First Loss

[baz_78]

I had my first loss over the weekend and not too sure why.

I'm testing my water tonight so will post my results tomorrow - I didn't have any kits to test yesterday.

I lost a Honey Gourami - I came home after being out all day to find it jammed behind the filter. Don't know how it got there but it must have swum there and got stuck. I couldn't see anything else wrong with it.

Any ideas why it would have stuck itself somewhere it couldn't get out from?!! I'm worried about my other Honey Gourami doing the same thing now...

 

[@ombomb]

Any ideas why it would have stuck itself somewhere it couldn't get out from?!!

Because sometimes fish can be rather stupid... I had clown loaches that did exactly the same thing, I'd think one was missing and on closer inpesction could see a little orange tail poking out from being the filter. I just bunged up the hole after the second scare and eventually upgraded to an external filter anyway.

Having said that, honey gouramis like to have some surface cover and maybe this was the best option for them. I'd suggest adding either some long leaved plants like swords which will give them some cover in the upper areas of the tank, or ideally a floating plant like amazon frogbit.

 

[baz_78]

Having said that, honey gouramis like to have some surface cover and maybe this was the best option for them. I'd suggest adding either some long leaved plants like swords which will give them some cover in the upper areas of the tank, or ideally a floating plant like amazon frogbit.

Hi @ombomb,
Thanks for your reply, I've actually got an amazon sword (possibly echinodorus bhleri) and eugina densa (spelling?) and a couple other plants which the gourami that died loved hiding in. I think it was shy as the one I have left has never hidden and is always a real show off whenever I'm around by doing laps around the tank and stopping occasionally to stare out at me!!

Guess if my water results show nothing obscure tonight, I'll put it down to stupidity!

 

[millym]

sorry to hear about your loss
fish have an amazing ability to wedge themselves in teeny places, we lost one of our 1st yoyo loaches a few years ago after he swam into the filter outlet pipe. we'd watched him battling the current getting blown away thinking - he'll never do it, till he did.................gulp the guilt. also a couple of weeks ago one of our corys managed to get himself wedged inbetween a rock & the front of the tank - i must have not put the rock back far enough after cleaning. luckily we spotted him straight away & freed him. i now always check that i havent created any too small gaps where fish can get wedged. i dont know what you could do about the gap with your filter maybe you could fit some mesh or something so it cant happen again or put something behid the filter so it sticks out a bit more & the gap is not too small for anything else to get wedged.

 

[Barry P]

Sorry to hear about your loss, its just part of the cycle. Im pretty sure everyone on this site has lost fish. It takes a bit of getting used to. I recently lost my last remaining platy fry which was conceived and born in the tank. My wife cried as i disposed of the little fella!

 

[csjasona]

Seems to be a common problem. I've seen it happen a few times with a friends Juwel internal filter box. When mine arrives this weekend, I will probably use fish-safe-glue to attach some netting to the rear sides of the filter box and curve that onto the glass of the tank; that should help to stop any over-nosey fish swimming behind the box if it moves away from the tank wall.