Suicidal Fish!

[dafrnhm]

I'm not sure if its the pump or the fish but I've lost 3 fish! I'm sure they are suicidal. Some of them like to swim in the current and when I came home from work today the pump wasn't working. I took it out the water and it had over-heated. When I looked closer I found half a fish hanging out of it.

Just the other day 1 got stuck behind it and then another got stuck in the bit that sucks the water in. Needless to say I have just ordered a Fluval U4 but has anyone else had experience with fish that just seem to wanna die?

 

[Blubble37]

what filter do you have in there at the moment and what kind of fish were they? Yes, my pond fish used to do it all the time (only the little ones) they swim straight into the pump and are blitzed within seconds. You can normally tell when one has gone in as the outflow water turns a slight shade of red for a minute or two. Needless to say, i have since heavily netted the pump and this has stopped any further suicide!

 

[Duz]

I have only had 1 death caused by ripped fins when 1 of my fish got caught in the filter intake. After I managed to get the fish out I noticed it had toren the majority of its fins and it died the next day. Since then I have had some small fish swim into the filer intake but as they are only small fish they just get caught and then can't escape until I help them. Luckily none of them have died and I have had to modify the filter slightly. Because I use an internal filter with slits at the top to allow water through, I have had to put a rubber version of chicken wire (not to sure what its called) behind the filter slits. This stops small fish swimming into the filter intake

However, if you have fish swimming directly into the pump you might want to look into pipes. Juwel have these little black pipes which are slightly curved to allow water to be directed from the pump anywhere you like (within reason). If you have a juwel filter you should be able to attach these pipes to the end of the pump and direct it to the surface to stop this happening. Click here

Or (not to sure if this will work) what might be more effective and easier as it will work on all pumps. Just get a small bit of cloth like linen which you can easily see through and attach it to the end of the pump with fishing wire (a bit like this). That way you can cover the end of the pump, stopping fish swimming in and still maintain your water flow (so long as the linen has enough holes in to allow water flow). The only downside is trying to fix it in place.

 

[Blubble37]

would it be called rubber wire?

 

[Duz]

I'm not to sure. It's basically this rubber type fabric which has holes about 3mm wide and its about 2mm thick. I have a square piece which is roughly a foot by a foot but I just bits up to get the right size. I will try and find out what it actually is.

 

[dafrnhm]

Its an old Fluval filter, a bit box looking thing that sticks onto the side of the tank. I have just ordered a fluval U4 though off ebay so hopefully no more dead fish.

 

[Duz]

Hope this new filter stops your fish from dying. And fingers crossed no fish will swim into your filter in the mean time.

 

[Blubble37]

Hope this new filter stops your fish from dying. And fingers crossed no fish will swim into your filter in the mean time.

dont you mean fins lol