Preventing jumping

[Yoimbrian]

Hey,
So I have read far too many threads about eels jumping out of the tank (frankly, one is far too many, but there are a lot more than that).

Anyone have suggestions on how to prevent this? I'm assuming just closing a normal glass lid is not enough. Do you put a book on top of it? Do you install a physical latch on the lid?

I will avoid having him "want" to jump out of the water by keeping it clean, him well fed, etc, but lets just assume one day he's going to get adventurous / bored and want to see whats on the other side of the glass.

He is a tire track eel (currently 7" or so) in a 90 gallon tank with a few goldfish. They've been in there a month or so together and everyone is happy, healthy, eating well, etc. In 2-3 years when they are all bigger I plan on upgrading to a larger tank.

 

[woofy]

He shouldnt be able at that size to jump out through a closed lid. Your worst enemy is the gaps in the back and thats nothing duct tape cant fix.


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[Yoimbrian]

What about a year from now though? I don't want to get in the passive situation and just wait for it to go wrong, I'd rather install something now that will hold him in when he is 18" long and strong.

 

[Slippery K]

I cut a 2x4 to fill the gaps at the back of the tank then weighted it down with an unused aquarium rock. Ome of my morays jumped before but luckily I was in the room when it happened.

 

[cocoa3212000]

I think it would have to be a latch or locking system. I just lost my fire eel last week to this problem. My lid was glass and reasonably heavy,blocked all gaps but he went and got out anyways. I would assume that they become very strong at larger size. Seen mine move things in tank I would not have thought possible. Big PVC pipe with slate siliconed on to it to hide pipe I would say weighed 50-60lbs.

 

[MonsterMinis]

If a big eel wants out.. it will get out. on that note.. diverse hiding arrangements, keeping up with maintenece and feeds, and avoiding tank-mates that bully are the best ways to discourage this behavior.. at 20" my big girl pushes PVC and driftwood chunks around like they are toys. If she really wanted out nothing short of finding a way to padlock it would suffice, and even then she'd likely break the glass ect. Just be careful of compleately closeing off the tank as the oxygen exchange can deffinately be impacted. useing eggcrate or some other plastic mesh over the top imo is better then glass and duct tape alone. The surface needs to breath imo. And a mesh top would also give the eel more leeway if it darted and smashed into it vs glass.