Anyone else have fish get sucked up a filter and survive?

[Cu455]

I added a Aqueon 75 HOB filter to my 10 or 20 gallon tank. The filter is rated at 400 gph. I couldn't fit the intake guard so I left it off. There is a small guard at the base of the filter.

The day after I added my filter 11 fish were missing. 6 sunfish and 5 fathead minnow. I assumed they got sucked up and died. A few days later I empty my filter to clean it and I see some fish moving. I dumped the filter contents in a bucket but left the ceramic rings in a bag on a towel. I clean the filter get ready to put the rings back in and there was a live fish in the bag. It was out of water for ~10 mins while I cleaned the filter.

Out of the 6 sunfish all survived. 1 of them had some brusing. Out of the 5 minnows 3 survived and 2 died. The dead ones didn't look like they were beat up from the impeller but who knows.


All the fish are now doing great. Within a few minutes of being added to the tank the sunfish that was in the bag found a worm in the sand and was eating it. I was a little surprised that the fish survived a trip through the filter.

 

[krichardson]

I have had fish that I'd forgotten about get sucked up through the wetdry overflow and live in the sponge chamber for long periods of time.

 

[justarn]

I found 3 clown loach in my fx5 months after I thought I lost them!-)

Currently suspect a tt eel is in one of my filters hmmm.

 

[xraycer]

Cu455 Apparently you need to get a strainer for that intake.

A few years ago, my less than 2" carpintis got sucked up into my Odyssea 700 canister. I wrote it off for dead until 4 days afterward, I opened the canister for cleaning and the little sucker was swimming around in about an inch of water above the very top sponge filter. The canister is rated at 700gph, but luckily for him, the canister is designed with pump on the bottom.

 

[xraycer]

A couple of years later.....

 

[Fish Tank Travis]

I had my 7" dragon goby find his way into my 3/4" PVC overflow and work his way all the way through my diy PVC plumbing into my sump. It was an open sump and I found him just swimming around in there as happy as could be.

He is the same fish that I found behind the tank one day. I thought he was dead but as I started to pick him up he started wiggling around and I got him back in the tank and he was fine. I covered the tank much better after that. Lol

 

[krichardson]

I found 3 clown loach in my fx5 months after I thought I lost them!-)

Currently suspect a tt eel is in one of my filters hmmm.

Did someone knock the strainer off of the FX5 intake LOL!

 

[dat_tiger]

i had a fire eel that disappeared after adding a big datnoid to the tank. I thought the dat ate it. Six months last later when i open my fx5 for some cleaning and poured the water contents into a bucket and something wiggling around and there was my fire eel nice and fat. Good thing I didnt pour the water directly into the toilet otherwise it would have went down the sewers.

 

[Hendre]

my brothers platy got stuck behind the filter intake of his HOB, he was so sad because it was the first one to compete with the danios for food (newish tank, 4 weeks)

 

[Ihsnshaik]

I have had fish that I'd forgotten about get sucked up through the wetdry overflow and live in the sponge chamber for long periods of time.

Same thing happened to me. I noticed it only when my nephew goes so many phisy since he was following me around. I had about 30 or so Midas at 1" in there. I usually let the overflow or parents eat the fry since I had many batches but I guess many survived. I ended up growing them out to 2-3" and sold them and then the cycle happened again.