Fish In Filter

So this morning I woke up after a late night of cleaning and slightly re-organizing my fish tanks. After receiving the new wild Betta Smaragdina in the mail on Friday, Sunday was time enough in the conditioning tank to move him into his new home. I also took this opportunity to finally trim down some plastic and make a better fitting cover for my 5 gallon now housing my Smaragdina Female.

This morning when I woke up the new Male had settled in nicely, turning on the filter for the first time he hid for the rest of the morning I was home. I decided to check on the Male that was re-housed to the 30 gallon community who had also settled in very well, patrolling his new territory while the Harlequin Rasbora stay schooled above and away from him. Knowing the Males, who had been moved and stressed throughout the cleaning/re-housing, were ok and back to a seemingly stress free state I got things ready to start feeding before I left for the 9 hour work day ahead.. Well it was about that time I noticed the Female was nowhere to be seen. Being the owner of 3 wild bettas knowing their ability to jump I began searching the floor around the tank expecting the worst. To my surprise she has jumped into the baffle I made for the filter output, up the waterfall, and over the foam pad filter media into the chamber of the filter. Thankfully it was as easy as turning the filter off and pouring her back in. I can only hope it was as scary for her as it was me, and that she won't do it again. What a way to start your day! At least everyone is ok.

 

Also I took a video to prove why I was late for work wasn't some creative excuse.. this is a screenshot.

 

yeah its pretty scary when fish go missing or end up in the filter. ive never had fish in the filter but ive had some just completely disappear :/
oh the Betta Smaragdina is a gorgeous fish!

 

yeah its pretty scary when fish go missing or end up in the filter. ive never had fish in the filter but ive had some just completely disappear :/
oh the Betta Smaragdina is a gorgeous fish!

Thanks! Yeah I've lost 2 of these fish from being expert and creative jumpers.. when I stare at the tank for more than 5 minutes with no fish I start freaking out. Thankfully this filter had a sponge over the intake so she didn't go through anything severe.

 

Thanks! Yeah I've lost 2 of these fish from being expert and creative jumpers.. when I stare at the tank for more than 5 minutes with no fish I start freaking out. Thankfully this filter had a sponge over the intake so she didn't go through anything severe.

haha yes when I don't see all my fish I also freak out because its unusual not to see them.

oh that's is really good to hear. ive read so many horror stories on here about fish inside filters

 

Guys, shes in the filter again. I thought at first she was a little more brave at night with no lights over the tank and was just exploring, but today she hopped in while I was at work during the day. I know she isn't getting sucked in because there's a foam pad over the intake so she has to be jumping. I didn't change anything with the filter so unless she's an acrobat I don't know how shes doing it.. looks like I'll be getting a little more creative tonight with the filter. If anyone has any suggestions that would be awesome. The filter is a deep blue nano biomax.

 

Hopefully this should work. Once I took the filter off I realized she might be jumping in next to the intake tube so I stuffed foam in all of the creases. Fingers crossed.

 

Awwww, maybe she likes playing hide-n-seek!!

 

Hopefully you’ve foiled her future attempts!

 

Awwww, maybe she likes playing hide-n-seek!!

Shes going to hide and seek her way right onto my last nerve during a panic attack! Lol she does have quite the personality for exploring..

 

Hopefully you’ve foiled her future attempts!

Haha funny because I have foil around the filter to fill in the cracks between it and the hood. At least I know if shes making it into the filter then the rest of the cover I made must be working!