I was inspired to post this from this thread where someone mentions their red tail catfish ate a suction cup. Large fish tend to do things like this a lot, hurting themselves, sometimes fatally on decorations. I'd like to go over some ways you can prevent this.
1. The first way to prevent your fish from hurting itself is to give it enough space, if you keep a fish in a smaller tank it can be more prone to bumping into the glass and when it comes to large fish, they can do some damage to themselves. for this reason I recommend having the tank's length being 4+ times the length of the fish and the width being 2+ times the length of the fish when it comes to large, boisterous fish, so an 18 inch fish should have a 72+ inch long and 36+ inch wide tank.
2. Another good way to prevent injury to fish is to make sure the decoration is safe. To ensure the decoration is safe, make sure it is not something the fish can fit in it's mouth as in the thread mentioned above, because the fish very well may eat it. When it comes to large fish that are prone to hurting themselves I like to recommend only using live plants, not fake plants as fake plants cannot be digested and can be fatal if ingested. For monster fish, I like to recommend Anubias and other rhizome based plants as they connect to rocks and driftwood so fish cannot uproot them, plus they are not very good tasting so fish usually ignore them. You should make sure that if you have any rocks, driftwood, or other large decorations that the fish should not be able to hurt itself on those decorations by having smaller decorations and plenty of room for the fish to move around.
3. Another really important thing to do if you have fish that like to jump (mainly arowanas) is to put padding over the brace of your tank so the fish doesn't bang itself up too badly. When it comes to lids, I like to put nets over the tank secured with industrial strength velcro, the fish doesn't get hurt and the velcro doesn't come off. Or you can avoid all of this by having a spare 2+ feet above the waterline so the fish can jump freely without getting hurt on stuff.
4. The last thing that I find helpful is to run a sump so you can keep your heater and sponge filter in there. Keeping a heater in your sump prevents the fish from going after the heater, possibly breaking the heater or causing burns to the fish. I have seen numerous fish that have sustained severe burns (often fatal) from laying against heaters. As for sponge filters, some fish take chunks out of sponge filters, sometimes ingesting them and causing blockages.
To sum it all up, make sure nothing can fit in their mouth or be torn apart by them (unless it is edible), give them enough room, make sure the brace above their tank is covered in padding and that you have a lid on and that the decorations in their tank not be big enough for them to hurt themselves on
1. The first way to prevent your fish from hurting itself is to give it enough space, if you keep a fish in a smaller tank it can be more prone to bumping into the glass and when it comes to large fish, they can do some damage to themselves. for this reason I recommend having the tank's length being 4+ times the length of the fish and the width being 2+ times the length of the fish when it comes to large, boisterous fish, so an 18 inch fish should have a 72+ inch long and 36+ inch wide tank.
2. Another good way to prevent injury to fish is to make sure the decoration is safe. To ensure the decoration is safe, make sure it is not something the fish can fit in it's mouth as in the thread mentioned above, because the fish very well may eat it. When it comes to large fish that are prone to hurting themselves I like to recommend only using live plants, not fake plants as fake plants cannot be digested and can be fatal if ingested. For monster fish, I like to recommend Anubias and other rhizome based plants as they connect to rocks and driftwood so fish cannot uproot them, plus they are not very good tasting so fish usually ignore them. You should make sure that if you have any rocks, driftwood, or other large decorations that the fish should not be able to hurt itself on those decorations by having smaller decorations and plenty of room for the fish to move around.
3. Another really important thing to do if you have fish that like to jump (mainly arowanas) is to put padding over the brace of your tank so the fish doesn't bang itself up too badly. When it comes to lids, I like to put nets over the tank secured with industrial strength velcro, the fish doesn't get hurt and the velcro doesn't come off. Or you can avoid all of this by having a spare 2+ feet above the waterline so the fish can jump freely without getting hurt on stuff.
4. The last thing that I find helpful is to run a sump so you can keep your heater and sponge filter in there. Keeping a heater in your sump prevents the fish from going after the heater, possibly breaking the heater or causing burns to the fish. I have seen numerous fish that have sustained severe burns (often fatal) from laying against heaters. As for sponge filters, some fish take chunks out of sponge filters, sometimes ingesting them and causing blockages.
To sum it all up, make sure nothing can fit in their mouth or be torn apart by them (unless it is edible), give them enough room, make sure the brace above their tank is covered in padding and that you have a lid on and that the decorations in their tank not be big enough for them to hurt themselves on
