I saw my Sixline jump out!

I have a very large room that is a converted garage. The far back wall has the fish tank and in the middle is my entertainment system. So there I was, in the middle of the room sitting in a chair, watching a movie. Something caught my attention, some kind of movement in the fish tank. I look over just in time to see my sixline about 2 inches under the surface of the water and rapidly heading towards the top. Of course, it shoots out of the tank like a Trident missile, right onto the carpet. It's flopping around like crazy, jumping up and down with each frantic flap of it's tail. I scooped it up as quickly as I could, but it took me a moment to react because I was stunned. When I placed the fish back into the water it went into the rock for about 3 seconds and was back out looking for food in no time.

Wow. Good thing I was home. Good thing I was in the room with the tank.

 

Wow! Nice catch!! Would it be possible to put a screen on your tank?

 

Probably, I just have so much on my plate right now.

 

Yeah, same here... I have a red flasher wrasse... and they're known for jumping, so it's on my list of things to do

 

Congrats on being in the right place at the right time. If you still have the glass covers I would put them on until you get a good mesh cover.

 

It takes like all of ten minutes to make a screen top. Buy the stuff from BRS and its easy.

 

I actually already bought everything, and attempted to make the top. It just doesn't seem to work out for me. The plastic mesh never seems to want to stay in the frame and when I put it on my tank it really blocks out a lot of the light.

In my experience, once a creature gets stuck in an overflow box or jumps out of the tank it never makes the same mistake again. Or at least not for a while, which will give me time to get a cover.

Thanks for your concern though.

 

I had a peacock eel that loved to go in to the filter box, not sure why but i'm guessing because it was dark and had high flow? Either way once i moved him he decided he wanted to go carpet surfing and luckily i was laying down to sleep heard a strange noise got up and saw him trying to make a dash for the pile of clothes. Lucky for me I got him and just dropped him back in the tank. That night i cut some plastic that fit the tank and covered it so no more surfing.

 

This was the easiest thing I have ever made! Come on if a girl can do it so can you Did you make the frame first and then start splining the mesh into it? If it's the clear mesh from BRS it doesn't block any light out. Better safe than sorry because next time you might not be home

 

Very cool looking mesh!
I also have all the materials to make this, except the spleen tool, but haven't gotten around to it, since I may be moving and I'll take advantage of it to maybe re-plumb my tank a little different.

@ Doratus:

I'm glad you were able to catch your wrasse!! That almost never happens.

I wonder if the blow against the mesh of a jumping fish would cause some damage... probably it would be disoriented and hurting for a while.