[nchmi28]

On Monday I bought a Scarlet Badis for my 10 gallon. Last night I couldn't find it, but didn't think much of it since it often hides. This morning I still couldn't find it. The back of the tank is about 5" form the wall so I took my camera (phone) and shot a video of it. Here are the last 6 seconds of that video. The poor little fish was stuck between the glass and the side of the pump that I use for filtration & circulation. I pulled the pump off the glass and the fish had it's head between a sponge and the glass. I nudged it out and it surprised the hell out of me by swimming off (I had assumed it was dead). I reassembled the pump and shoved some Java moss between the pump and glass.
I knew I was in for a bit of a challenge with feeding this fish, but I was totally unprepared for it to want to swim into impossibly tight spaces. This tank has so many nooks and crannies that now I'm scared of where it'll wedge it's self into next. Has any one else had a problem of fish wanting to swim into tight spots?
I haven't seen the fish since I freed it. I have No idea of how long it was stuck, other than less than the 18 hours since I had last seen it. The current tank inhabitants are 1 Amano Shrimp, 3 Cherry Red Shrimp, 2 Green Nerite Snail, an undetermined number of Pond Snails and hopefully still 1 Scarlet Badis.

Bump: Right after typing this I went and looked at the tank again and he was hanging out right in the shadow of a plant near the front. His colors might be a little washed out, but other than that he seems okay:icon_surp. I hope he recovers and doesn't try to wedge himself into any more tight spots.

 

[Betta132]

Perhaps the little guy doesn't feel safe? He might need more hiding places and little caves.

 

[Vancat2]

he's a hider.

 

[nchmi28]

Perhaps the little guy doesn't feel safe? He might need more hiding places and little caves.

I just snapped some pictures of the current setup. The water level is low from me trying to clean up after the rescue.

Front

Right Side

Left side
Do you think He needs more cover than I currently have?

 

[leemacnyc]

I'd go with more plants phosure

 

[nchmi28]

The right side is more bare by design, because it is the side I view the tank from while lying down in bed.

I could add some more stems to the back and some more low growers to the bare area.

 

[Veritas]

my Scarlet Badis absolutely loves finding caves to hide out in.

You could buy some lava rock and build little cave systems?

 

[nchmi28]

my Scarlet Badis absolutely loves finding caves to hide out in.

You could buy some lava rock and build little cave systems?

I do have some rocks and sticks that I could probably use to create some caverns. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[Clayman]

I used to keep a pair of Dario Dario. They were always hiding under the plants and wood. They sure we're hard to feed. The only thing I ever saw them eat were tiny mosquito larvae. One died, and I never saw the other one again. Cool little fish though. What does yours eat?

 

[nchmi28]

What does yours eat?

The clerk at the LFS assured me that they happily accepted finely crumbled flake, and occasionally got frozen daphnia. Of course I quickly realized that at the store they were kept in what looked to be a 3-4 gallon, bare bottom cube. I was worried that tiny crumbles were not being found in my 10 and were just falling into the gravel. I have a jar of water, plants and critters (I've watched them through a magnifier and have id cyclops and daphnia) from a spring fed stream near me. It has been sitting in a sunny window as a self sustaining ecosystem for about a month, and so far no monsters have emerged. I put about 2oz of the 7oz in the jar into the tank. I'm happy to report I saw my little guy zipping around hunting this morning. I may need to go back to the stream soon to start up a backup culture.

 

[PlantedRich]

I would suggest some other really small fish might make him feel safer. Since fish have a slime coat that makes them very slippery, he was not truly stuck even though it appeared that way to you. I would say he had finally found what he felt was a truly safe spot until you removed him! A couple guppies, etc. might help a lot.

 

[nchmi28]

I would suggest some other really small fish might make him feel safer. Since fish have a slime coat that makes them very slippery, he was not truly stuck even though it appeared that way to you. I would say he had finally found what he felt was a truly safe spot until you removed him! A couple guppies, etc. might help a lot.

I'm a little skeptical that it felt safe with it's head wedged between the sponge and the glass. My running theory is that it swam into the space, then couldn't figure out that it needed to swim backwards to get out. It then tried to force it's way out by pushing down into the sponge. Though maybe I am wrong, and it had found a place it was comfortable in. In any case I'd rather not take the chance of it being stuck and will stick with the moss I have blocking it's entrance to behind the pump.
It is a funny little fish, it goes through periods of hiding followed by bouts of swimming out in the open water, picking at any little specks it finds. From reading what other people have written about them, this is pretty typical behavior.
As far as other fish go, I was planning on some Boraras Maculatus for the tank before I came across the Scarlet Badis at The LFS. I'm still planning on adding them, I just thought I'd give the Scarlet Badis a chance to get used to the tank with out any other fish to compete with for food.

 

[PlantedRich]

Don't know and can't say but it would seem to be a pretty odd evolutionary track to develop a fish that got stuck in tight spots? If you think of the odds of lots of fish dying stuck in all the small tight spots that nature provides, it doesn't seem like a good way to pass on the genes.
Maybe they just do these weird things to keep us guessing?

 

[nchmi28]

It would evolve that way, as long as more fish escaped predators by squeezing into tight spots, than died by getting stuck in them. Evolution is a numbers game, it's not all or nothing. In any case, I don't want to let natural selection do its thing in the tank.

 

[nchmi28]

I piled up some rocks in the back left corner of the tank. The silly little fish darted at and around my hand the whole time it was in the tank. As soon as I was done he went and checked out what was new in his tank.

Although he swam all around the new rocks, I haven't seen him swim inside them yet. He may have sworn off tight places for a while. The next time I trim my Ludwigia I'll probably stick the trimmings around the rocks. Thanks again for the suggestions.

 

[MsFish]

My Scarlet badis always hide, especially the females when the males are mock battling for territory. I had a similar problem with mine getting behind the internal filter and getting stuck so I switched to a hang on back and that seemed to help a lot.
Good luck!