Suicidal Fish?

[+o0zarkawater]

I came home from work today, and went to feed the tank. I looked around for a while and I couldn't find my target goby. Eventually I found him behind the tank on the carpet, very dry and very dead.

I have a full hood on the tank, with about a 2" gap in the back for my HOB skimmer and filter to fit on. So it's not like my tank is wide open or anything.

He has been in the tank for about a month and a half now. I have never seen any of the other fish chase him or anything. He normally doesn't even go near the waterline and hangs out down on the rock.

How common is it to have fish jump out of the tank? Is there anything I should check that may have led him to do so?

I'll miss the little guy, as I loved his coloring. He also did a fantastic job of eating every last flatworm I had in the tank. I had a pretty bad outbreak, and bought him to help combat it. I haven't seen a single flatworm in 2 weeks.

RIP!

[Derek]

It all depends on the fish really and what tank mates they have. For instance, if you have a wrasse and a hawkfish, one of them is likely to jump at some point. My hawkfish jumps from time to time but I have pretty much covered the top of my tank so nothing can jump out.

In the past I have lost a flame hawkfish and two blue-green chromis to jumping.

[offroadodge]

i hv never had any fish jump

[+KeeperOfTheZoo]

Is the target 'goby' a target mandarin?I had a gorgeous, fat green mandarin that disapeared out of my tank overnight. Nothing in my tank would have hunted/eaten him alive and there was no trace of him come morning. I'd just added a little very

busy (but not agressive) Pygmy angel. Are mandarins jumpers? I loved that fish! I was worried about him starving, not suddenly going missing. I never found remains but I have a cat and dog inside. I really miss my mandarin. I wish I knew what happened.

Liz

[+o0zarkawater]

Yes he was a target mandarin.

I do have a hawkfish, but he has never bothered the goby. The only other tankmates are a pair of maroon clowns, the hawkfish, and a koran angel. None of these guys ever acted aggresive towards the goby at all.

My tank isnt wide open, I have a hood on it. But in the back of the hood there is about a 3" gap for my HOB skimmer and filter to fit on. The corner where he jumped out I do have a prefilter overflow box for my Remora skimmer. I have seen him go in that several times. I wonder if he got in it, and just tried to go out the back on accident?

I really liked him and will probably get another in the future.

[Meteorflower]

I've found it's best to assume that if your fish is from a species that is known to jump, just assume that he will try it at some point in his life and plan accordingly. I recently lost my blue spotted jawfish to jumping; he made it out of a minute crack in the screens that I was using to cover the tank. I'd had him for two years. I will not be getting another one until I build a full canopy to keep him in. And while the mandarins I've known are not typically jumpers, they are capable of surprising bursts of speed and would sometimes jump out of the water if startled. Hope this helps!

[Entropy]

In the seven years I have been keeping salt water fish I have had two jump out of the tank (dozens jumping into the overflow). I lost a fire goby from my old tank (in wall, completely open back) when my wife slammed the door. I guess the shock wave or noise scare it enough to make it jump. Sad thing is I saw it happen and it probably wouldn't have been a big deal, but the poor little guy actually jumped from the tank right into a five gallon bucket of top of water and by the time I ran around to the back I guess the shock of fresh water plus probably 30 degrees of temp difference did it in. The other was my longnose hawkfish. He jumped out the back of my last tank (open back), but luckily for it I was doing maintenance and actually heard it flopping around being the tank. I don't know how long it was out, but I threw it back in and he is still swimming two years later.

Now I have a full canopy that is completly closed. The only way out is through two small 1.5 inch holes in the back or through the 120mm fan in the top. I figure if they want out that bad, then more power to them.

[+o0zarkawater]

I plan on building a new hood for this tank, and will definitely work on closing up the back completely.

I really feel the tank is missing something now, even though he was only in there for less than 2 months, I still find myself looking for him.

Lesson learned! I don't think that any of the current fish left would be able to make it out, so I should be fine until I get a chance to build a new hood.

Thanks!

[Entropy]

You can use egg crate to close up any big holes or even a completely open back. the fish can still get out, but they have to be really accurate to do it.

[PeeperKeeper]

Funny you made this post today because just this morning (or maybe over the weekend) my redfin wrasse went through the overflow and into my sump. Funny thing is that I immediately knew something was up because although he's new to the tank (got him and a flame hawk at the same time about 3-4 weeks ago so Derek your post got my attention) he is almost always out front, so I checked behind the tank to see if he went "carpet surfing" and didn't see him. A little while later, one of my patients who is interested in salt tanks was looking at my sump and noticed him in there. I still haven't caught him. I think I'm gonna have to take the protein skimmer out to get him, so he's just hanging out for now. I might try using a soda bottle trap before I go to the trouble of taking out the skimmer. What a pain!

But I've had the tank for over 10 years and rarely if ever had any jumpers, even though the hood I had until last September was wide open in back. My new hood has two openings about 2"-3" wide where the pipes exit. I have a regular Mandarin who's been in there at least a year and a half, a flame angel (bout a year), two PJ Cards (probably 8 years) and new to the tank are the flame hawk, redfin wrasse and Diamond spotted Goby.

[+Hydro]

I had my fiji puffer jump out a month ago and lucky for him I walked in about the same time he jumped out. I noticed the noise of it flopping around and was able to save him. I also just bought a firefish that lasted about 2 days before it jumped out, not so lucky.

I think that my puffer was jumping b/c of the moonlight led on my lighting reflector. I noticed that it would make some noise occasionaly when the lights were off, but I couldn't tell what was going on exactly. It sounded like a fish hitting the top of the water but I never saw the fish do this. I didn't think that it was trying to jump out but apparently it was. I turned off the moon light and haven't heard the fish hit the top of the water anymore, maybe it learned its lesson or maybe the light had something to do with it. I have also coverd that aquarium just in case.

[Derekreefer]

I have two ocellaris clownfish. The male just recently commited suicide by jumping; poor little guy. I didn't think his life was so rough.

[JamesL]

Not much to add other than my own story. Over the many years I have had various fish jump. The worst was probably a snowflake eel that I raised form a pencil thin 6" guy to a 2 foot guy. One night he decided to venture out of the tank... made it partially across the dining room floor before drying out.