Suicidal Tetras?

[mbeer21]

My housemate found one of my Blue King Tetras (Boehlkea fredcochui) on the floor yesterday morning. I didn't think Tetras were jumpers... are they? Or was this just an odd occurrence? I do have a glass lid on my tank, but it has small gaps in the corners so you can lift it. Should I keep those covered too?

 

[techen]

My housemate found one of my Blue King Tetras (Boehlkea fredcochui) on the floor yesterday morning. I didn't think Tetras were jumpers... are they? Or was this just an odd occurrence? I do have a glass lid on my tank, but it has small gaps in the corners so you can lift it. Should I keep those covered too?

Always have a lid on your fish tank, basics

 

[mbeer21]

.. The lid was on

 

[techen]

.. The lid was on

I double checked and yea, if a tetra can fit through the glass hole theres your problem, Sorry slow night.

 

[DJH584]

Yes tetra do jump. One of our harlequins got spooked and jumped out through the corner cutout of our lid.
Fortunately we were there when it happened so no harm done.

 

[mbeer21]

As I said, the little gaps in the corners for you to lift it. Here's a picture, with my hand to show the size of the gap the tetra managed to get out of

 

[DJH584]

Your cutout is the same shape as ours and you have about the same gap and yes our harlequin managed it.

 

[mbeer21]

Hrm I guess something must have just startled him in the dark and he was just unfortunate enough to be in the right place to fall out ...

 

[techen]

That is a pretty large gap for a tetra

 

[Tuxyu3]

I do not consider having a lid on a tank one of the basics, sometimes there is a need for no lid or no lid is just preferred.

 

[Bugdozer]

I say leave the gap. If the fish is dim enough to kill itself, that's natural selection.

 

[Zikofski]

i dont have a lid on mine, fish will only jump out if there is some kind of problem with the tank or they are spooked, most likely they where spooked, i had 2 torpedo barbs jump out the other week saved one but i didn't see the other and sadly he died , but it was most likely a freak accident, for a neon to fit through a hole that size in the corner, unless they can see the hole but i doubt it,

if this its first occurrence don't change anything unless it happens again.

got a pic of your full tank looks nice from that hole

 

[mbeer21]

i dont have a lid on mine, fish will only jump out if there is some kind of problem with the tank or they are spooked, most likely they where spooked, i had 2 torpedo barbs jump out the other week saved one but i didn't see the other and sadly he died

, but it was most likely a freak accident, for a neon to fit through a hole that size in the corner, unless they can see the hole but i doubt it,

if this its first occurrence don't change anything unless it happens again.

got a pic of your full tank looks nice from that hole

Yes it's the only occurrence so far - he must have gotten spooked by something in the dark.

Thanks this is the whole tank

Only the plants up the back aren't nearly so nice any more - went away for a few days and now they're mostly in tatters and floating about in the water

 

[sadguppy]

I had a couple of danios go missing and when we moved the cabinet after upgrading the tank, we found them down the back

Can't say exactly how but they must have squeezed out of the gap where the cables go in - stoopid fish.

I prefer the look of a lidless tank, I don't have a lid on my QT tank (an arcadia arc) and have never had problem with that. Many of the most beautifully aquascaped tanks I've seen don't have lids, so I would hardly consider it to be 'the basics'. Sometimes this stuff happens, but it's not common.