Wrasses for a reef tank and wont jump

[eatbreakfast]

Some fish are much more likely to jump than other. Size of the tank, how happy/healthy they are, are there any aggressive fish, and how active, curious are the fish are all contribute to the tendency to jump.
Most wrasses are so very active and wide ranging, that is why they have a tendency to jump. Most wrasse jump because they want to get out of the confine of the tank. They look and find a small crack and go through it. It is not a random jumping that result of them ended up on the carpet. Becasue of this reason, tightly fitted lid is highly recommended if you want to keep almost all wrasses.

With that said, there are some species that does not intentional jump out of tank if they are happy. Leopard wrasse and Harlequin Tusk are the two that I have personal experiences with. I had them for years, multiple specimens, and never loose on due to jumping in an open top 4oo and 320 DT. I keep fish for so long that I even I lost on female clown from jumping out of a 28 gal cube with only a Crocea, Magnifica and a male, her mate, Percula as her tank mates. That clown was as happy and healthy as a clown can be. This is as unusual as it get, and I have never lost a Leopard or Harlequin Tusk to jumping.

While you may not have lost either to jumping I have had clients lose these species to jumping.

 

[Reefpuck]

Just get a screen kit from BRS and forget about the jumping part!

 

[OrionN]

While you may not have lost either to jumping I have had clients lose these species to jumping.

Just because we, or some one, sometime loose certain fish from jumping, it does not mean that that particular species of fish is likely to jump. Someone loose a Yellow tang to jumping, which happened many time, does not mean tanks with yellow tangs needs cover on their tanks. In my example, I lost one female clown to jumping in my 40 years of fish keeping. This does not mean that a happy clown is likely to jump. I still keep that same tank today and use it as a QT system. It does not have a cover. I would have no problem QT certain species in that tank without cover.
From my experience, I would not hesitant to QT Leopard or clowns in that tank. I would never QT a fairy or flasher wrasse in that tank however.

With your vast experiences as someone in the profession to maintain aquariums (I think) naturally you would have much more experiences in the number of species, and the number of fishes under your care. I don't know how many system you care for at any one time, but I only have to worry about mine. Naturally this will result in much more exposure to the "unusual case". I can see that these experiences do affect our planing and opinion.

 

[eatbreakfast]

Just because we, or some one, sometime loose certain fish from jumping, it does not mean that that particular species of fish is likely to jump. Someone loose a Yellow tang to jumping, which happened many time, does not mean tanks with yellow tangs needs cover on their tanks. In my example, I lost one female clown to jumping in my 40 years of fish keeping. This does not mean that a happy clown is likely to jump. I still keep that same tank today and use it as a QT system. It does not have a cover. I would have no problem QT certain species in that tank without cover.
From my experience, I would not hesitant to QT Leopard or clowns in that tank. I would never QT a fairy or flasher wrasse in that tank however.

With your vast experiences as someone in the profession to maintain aquariums (I think) naturally you would have much more experiences in the number of species, and the number of fishes under your care. I don't know how many system you care for at any one time, but I only have to worry about mine. Naturally this will result in much more exposure to the "unusual case". I can see that these experiences do affect our planing and opinion.

I've come across quite a few leopards that have jumped. A far greater number than to consider their jumping an aberration. Far fewer of my customers keep tuskfish than leopards, but since I have come across a few of those that have jumped I still would not consider that too unusual either.

In fact, I've come across more harlequin tusks that have jumped than total tangs, even though the ratio is probably close to 20:1 tangs to tusks kept. So while a tang jumping may be an outlier, I certainly wouldn't consider a tusk jumping odd.

 

[Friday24]

My Kuiters Leopard and a Melanarus (burying) I had hit the net several times. My observation for when my wrasses attempt to jump the most are during feeding and when the lights are ramping down to around dusk. The bottom line as almost everyone has said, wrasses of all species are more prone than most fish to jump, it’s a decision of do you want to be a responsible owner or not, and how much money are you willing to risk. IMO

 

[ca1ore]

As others have said, wrasses are among the MOST likely of fish families to jump. Flashers most likely, fairies next, cleaners after that. Leopards and the other sand sleepers are less likely to jump, though clearly they can and will if startled or harassed. The bottom line is that if you have designs on keeping these fish, a cover is an absolute necessity.

