppies go room surfing from my freshwater DT. Always the males, and out the autofeeder opening.

 

[Anchor]

Katherines Fairy wrasse jumped while I was working in the tank.. RIGHT INTO THE MOUTH OF MY DOG!

 

[Bwing602]

Strange to find this topic right off the bat, while registering and browsing other things. In 30+ years of aquariums, I've only had one fish jump two times-my snowflake eel. The first time was at least six years ago, and we were incredibly lucky; early one weekend morning while still asleep I heard my husband let out a cry that sounded like something out of a horror movie. I rushed in and saw my eel thrashing and writhing on the tile floor! Grabbed a towel and wrestled (boy, was he strong!) him back into the tank. My husband was half awake and couldn't process what the heck he was seeing-he thought it was a snake! And that was the only time...until three weeks ago. Somehow, some way that devil knocked the back panel off. We found him under a chair...all 26" of him. He was 17 years old and I'd had him since he was the size of a small pencil. The anchor and king of our tank for years. That's the only one, and it's too many.

 

[Tastee]

When I first installed my 65g rimless tank 4 years ago I had my female Occ Clown take a jump. Luckily for her it was a Saturday and I was home and pottering around. I walked upstairs and saw her on the floor so was able to pop her back in the tank immediately where she recovered. Within 3 hours I had a temporary cover made from quad and flyscreen on the tank and a Clearview lid (Artfully Acrylic at that time) on order. The clown is still going strong today.

When I setup my second 130g rimless tank a year ago I again made a temporary cover with quad and flyscreen whilst I was waiting for my Clearview lid to arrive. Would never have a tank without some form of a cover. Here is the 130g.

 

[Young@Heart]

I have been lucky. I have only had 1 (a clown fish, Marlin - Ok, my daughter named him) go tile surfing from my 55 Gallon Tank. That was about 2 years ago. I have added a lid/screen to that tank. Since, I have seen and heard some splashing/breaking the top of the water, but no loss. The 2 clowns in there now seem to stay on the bottom or middle of the tank. As for my 180 Gallon - none have gone carpet surfing. I suspect that is because there is 4 Inches between the top of the water and the top of the Canopy. My Wrasse (6-line) stays toward the bottom and My Blue Hippo Tang, Dorie - daughter again named her - never breaks the waterline (to my knowledge anyway). I have and do continue to have Snails that try to escape both tanks, but I catch them and put them back in the water. I have found only 1 that dried out and died.

 

[joseph scott]

Only 1 fish in about 20 years a flame hawk fish. I still worry about it so much so that recently recently added polycarbonate lids to both of my tanks. The reason was two part stop jumpers, and reduce evaporation.

 

[SenorBubs]

I had my yellow watchman goby jump after I transferred tanks. Sad thing is he was paired with my pistol shrimp and my attempts to get another goby to pair with him all failed.. it still stings a little

 

[Mandalorian]

Ive had a total of 3 fish jump to their deaths since getting this shallow cube tank. Ive now since loosing my hippo, put a clear mesh netting over top. Doesnt look great but its better then fish dying. Here is my post about it: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/hippo-tang-skydive.797146/page-3#post-8501058

 

[MiniCoco]

For those who use netting - do you find it cuts down on lighting at all? I've considered buying a proper net lid (in fact my wife asked me last week if I was planning to) but I've been nervous about impacting the lighting to my SPS.

BRS did a experiment and if my memory serves me well, the impact on par was minimal especially when they looked at the 1/8” and 1/4” screens.

 

[mcbdz]

Dang, ya'll have some calm fish or, I just have crazy fish. Mine are always jumping and splashing and I hear them hit the screen at least weekly. They get crazy at feeding time. You would think they were piranhas. Luckily Tony made screen tops from the beginning. I did loose a diamond goby because I forgot to close the lid all they way after feeding one night. That was very sad. Everyone loved to watch him and haven't been able to keep my sand that white since. Tried replacing him a couple of times but my Kole tang harassed them and they starved. Now have a ss star, a conch and a cucumber and they still don't do as good as that one little fish.

 

[FriedReef TV]

ive lost 3 wrasses and 2 clownfish from accidentally leaving the top off dont come at me i love animals but some of us are forgetful. After losing so much money in fish it wired a reminder into my brain but it took too many fish deaths

 

[Seamore2001]

So who's the go to for a net screen for tanks?

Asking for a friend

 

[Emerson]

I've had three, which to me falls under several. I had a Sailfin Blenny jump when I first set up my tank and thought it would just be fine with no cover. Quickly put together a DIY screen after that with the 1/2" clear screen from BRS. Even with that I had a McCorsker's Flasher Wrasse sneak out of a 1/2" x 4" gap that isn't practical to cover with the way my overflow fits. Also had a Trochus Snail get out somehow.

 

[Paul B]

1. About how many fish have you had jump to their death in your reefing career?

All my wrasses, all my firefish, all my eels, all my Ruby Red dragonettes, some of my mandarins, all my jawfish a few copperbands and many which I forgot. So, Quite a few.

Firefish are the worst so when I get them, to save time, I acclimate them, then gently remove them from the bag, and throw them on the floor.

 

[wenliu51]

When I got an e-mail for this thread, I was actually still undergoing too much heartache to write about it.

I haven't been in the hobby long. But one of my first fish, a Bannerfish jumped last week. He has been previously sick and QT'd back to health, so when you have a fish that has had a rough time, you care a bit more for them. He actually jumped twice before, and during the second time I think he suffered a concussion because he started to swim upside down. It only lasted an hour and he ended up being fine. I spoke with my LFS and was preparing to take him in to surrender him. Then he jumped the third time and he was gone.

Its pretty dang devastating..

 

[DucatiGtr]

I’ve lost, at the start w no lids, a purple tang, mandarin, a clown fish, several wrasses..

W lid (screen) 3 wrasses that have jumped in between the screen and the top of my center overflow wish has a plastic top.. so they fried there under led light.. uffa

now i have a 4 inch yellow corris wrasse that has jumped 5 times into a wooden floor from 6 feet..
the last time my wife saw our Bengal cat playing w him! He was dry and scrapped up a bit and I threw him in the tank.. looked dead and boom! Back to life.. he jumps when I have the screen off doing tank work.. no one noticed. If w all the chaos.