Erythrinus erythrinus keeps jumping!

[Industrial]

So the other day I picked up a Rainbow Wolf Fish and I noticed he keeps trying to jump!

He is 4" and in a 20 gallon tank ATM. I lowered the water level about four inches initially because I figured he may try to jump.

Just about every day he will try to jump regardless if the lights are on or off.

I try to feed him a lot hoping that will prevent his desire to jump, but it really isn't.

Does anybody have any idea of why he is jumping so much and how to prevent it?
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=357365

 

[jayclarke]

Just make sure you have a tight fitting lid, my GF found mine on the kitchen floor, not sure how it got out but it did and it was dead

 

[jelly]

A jumping fish is an unhappy fish. Have you checked your water param's. Have you provided a pipe or rock he can call home and hide in or behind?

 

[Industrial]

A jumping fish is an unhappy fish. Have you checked your water param's. Have you provided a pipe or rock he can call home and hide in or behind?

I can only check for ammonia and nitrate. Usually I don't test my tanks though, this one has been set up for 8 or 9 months without anything changing (minus a few small decorative changes).

I work at a LFS and have 14ish tanks running and I feel pretty confident that I can smell ammonia when I do water changes. Same with perfectly fine/clean water.

The tank is well planted with many java fern plants and there is some driftwood and floating plastic plants. Maybe I should add a cave though.


He seems to recognize me, he comes up to the glass when he sees me and he will follow me around the tank. He ignores everybody else though and I even tried to trick him with having me and somebody else switch spots.

He seems happy, the other rainbow wolf at work is super skittish and hides when it sees somebody. Mine doesn't care if I am picking up leftover food infront of him in the open.

I normally say that a happy fish doesn't jump, but I really feel that I provided ideal conditions for this fish (dark old actinic bulb, lots of plants, water is 4" lower and the filter creates a small area with gentle current and the rest of the area is calm).

Eventually he is likely going in a larger tank. I would love to do a 65g paludarium with a male and female and maybe another fish or two, but chances are he will end up in a smaller three foot tank due to space.

Does anybody else have any experience with red/rainbow wolfs?

 

[Otherone]

Wolf fish are escape artists - my current Mala probed the lid for openings for about a month, my 1st mala got out and was killed by my cats. The current Mala rarely does this any more however I do still have 4 bricks on the lid to hold him in. Yours will stop after he figures out it hurts too much with no results.