 

[pdxmonkeyboy]

my tank doesn't have a cover and I can guarantee that no fish are going to jump out.

because I'm currently fallow

 

[saltyhog]

You have to remember that in nature they may have 10 to 30 meters of water over them. I don't believe wrasses jump to "escape" the tank. They may be trying to escape another fish but they "jump" because they literally run out of water.

 

[Daniel@R2R]

A few quick thoughts.

1. Practically ALL fish CAN jump.
2. Wrasses in particular are PRONE to jumping
3. Jumping has nothing to do with how "happy" a fish is in the tank. Happy fish jump and smile all the way to the floor...
4. Fish don't "intentionally" jump out of a tank. Remember, what we call "jumping" is pretty much just swimming at high velocity so that inertia propels them beyond the water's surface and onto your carpet. They are either A) trying to escape something or B) just doing their thing and accidentally propel themselves beyond the surface of the tank. It's not a conscious fishy suicide thing...
5. My understanding is that jumping typically has to do with fish swimming patterns...remember that almost all fish are found at depths far greater than our reef tanks (even a 3ft deep tank isn't very deep when compared to the ocean), so where a fish could normally dart upward without clearing the surface of the ocean, they will clear the water surface of your tank...and that really could be from anywhere in the tank.
6. Is there a reason you won't invest in a screen/mesh top for your tank?

Moving beyond the questions on wrasses, I'd like to revisit the recent death you experienced.

1. Overnight death sounds serious, and I'd like to see us help you figure that out.
2. Are you certain you eradicated the Marine Velvet from your tank?
3. Was the new fish quarantined before being added?
4. Can you tell us about your process for introducing new fish?

 

[OrionN]

A few quick thoughts.

1. ......
   
2. ......
   
3. ......
4. Fish don't "intentionally" jump out of a tank. Remember, what we call "jumping" is pretty much just swimming at high velocity so that inertia propels them beyond the water's surface and onto your carpet. They are either A) trying to escape something or B) just doing their thing and accidentally propel themselves beyond the surface of the tank. It's not a conscious fishy suicide thing...
5. .....

IMO, in certain situation, fish trying to get out of a tank and will find a crack that fit them and jump out of that. There are many tanks which covered 99.9% except a tiny little hole. Wrasse will find that hole and jump out. In situation like this, which happens often enough, one can only conclude that the wrasse is consciously decided to get out of the tank, and will aim for the one area that is open and result in jumping out. I do not think they have a concept of "air". To them the world is a water world. They don't like this place and trying to get to another place. They are not trying to kill themselves,"just trying get the heck out of this stupid place"

 

[Daniel@R2R]

IMO, in certain situation, fish trying to get out of a tank and will find a crack that fit them and jump out of that. There are many tanks which covered 99.9% except a tiny little hole. Wrasse will find that hole and jump out. In situation like this, which happens often enough, one can only conclude that the wrasse is consciously decided to get out of the tank, and will aim for the one area that is open and result in jumping out. I do not think they have a concept of "air". To them the world is a water world. They don't like this place and trying to get to another place. They are not trying to kill themselves,"just trying get the heck out of this stupid place"

I'm still not sure about the conscious attempt to "jump," but I do follow you on the attempt to escape a confined space. I do think that would not likely be an attempt to get out of a tank (a la Finding Nemo), but more an instinctive response to trying to move around a confining object. So I'm doubtful about them really hunting for a hole...I think they generally find one by luck. On my "fishy suicide" and "happy" comments, please know that was meant as humor (I know that doesn't always come through in written communication). I also agree that fish don't have a concept of "air." I'm honestly a bit skeptical of ascribing much by way of a capacity to "reason" to a fish.

 

[vetteguy53081]

 

[PDR]

So I have a couple of questions.

