# Fish jumping out of tank



## Dsharp (Apr 22, 2011)

I have had my planted 25 gallon up and running for a few months now with no issues at all. 
Two weeks ago I went away for a few days and came back to find that one of my SAE jumped out of the tank while I was gone. I chalked this up to a random occurrence.

Since then, I have had 4 of my 6 cherry barbs do the same thing.

As it is a Starphire tank there is no lid of any sort, but I am careful to always leave at least an inch or two of space at the top unfilled.
None of the fish appeared to be stressed or sick in any way and are properly fed.

Any ideas what could be causing this mass exodus?


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## Holidays (Apr 18, 2010)

check the temp, could be too hot...hard to say. Test the water, a few months may not be stable yet. cherry barbs aren't known as jumpers...the size of the tank aren't too small maybe the lighting are too bright... post pictures


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## Holidays (Apr 18, 2010)

or put some plants, woods or rocks for hiding place - pictures would help


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## Dsharp (Apr 22, 2011)

http://www.gtaaquaria.com/forum/showthread.php?t=25856

This is the tank.

Temps are 25 Celsius.


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## Holidays (Apr 18, 2010)

The tank looks good, the lighting is strong but needed for the plants. Maybe add more rocks or pvc pipes for hiding place. are the fish eating? did you test the water? Don't add anymore fish, let the water mature abit more at least 2 months. I know you use old filter, be patient let it age.


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## Dsharp (Apr 22, 2011)

I will add some more drift wood tonight when I get home.

Water tests fine. I don't have the exact numbers here with me at work, but everything looked good when i tested 2 days ago.
The fish are eating just fine. Flakes daily, and freeze dried blood worm once a week for the cherries, small piece of algae tab for my remaining SAE. 

Thanks for the advice!


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## Holidays (Apr 18, 2010)

Watch when the light turns on, see if the fish are darting away spooked and frightened trying to hide. 2 cherry barbs may not be enough...though they like to be in a group...


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## characinfan (Dec 24, 2008)

You might want to put some mesh over it at night to stop the casualties.


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## Dsharp (Apr 22, 2011)

I think it is the light coming on in the morning.
It normally turns on when i am at work, but i set it to come on a earlier today to observe.
There was an awful lot of scattering and frantic swimming.

Any idea on how to alleviate this?


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## Will (Jul 24, 2008)

Add a much dimmer light to come on a short time before the main lights come on.
Something simple to try first.


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## Holidays (Apr 18, 2010)

The dimmer or another light could be farther away from the tank. Thats what I have on my tank: first the light on the Refugium for the salt water tank, then after 8 hr the light on the saltwater tank then after 3hr the light on the freshwater tank.


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## Holidays (Apr 18, 2010)

Also I have my tanks on the main floor so there is a gradual brightness increase from the natural sunlight. This may be your best bet if you don't want to add another light maybe set it between 1 - 10pm? if the room gets some sun.


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## zfarsh (Apr 7, 2011)

well, I wanted to get some SAE too, but your thread made me rethink the whole things, as mine is open top as well, and dont want the fish jumping out.


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## bob123 (Dec 31, 2009)

Try and put some egg crating over the tank this will not effect the lighting for the plants and it also provides an obstruction arove the water surface. I use this on many of my tanks and have no casualties with my swords or hatchet fish which are known jumpers. The egg crating can be purchased at any hardware store or electrical outlet store. Good luck.


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## default (May 28, 2011)

im pretty sure its the lights coming on or off. i noticed almost all fish react to light change. my rasboras and tetras seem to form a ball whenever the lights go off. but like the other people mentioned. try making it so your brightest lights dont go on first. use another light. in my planted with tons of rasboras and tetras, i have a red dim light come on first and turn off last before the bright daylights.
sad to hear the cherries jumped =/ might want to perhaps add a few more to keep the school?
-good luck


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## Dsharp (Apr 22, 2011)

Thanks everyone for the advice.

What I have done is changed the timer on my lights so it comes on around 8:15am. When I get up in the morning(7:30am) i turn on a light in my basement (where the tank is). Then when i leave for work at 8:30 i turn the basement light off again.
I also draped some mosquito netting over the top of the tank for now.

Im going to do this now for a while and hopefully this will get rid of the problem entirely.

@ default: I will add some more cherries in a week or so once Im convinced this is working well.


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