Clown Fish escaping 14 Gal Biocube.

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rschare

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Sep 6, 2008
Messages
11
I've had 2 clownfish in my Biocube for 2 weeks now. Three times, I've come home or woken up to seeing only 1 of the 2 fish in the tank. They keep getting themselves somehow into the chamber on the left hand side where the pump resides. Both the bigger clown and the smaller one have done it. I can get them out easy enough, by turning off the pump, pulling it out of the chamber, the chamber fills up with water and I fish them out. But this can't be a good thing for them each time.

Any suggestions how to prevent this and any idea how this is happening in the first place? The water level seems right as I've got it between the minimum and maximum level.
 
Can you attach some egg crate to where they are getting in?
 
Same thing just happened to me. I put some aluminum foil over it until I can get some egg crate.
 
yah the same exact thinf happened to me in my 14 gallon biocube just put something over it so it wont happen the clown fish tend to jump a lot
 
Possibly just jumping? Is there clearance from the light/hood and the chambers? Oh, and a pair of clowns is fine if ocellaris or percula......
 
How exactly do you put the egg crate in there? holes down? Doesn't it get soggy and rot after awhile?

BTW...It's two Perc's. If a 14 gal can't take 2 perc clowns and a cleanup crew I'm out of this hobby. I know it can.
 
dude the 14 gallon biocube is fine with the 2 clowns ur really ok. but as far as the egg carton goes u dont wanna just cover where he jumps to thatll just kill it make it go up and down so when it jumps it just bounces off and it will rot aventually but hopefully by then ull have better material :)
 
Eggcrate is inert and won't rot. You wil have to periodically clean it, though. I would just use silicone (if it must remain without support) so that it is not a terminal bond, yet has enough strength to stay in place. You can use zipties to bind the eggcrate together if using several pieces. Where you think the fish is jumping from, the eggcrating should be placed.
 
we fit in sponge to fill the top portion of each chamber, successfully blocking the clearance...they can't get over, so they can't get stuck. This doesn't hinder the water flow, and pods use it as hiding area as well.
 
Mine did the same ONCE I scooped him out with my hand (terrified him) and he hasn't done it since.
 
If I understand this post correctly, the same thing happened to me but I lost my clown. My son cut a piece of plexiglass to cover the sump area and notched it for all the tubes, cords, etc. Part of the problem was also that I was overfilling the tank so the clown could swim into the sump area and then became trapped. He pulled a Nemo. Can't address the 3 clown fish - I have a pair. Good luck.

By the way, we did hear from a frag expert, that egg crate (don't know if it's all kinds or not) contains phosphates. We had a huge spike in our phosphate levels in our frag tank when we added the egg crate shelves. Something to research if it's true, since you are working with a 12G.
 
Well this is my solution, I inserted a sponge in the chamber, so far so good!



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i wouldnt be to sure bout that this is just me. but if they try and jump into it again its just gonna loand on the sponge and die because theres no water he'll just be flapping on top of the sponge and die. so u might wanna try to get a contraption that goes vertically...........
 
the sponge that we have fits snugly against the lid, so there is no room...is there a gap between the lid and sponge? The way ours is set up, the clown would just bounce off the front of the sponge b/c the lid compresses it, blocking the top "crash landing pad" area. When we lift the lid, the sponge expands above the level of the tank top...sorry I don't have any pics to better show the set up, but it has worked for us!
 
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