# Of all the fish to jump out of my tank...



## Cory (May 2, 2008)

I never would have expected it to be a bn pleco. I've had cichlids jump out of my tanks a few times, and once an Endler when I filled the tank too high but never before has a pleco leaped out of my tanks. I was playing with the dog today though when I noticed something odd I only noticed from the ground. At first it looked like a dried up leaf then I realized it was a dried up fish. I pulled it from behind the stand and briefly thought it was a newt because the ventral fins looked like feet but it was clearly one of my bns. Musta been there a while. Jumped out of a 75 gal with a nice sized lip too... no idea why. May he rest in peace. Now all the algae is property of Ms. BN buahahah... oh dear.. motive for murder? This is all starting to make sense.


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## bluekrissyspikes (Apr 16, 2009)

yikes! that sucks. i do think that might just be motive enough for murder 

if you do find fish that have bailed on your tank and look sortof dried up, sometimes they'll come back to life if you put them back into some water. not if it's been there for too long, like in this case. just thought i'd throw that out there for anyone reading incase they should ever be in that possition. i had a loach bail on my once and it was a leathery when i found it. i had read before that sometimes they can be rehydrated so i threw it back in the tank. it laid there for a while upside down like it was dead and then after an hour or so i could see it's gills going. sure enough the little bugger survived it.


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## Hitch (Apr 26, 2009)

oooooooo.....sorry to hear that....


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## bigfishy (Jun 19, 2009)

Cory said:


> I never would have expected it to be a bn pleco. I've had cichlids jump out of my tanks a few times, and once an Endler when I filled the tank too high but never before has a pleco leaped out of my tanks. I was playing with the dog today though when I noticed something odd I only noticed from the ground. At first it looked like a dried up leaf then I realized it was a dried up fish. I pulled it from behind the stand and briefly thought it was a newt because the ventral fins looked like feet but it was clearly one of my bns. Musta been there a while. Jumped out of a 75 gal with a nice sized lip too... no idea why. May he rest in peace. Now all the algae is property of Ms. BN buahahah... oh dear.. motive for murder? This is all starting to make sense.


EarthQuake ~ A very big one coming!

That's what happen to fish jumping out of the water! early warning sign...

or

Maybe I just worry too much


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## Cory (May 2, 2008)

I had a similar experience with a Julidochromis a while back bluekrissy. It jumped out overnight and when I saw it in the am I thought it was some plastic on the ground. I bent over to pick it up and it was a fish. I expected it to be dead but when I touched it, despite being entirely dried out it moved so I tossed it in the tank and it was better within about a week. In this case though it was like a fish cracker, it was so dry it wouldn't even flush down the toilet  .


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## AquaNeko (Jul 26, 2009)

Maybe the BN wanted a divorce but Ms. BN would not allow it so he jumped for it?   

Sorry for your loss there. Interesting as never thought a pleco could jump out. I mean they got the finage and tail to work up some speed but jump out? Do you own any cats?


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## Cory (May 2, 2008)

Unbelievable! Happened again. Ive had half of these guys 2 years and the other half a year and they waited until now to jump out of my tanks in droves? Another of the big males this time.. From 2 breeding males and a developing one to just the developing male is really upsetting. Going to have to go out and buy some overpriced adults now to restart the breeding program . And man.. plecos are some of the grossest looking fish when they become dessicated. I try and keep all my holes covered up but apparently I don't do enough. 

Moral of the story: Pleco keepers beware. Female plecos are a crazy bunch given to murder. OH they'll make it look like a suicide alright, but I know those male plecos were pushed out of the tank. Some sort of Amazonian pleco movement I think. Watch out for em!


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## bluekrissyspikes (Apr 16, 2009)

did you test your water conditions?


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## Cory (May 2, 2008)

It's definitely not a water quality issue . The first one to jump came out of a 75 gal with enough filtration for 160 gal and 25% h20 changes every 2 or 3 days. The 2nd one is in my fishroom which is, I assure you, also very well attended to, if not to the extreme of my displays .


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## Chris S (Dec 19, 2007)

bluekrissyspikes said:


> did you test your water conditions?


I was going to say the same...maybe something fell into the tank without you knowing?

I've found pleco's attached to the inside of the tank, but above the waterline before, but never had one leave the tank completely.


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## twoheadedfish (May 10, 2008)

Cory said:


> it was like a fish cracker, it was so dry it wouldn't even flush down the toilet  .


i laughed and immediately felt guilty about it.

rough string of luck. did the 2nd one survive? or was it also crackerified.


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## Cory (May 2, 2008)

Dried to a crisp and stuck to the floor at the mouth as if they went out still trying to eat... lol

As for stuff getting in without me knowing.. not likely. One tank is in my bedroom and I'm pretty much the only person that's in here besides my fiance so nothing could have got in. I was thinking that I did accidentally drop the entire two piece glass lid into the tank while doing maintenance once.. could have scared one out then and wouldn't have noticed between all the confusion trying to pull the light fixture out before it gets fried and all the junk sitting under the tank I could easily have missed a fish jumping out. I only found it when I cleared out the stuff I'd been storing below. 

As for the one in the fishroom, no one really goes there either except myself, my fiance and whoever comes to buy fish so not much chance of something accidentally getting in. Im thinkin now though that I have been moving fish in and out of that tank recently and I use milk bag containers to transport and acclimate the fish. If a pleco was stuck on the thing when I pulled it out then dropped to the floor... maybe? 

You guys haven't been to my fishroom but trust me, the water quality is almost always pristine. The water certainly never gets bad enough to cause fish to be leaping out of the tank .


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