1. I have found it very difficult if not almost impossible to acquire or build a truly "tight fitting lid". Every lid I have ever owned had at least some small gaps that some of my smaller fish could potentially jump through. I would really like to see some designs that are really gapless (if that's a word lol).

2. There have been a couple of posts about how euro bracing doesn't prevent jumping, while I agree to a point, wouldn't it stop jumping 90+% of the time? Don't most fish get spooked, hit the glass and go up the side? (that has been my experience so far)

 

[OrionN]

It is really easy to built a tight fitting screen top with no gap for any usual aquarium and easy to build a lid for overflow box.
You may have to redo the plumbing to keep it from interfering with the screen. Which was what I did.

 

[PDR]

It is really easy to built a tight fitting screen top with no gap for any usual aquarium and easy to build a lid for overflow box.
You may have to redo the plumbing to keep it from interfering with the screen. Which was what I did.

Thanks for the pics. It's definitely easier for a rimmed aquarium with an overflow and hanging lights. It gets a lot more complicated when you have a rimless tank, or anything that hangs on the back (light mounts, filters etc.) I have also found it difficult to accommodate the cords for powerheads.

 

[OrionN]

You just going to have to use EcoTech PH so ther wont be any cord into the tank. You can also easily build screen for rimless tank also. Do a search on rimless screen

 

[Daniel@R2R]

Thanks for the pics. It's definitely easier for a rimmed aquarium with an overflow and hanging lights. It gets a lot more complicated when you have a rimless tank, or anything that hangs on the back (light mounts, filters etc.) I have also found it difficult to accommodate the cords for powerheads.

The are a couple of sponsors who build really good acrylic lids for rimless applications

 

[PhreeByrd]

There are no fish that won't jump.
Beyond that, consider what's required to get one single fish from its original habitat into your aquarium, and how many others did not survive that process. This is not about how much of your budget you spent on that fish. It's about the value of that animal's life, which to many of us, is impossible to express in monetary numbers. As it stands, I have commonly seen estimates that only 1 in 5 captured fish survive the trip to the retail level, so any fish that makes it to your tank is already quite exceptional, and should be treated as such.

Fish do not purposely attempt to escape your tank by jumping. They just jump. Some fish, notably the wrasses, seem to do this for fun. All fish will dart and jump when they are afraid or startled. Some fish seem very docile, slowly cruising around in your tank, but even those are capable of unintentional suicide in our relatively small water volumes. Remember that your fish are wild animals. As such, they can be entirely unpredictable.

Keeping a fish in an uncovered tank really is no different from having a cat or dog that's allowed to run free. Your aquarium is an island of water in your home, and it is the only place your fish can survive. This then can very reasonably compared to a person whose home is surrounded by busy highways. Your cats better be kept indoors at all times, and your dogs had better be kept within a very secure fenced yard. Anything less is almost certain death... and absolutely careless and irresponsible.

It is, or should be, our primary task to keep these animals as safe and healthy as possible. That means doing everything we can to provide a safe environment for them.
Anything less is absolute negligence.

At the very least, cover your tank with eggcrate. It's cheap and readily available. There are tons of better solutions, but any solution is a step in the right direction. If you can't or won't do this, then in my opinion, you are in the wrong hobby.

 

[eatbreakfast]

... There have been a couple of posts about how euro bracing doesn't prevent jumping, while I agree to a point, wouldn't it stop jumping 90+% of the time? Don't most fish get spooked, hit the glass and go up the side? (that has been my experience so far)

Not with wrasses. They seem to take the 'straight diagonal line approach', if scared while in the middle of the tank, they take a straight diagonal ine out. Rarely are their jumps a straight vertical line. So eurobracing's limiting of jumping is closer to 5-10% rather than 90%.

 

[OrionN]

I have tight cover lid on my tank and my overflow. Fish cannot jump out of my tank unless I remove the cover for feeding or maintainance.
Wrasses with their torpedoes shape and power can jump high and long distances. They also can hit the top with such force that they really can injur themselves. Mesh top is highly recommended rather than anything hard and not given when the head of the wrasse crash into it.