Loach suicide

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LandGhoti

Aquarium Advice FINatic
Joined
Sep 27, 2006
Messages
935
Location
Le Midwest
My zebra loach that I got on New Year's Eve jumped out of about a 1/4 inch space next to my filter. I was out for a while tonight and came home and couldn't find him so searched the back of the tank and then resorted to the bottom of the stand and there he was, all dried up like he'd been there 100 years.

When I got home from work earlier today, he and the yoyo were "playing" up by the filter intake and heater, which is where the opening is. I can only guess he was trying to get away from the yoyo (but usually he chases the yoyo) and he jumped out?

Has anyone had a loach jump out of the tank before?

Sad. :cry:
 
I am SO sorry to hear about your loss.

The only "jumper" I have had was a ghost shrimp. I have had several yo-yo loaches before but that is all. I thought about purchasing some type of loach as they are neat to watch. I hear that they like flowing water so that would explain why they were playing by the filter.

Once again, I am sorry to hear the bad news.
 
I had 2 clown loach's disapear do to a piece of driftwood, they made there way down inside it and never came back out, no bodies, no decay just vanished. The only jumper I've had was my red tailed shark who jumped out of a bucket during an emergency tank move, I found him on the carpet alive, but terrified and completely white
 
Awww, thats really bad news landghoti, sorry to hear about your loss :(
I've only ever worried about hillstreams escaping out of the top, but that's because they dart to the waterline for food sometimes. Never heard of it with botia, but fish are fish and sometimes they can be silly little things :(
 
I'm so sorry. A suggestion for the hole that he jumped from: wash out a plastic milk jug, cut it oversized to fit the hole; it makes for a great 'lid' for those small spots.
 
One of my Yoyos jumped out once. It must have jumped while i was in the shower because i walked back in my room barefoot and stepped on it....thankfully I didn't put weight on my foot, or I would have squished him. It hadn't been long so it wasn't crisp yet. I have long hair and shed alot, so there is hair on my floor and the poor loach was tangled up in hair. I had to put it in a bucket of water and cut the hair off before I could put it in the tank. Thank goodness it survived! I had the stock glass/plastic canopies on the tank, but one side had the plastic flip top broken off, so there was about a 3 inch gap. Now I have glass canopies, so it fully covers the top. :) Its not too uncommon for loaches to jump.
 
Well, I think I may have figured out how the zebra was "lured" to jump out of the tank. When I got home last night around midnight, I did a head check before going to bed. Now the yoyo seemed to be missing. I went to bed, figuring he'd turn up as he has before when he's gone "missing" for a while. About 3:00 am, one of the cats is playing with something in the drainer in the kitchen so I get up to put it away and decide to see if the yoyo has come back out of hiding since the light's been off and all has been quiet for awhile. NO YOYO. I'd covered up the hole the striata'd jumped out of, and couldn't conceive that the yoyo would actually be in the filter. But I got a flashlight anyway, took the top off the filter and shined the light in everywhere and didn't see anything. Right before I put the top back on, I saw something odd way down in there so shined the light straight down. Barbel mouth!! He was down there poking around and I assume dumpster diving and eating food off the filter. I didn't know what to do and figured he'd swim out so I turned the flashlight off and went back to bed but of course couldn't sleep. Any time I heard a splash, I ran out, turned the lights on, and searched the floor and the tank. Finally, at 4:00 I heard what sounded like the filter top being adjusted. Ran out, turned lights on, and there was that little so-and-so, hanging out in his dark cave as usual. :roll:

Feed me.
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I'm so sorry to hear that, landghoti.

One of my yoyo loaches died of a similar fate. She was ALWAYS jumping into the filter and one day, I couldn't find her. I figured that she was hiding somewhere in the driftwood since she wasn't in the filter. I kept looking, but figured that she was hiding the tank since she wasn't in the filter. I never thought that she could actually jump out. One day, much later, I was cleaning out the stand, and I found her in a cardboard box (one that the lights come in) inside of the stand. :( I'm just glad that my other yoyo doesn't jump!
 
I have an angelicus botia loach. He likes to stick their heads out of the water to get the food they can find above the waterline on the glass.

When I was bringing mine home in the bag mine stuck his head out of the water and I knew he was a strange character. I'm not surprised he got out. They seem pretty smart.

Sorry for your loss.
 
I had an elephant nose for one week. It kept jumping out all the time and I have no idea why. He finally managed to do it when I wasn't around and he dried up too. I tried not to take it personal but who knows? I never bought one again... :(
 
LandGhoti can you use egg crate to cover the opening? Sorry for your loss!
 
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