cuteusagi

Hi All! We just came home with a beautiful rope fish yesterday (8-10 inches already!) We have had an African Butterfly Fish for about a year now, so we are very careful about our lids fitting tightly and having no holes. Our Butterfly fish tried to escape once shortly after we got him, and since then he's been very well behaved! But our new rope fish is an active escape artist, and we haven't even had him 24 hours yet!

The rope fish knows where the gap is in the lid for the water to come through our filter (a rena smart filter - http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produc...,4337&breeds=1). He swims back and forth against the current and tries to prop up his body on our mopani and amazon sword leaves and pull out of the tank!!! The way the filter is shaped, it doesn't look like he should even be able to get into the filter at all, and since his many attempts last night, we covered the gap between the lid opening and the filter with a double-layer or screen so that if he does try, he won't get very far.

He hasn't gotten more than his head poked up above the water, and he has found a nice spot to relax now that it's daytime (thank goodness!). I was just wondering if anyone had any suggestions/ideas/stories about keeping escape artists in the tank and safe! Thanks!

Blub

Why I hate Juwel filters: Things get inside them...

Here's a list of fish I've lost to my filter:

around 8 hatchets
1 female panda apisto

Sounds like a small amount, but it seems like thousands!

cuteusagi

Just a quick update!!! We've had our rope fish for about 3 weeks now, and he's doing great!!!! He still likes to "play" in the current of the filter, but he has never gotten more than his head above water. We just did a major clean-out and rearranged our tank, and he did very well with the temporary moves until his new home was ready. I don't expect we should have any problem with him attempting escape!!