Devastated

[richyrich]

Just thought I’d put this out there to remind you guys to make sure your tanks are secure for your eels, I had covered the gaps on my aquarium with plastic lids with a chisel to weight it down and my fire eel managed to move it over time and escape, absolutely devastated I had it for quite some time and it had a great personality.

 

[krichardson]

Sorry to see this.I always find it rather odd that some fish will come up out of the comfort and safety the water in order to poke around and explore.

 

[thefredpit]

I had a similar experience with 2 ropefish so I made new lids sealing all gaps and still had my new spotted eel make it out through a .25" gap that was unavoidable because of HOB filter luckily he was discovered in time, just barely

 

[tlindsey]

Sorry for the loss

 

[richyrich]

Sorry to see this.I always find it rather odd that some fish will come up out of the comfort and safety the water in order to poke around and explore.

I think it was the sound of the overflow trickling at the back down to the sump that attracted it because he escaped right next to the overflow but slipped behind the back.

 

[Fish Tank Travis]

Very sorry for your loss.

 

[bathawk]

How do they actualy get out do they jump or lift them selvs out I 3 large rope fish but they have not made any attempt to get out yet is it the water level I tend to keep the water level about 4 inches below the lights

 

[thefredpit]

I'm just speculating from the 2 jumps from bichirs that I have witnessed sometimes they get spooked and zip to the surface launching out of the water hitting the lid with such force they knock it out of the way and soar through the air and the lid lands back in place this happened to my 7" ornate and a 15" lap at my LFS needless to say that lap scared the hell out of the kid it almost hit lol

 

[richyrich]

Well my water level is about 2 inches from lid so I assume he pushed the lid and weight with a couple of taps and just leaped out, when the lids out of the way it wasn’t far for an eel that size to jump over because half of its body would have still been in the water when his head was over the hedge. 4 inches isn’t far for those fish so I would just suggest to secure the gaps.( a bit better than I did). Better to be safe than sorry.

 

[thefredpit]

I'd also say the bigger the fish the bigger the weight on the lid since my little 7" ornate knocked the 1/4" glass out of the way like it was not there