Really Stupid Fish. :/

[PrairieSunflower]

I have a fish so stupid... I've actually found myself contemplating whether euthanizing it was better for it than letting it live. 

 
It is a little female platy, only a few months old and surprisingly small compared to the others.  I am seriously thinking there is something mentally wrong with this fish... is it possible for fish to have... developmental delays? 

 
I think it is dead finally over and over again... it gets itself trapped upside-down behind the filter... it gets itself stuck there SO OFTEN that it is now my regular routine to check if it is there and needs freeing.  Not that the rest of my fish are brilliant or anything... but this one stands out for its lack of general intelligence... it manages to eat and swim but the rest of the time is just going about getting itself into trouble.

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

Not a Fluval U-series filter, by any chance?

 

[coolie]

As the person above hints, I imagine there is an environmental reason why he is getting stuck there (the equipment is partly to blame) combined with the fact that the fishes instinctive behavior patterns to drive him there are greater
than any fear of getting stuck. As we all know, even creatures such as cats and dogs and human beings occasionally get stuck. I guess what makes the fish look so stupid, however, is the re-occurance of the aforesaid "getting stuck" and I doubt many fish stop to analyse their instinctive behaviours, whether they have occurred before, whether on the previous occurances of instinctive behaviour (be it to search out food or hide etc) the fish has previously got into trouble, by which time, the fish would have been eaten by a preditor.
They say to "keep doing the same thing expecting a different result" is a sign of madness. Every weekend, I tell myself that, but somehow still end up with a hangover on a Saturday morning. Now where's the sense in that?

 

[PrairieSunflower]

It is a fluval mini that she gets stuck behind (it is my extra filter that was in my quarantine tank before it broke... just keep it running in the corner so it will be cycled when I am able to replace the quarantine tank).
 
I've had other fish get stuck once in/behind something but they have never done it again.

 

[TallTree01]

Euthanizing a fish for being unintelligent is like killing stupid people for being stupid. There would soon be no people left in the world.

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

I've lost fish through three different ways on Fluval U4s directly and indirectly...
2x stuck between the filter and suction bracket (one was attacked quite badly by young cichlid tankmates while trapped)
1x fish somehow got inside the flip lid and I then raised the filter top just above water line
2x youngsters getting inside the venturi opening that was under the waterline

 

[PrairieSunflower]

I also have a U3 in this same tank and recently had one tiny thin neon get behind the bracket... didn't even know that was possible.

 

[Blondielovesfish]

Is the fish maybe a bit weak and the filters too strong so it gets sucked up?

 

[PrairieSunflower]

I don't think so.  The fluval mini is... tiny.  It has two small bits at the bottom where it sucks in... but she gets stuck behind it at the top where I'd think there would be no current whatsoever.