open top suicidal jumping fish

[DaveK]

Egg crate and window screen block a lot of light.

Consider building a mesh top for the tank. Here is an example (offsite) - http://www.aquariumoverload.com/clearmeshtops.html

[stevekx500]

Try egg crate. I have it on top of my 120 salt tank 4 yrs & NO issues... I LOVE it. helps my tank breath & helps out w/ my heating issue. ust a thought...

[Bushkill]

Originally Posted by DaveK

Egg crate and window screen block a lot of light.

Consider building a mesh top for the tank. Here is an example (offsite) - http://www.aquariumoverload.com/clearmeshtops.html

Not window screen.
Bird netting used for ponds.
It's as thin as the lightest of fishing lines. If you place the netting to alternate with the intersects of the eggcrate, it becomes almost foolproof, even for smaller fish. Trust me, you'd be amazed at the size of a fish that can squirt thru eggcrate and end up sitting there for you to peel it off. Tacking the netting to the bottom of the eggcrate is MUCH easier than building the window screen frames to support it by itself.

I'll say it again:
Eggcrate does not impede lighting. It focuses light straight down. Take a look at the way the stuff is made it has a thicker side. The stuff is made to sit in a ceiling grid light fixture, so that it can grab light from the tubes and focus it downward from the body of the fixture.
In an aquarium setting it does seriously constrain the area your lighting covers. So a two-tube fixture just doesn't cover the same amount of real estate in your tank.
This subject was beat up mercilessly in the saltwater side of the hobby years ago. The example of the windowscreen frame above is just one of many, many.
The choice of eggcrate, eggcrate with netting, or window screen with netting is simply a function of what you have in the tank. Jumpers, lighting requirements, etc. etc. The window screen frame is the most time consuming solution, so if you change things down the line, you may have the thought of how long it took to make in the back of your mind. Just a bunch of variables to consider.

[DogFish]

I'm a big fan of looking at cause of the problem, vs. the band-aide approach.

Fish take the suicide leap for specific reasons. Improper ratios M/F per specie, lack of cover , too small a specie group, rapid changes in water perimeters, rank adjustments when adding new fish, and I'm sure I'm missing a few.

Too me building a super-max prison aquarium is not the answer as the inmates will still be stressed out. I think it's a wiser choice to identify the stress factors.

[salmon]

Had the same problem with lemons in my 75p. Almost always they would jump at night, usually when they got startled. Having seen them jump 6 inches clear of the surface and seeig one hit the floor once (he survived) I know the feeling.

Solution for me ended up being a piece of 1/4" acrylic over the top with several inches on either end. That and a nightlight/moonlight, they seem to feel much more secure. Floaters might also help. Good luck!

[mistahoo]

Egg crate (light diffusers are what they're called) with cross-stitching grid zip tied on top will ensure that any fish will stay in the tank unless the fish are smaller than a cm.

Egg crate can be found at Home Depot or Lowe's, and Cross stitching grid can be found at Hobby Lobby.

[mistahoo]

Originally Posted by DogFish

I'm a big fan of looking at cause of the problem, vs. the band-aide approach.

Fish take the suicide leap for specific reasons. Improper ratios M/F per specie, lack of cover , too small a specie group, rapid changes in water perimeters, rank adjustments when adding new fish, and I'm sure I'm missing a few.

Too me building a super-max prison aquarium is not the answer as the inmates will still be stressed out. I think it's a wiser choice to identify the stress factors.

Not quite. There are sometimes where there aren't any specific reasons as to why they are jumping. I do believe that most of time they are for a reason, but there are times that contradict that.

[Bushkill]

Photo-shock.

The sudden introduction of full daylight-intensity lighting. Most of us have trouble adjusting in the morning, fish are no different.

The sudden termination of full daylight-intesity lighting. Most of the small fish we house are food for bigger fishes and creatures. At dusk, they are programmed to run for cover. We make it happen in an instant.

Lighting schemes that ramp up and ramp down lighting intensity will go a long way to eliminating jumpers due to photo-shock.

[DogFish]

Originally Posted by mistahoo

Not quite. There are sometimes where there aren't any specific reasons as to why they are jumping. I do believe that most of time they are for a reason, but there are times that contradict that.

Wrong. It is always stimulus/response. There is no mystery involved.

[TexasCichlid]

Originally Posted by DogFish

I'm a big fan of looking at cause of the problem, vs. the band-aide approach.

Fish take the suicide leap for specific reasons. Improper ratios M/F per specie, lack of cover , too small a specie group, rapid changes in water perimeters, rank adjustments when adding new fish, and I'm sure I'm missing a few.

Too me building a super-max prison aquarium is not the answer as the inmates will still be stressed out. I think it's a wiser choice to identify the stress factors.

I've had espei rasboras jump on food instinct. If I have the water level too high and put in some pellets, I will have 2 or 3 rasboras on the floor every time.

[RWaters]

Originally Posted by TexasCichlid

I've had espei rasboras jump on food instinct. If I have the water level too high and put in some pellets, I will have 2 or 3 rasboras on the floor every time.

Same here, but with my Odessa barbs and rainbowfish. I go to feed them and they act like I haven't fed them for a week. I do get the occasional flying fish.

[Bushkill]

Originally Posted by RWaters

Same here, but with my Odessa barbs and rainbowfish. I go to feed them and they act like I haven't fed them for a week. I do get the occasional flying fish.

I just lost a fish under slightly similar circumstances:

If there is any sort of mating behavior going on in a tank that isn't heavily planted and covered, there's good chance you'll see flying fish there too. I had two pairs of LF blue rams in a 10G quarantine tank that paired off in a matter of days, and one pair laid eggs in the corner of the tank. After a water change, genius me forgets to put the glass cover back on. How high would you put that on the "dumb scale"? Yup, one of the females ended up on the floor, by the next morning. Still ticked at myself for that one.

So the similarity is that we can predict "flying fish" during feeding time and we can predict it when there's spawning activity in the tank as well.

[Axelrodi202]

The only fish that don't jump are dead fish.

[evilhorde]

Can you raise the top of the tank with some plexiglass?
I don't have 'jumpers' but I have great tactical climbers (red claw crabs) and I haven't had one escape past the great 12" wall of plexiglass yet.

The plexi is cut to the correct size so that it sits on the inner lip of the plastic ring already on the tank. A small notch in one corner allows the power cords through.