Mangrove Tree Root Ornament Warning

[star4]

I have just spent the last 45 minutes carefully breaking up an ornament to rescue my black collared catfish. Stupid mistake on my part the ornament was in the tank before the catfish (another one of my rescue fish) and he had been missing for 12 hours. He is nocturnal but when I couldnt find him when I did the water change tonight I started to look further and found him stuck inside. I have found a picture of the particular ornament and it could be dangerous to other fish too as it has a 2" hole in the top and hollow inside leading to narrow passages. I had it in my cichlid tank where all the fish were too big to go in the hole at the top, except poor Mr Whiskers.

Mods I apologise for the ebay link, please note this is just to show which sort of ornament it is, nothing against the seller. I dont have a camera to photograph it myself.

http/cgi.ebay.co.uk/Mangrove-Tree-Root-Large-Decoration-Aquarium-Fish-Tank_W0QQitemZ350328139594QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Pet_Supplies_Fish?hash=item51912f2f4a

Mr Whiskers seems ok after his ordeal, couple of minor scratches and a little stressed and miffed he missed his tea.

 

[Harlequins]

Poor Mr whiskers,i hope he'll be ok

Thanks for letting us know,

Back last year i had a platy get stuck in my artificial rock display,luckily i managed to get her out,and none of the rest has been has daft!!!

 

[Curiosity101]

Silly fish. Why do they feel the need to shove themselves into tiny spaces? I mean honestly... All that lovely free swimming area...but no. Give them a set of holes they can't quite fit in and they're their in a second. Makes you wonder how they survive at all in the wild.

 

[raptorrex]

Silly fish. Why do they feel the need to shove themselves into tiny spaces? I mean honestly... All that lovely free swimming area...but no. Give them a set of holes they can't quite fit in and they're their in a second. Makes you wonder how they survive at all in the wild.

couldn't agree more. my fear here is. from the numbers about, and the, noticeable, lack of them , in those tanks, causing problems. i suggest the fish was a victim of, natural selection, not the ornament .

 

[Night61]

Silly fish. Why do they feel the need to shove themselves into tiny spaces? I mean honestly... All that lovely free swimming area...but no. Give them a set of holes they can't quite fit in and they're their in a second. Makes you wonder how they survive at all in the wild.

sorry this made me laugh. thank you cur i needed a good laugh today. had a similar orniment and my betta always curled up inside to sleep. silly little fish

 

[Duck and Dive]

Silly fish. Why do they feel the need to shove themselves into tiny spaces? I mean honestly... All that lovely free swimming area...but no. Give them a set of holes they can't quite fit in and they're their in a second. Makes you wonder how they survive at all in the wild.

Exactly!

I had a cleaner wrasse do this, after releasing it into the tank it hovered around a bit and then darted for the rock I then saw it's head poke out the rock. I didn't think anything of it, thought he just found his little hiding space, then I watched him at feeding time he didn't move. "Oh great, he's stuck" is a clean version of what I said. So for about an hour I'm trying to get the wretched thing out of the rock and finnaly he wriggled his way free only to die the next day...

 

[Shred]

Out of interest, how do you know he was stuck, and not just hiding?

 

[star4]

Mr Whiskers is still find this morning and has eaten, I have put him another ornament in with a big hole so he cannot get stuck, and the silly begger has rammed himself inside a plastic plant! why do we bother sometimes lol

 

[dipsydoodlenoodle]

I always buy ornaments that are either too small for my fish to get into or too big for them to get stuck.

I have newts and one of mine walked up the inside of a spiral thing I "had" in their tank and the eejit wouldn't come out, when he was forced out the spiral thing never went back in their tank and everything now in their tank is "newt proof". Although I have a turtle dock and my terrestrial newt fell in the water and instead of clumbing up the edge like he normally does he decided to climb up the hole where the post goes to hold it in place; needless to say he got stuck half way though and he had to be pulled out - it was funny but I am glad I was there. Thankfully he's put on weight now so he can't fit through the hole anymore

 

[star4]

Out of interest, how do you know he was stuck, and not just hiding?

I spotted his tail in the ornament, and he was thrashing about trying to get out backwards but his pectoral fins kept getting stuck. He has managed to fold his fins in to get into the ornament but each time he tried to go backwards they were catching on the inside, he could go forwards into the ornament further but each time he got to the same point comming backwards he could go no further and was getting distressed.

 

[saz326]

Could you get Mr W a smooth pipe or similar to hide in - he obviously likesbeing squashed up, and in a pipe he could always go forwards and out the other side...?

 

[Shred]

Out of interest, how do you know he was stuck, and not just hiding?

I spotted his tail in the ornament, and he was thrashing about trying to get out backwards but his pectoral fins kept getting stuck. He has managed to fold his fins in to get into the ornament but each time he tried to go backwards they were catching on the inside, he could go forwards into the ornament further but each time he got to the same point comming backwards he could go no further and was getting distressed.

Ok thanks for the reply