Apistogramma cacatuoides took a leap

[Magnos]

I know all fish can jump and I should have expected this but... my man took a leap from the top tank on my rack... just measured it. 7 feet 1 inches. Found him behind my fish rack in a small puddle that must have been there because one of my sponge filters was on too high and bubbles water out of my tank. I put him back in.... and my man was acting funny for about an hour and now he's right back to slapping the female apistos with his tail . I'm hoping this means he's good lol.

 

[GaryE]

He sounds lucky. They can survive jumps. I once bred a killie 2 weeks after it leapt, travelled 3 or 4 feet across a carpet and stopped under a radiator, covered in dust. I found him half dried out when I came home from work. He looked bad when he went back in, but lived to found a line I still have going. That was in 2005.

I'd secure the cover and try to figure out what drove him to jump. Apistos have never been pole vaulters here.

There's a local fish guy who towers over 6"3 me. He's 7 foot tall, and he sets his tanks up as high up as yours. The tops of my tallest tanks are about 6"6 up, and I have a solid stepladder for water changes. That's only 4 tanks. I used to have a step built into some of my racks for high tanks. How do you handle that?

 

[Magnos]

He sounds lucky. They can survive jumps. I once bred a killie 2 weeks after it leapt, travelled 3 or 4 feet across a carpet and stopped under a radiator, covered in dust. I found him half dried out when I came home from work. He looked bad when he went back in, but lived to found a line I still have going. That was in 2005.

I'd secure the cover and try to figure out what drove him to jump. Apistos have never been pole vaulters here.

There's a local fish guy who towers over 6"3 me. He's 7 foot tall, and he sets his tanks up as high up as yours. The tops of my tallest tanks are about 6"6 up, and I have a solid stepladder for water changes. That's only 4 tanks. I used to have a step built into some of my racks for high tanks. How do you handle that?

I have two ladders. It being the top of the r a ck the tank are only like 7.09" deep. I picked these tanks so I could get into the tanks better. Hard ro get to the back of the tank though

 

[Magnum Man]

I’ve never gone that high, but I’m taller, so my air pumps, and often my food selection goes that high… I’ve found keeping foods up high, keeps visiting kids from feeding ( over feeding ) the fish…. I do have tanks, that literally sit on the floor ( well typically a construction board thickness off the floor) which creates their own issues being that low, but it does limit the high diving…

 

[anewbie]

I would be more concern about why he jumped; as cockatoo normally hang near the bottom of the tank....

 

[GaryE]

I used to have a lot of cacatuoides, as I bred several varieties, from domestic double reds to 5 or 6 different wild type forms. If a mature female doesn't like the male you picked, she may try to hit him under the gills. I have seen it happen, and the male dies on the spot. In the wild, the male would accept rejection and swim off, or, in an extreme rejection, jump.
It starts with charges from below, which drives him up.
Females have territories, and they pick the male. If she doesn't think he's worth the trouble, he has to get away fast.
It's something to think about.

 

[Sparx]

My Scissortails have a habit of jumping, but I’ve read that this is just in their nature. I have a glass cover to prevent this, but even so, one of them had excellent aim and managed to jump through the small gap in the corner to lift the lid the tank is in the lounge, luckily it happened on a weekend so me and hubby were home having lunch and were there when it happened. She was a little dazed but ok once we got her back in the tank. We now have a magnetic mesh over that section too

 

[anewbie]

I used to have a lot of cacatuoides, as I bred several varieties, from domestic double reds to 5 or 6 different wild type forms. If a mature female doesn't like the male you picked, she may try to hit him under the gills. I have seen it happen, and the male dies on the spot. In the wild, the male would accept rejection and swim off, or, in an extreme rejection, jump.
It starts with charges from below, which drives him up.
Females have territories, and they pick the male. If she doesn't think he's worth the trouble, he has to get away fast.
It's something to think about.

Yes; that was my key point he was escaping her aggression; the problem is that if he can't escape she can potentially kill him.

 

[Sparx]

Do you have the space to separate them?

 

[anewbie]

Well a properly scaped tank will give him places to hide.

 

[Magnos]

Do you have the space to separate them?

Yes I have two more identical empty tanks next to them I can separate them. The tanks are 23.69"x14"x7" so they are super long and wide. It was the first night in there. I ordered the lids for these tanks as they are unique dimensions but they emailed and said they are sold out... which sucks because I was going to put killifish in the other two tanks. One of my LFS has a "build your own top kit" I am going to grab tomorrow.
Also I have multiple clay caves for them and heavily planted but not grown in.