Danio thinks he's Nemo

[Apocalypse_Gold]

Well, I noticed a zebra danio missing yesterday and I brushed it off as him hiding somewhere. Today I went to clean my filter (Aquaclear 200) and see something in the bottom beneath the sponge, and what do you know its a fish. At first I figure its probably dead until he started to swim around. Some fins are torn and he is red in some areas but seems to be in good shape. I moved him downstairs with my swordtail fry to make things easy on him. I'm just not sure how he got in there. He is a little over an inch long and would have had to fight to get into the intake and been extremely lucky to avoid the impeller, or else jump into the output and swim down beside the sponge. Either way it was with some difficulty that he found himself there. I think he may be claustrophilic or something. He's swimming and eating so I'm not too worried, but I may put something over the intake so it can't happen again.

 

[Bubble_B0y]

I may put something over the intake so it can't happen again.

good idea !!

danios, white clouds, neons are small enough to fit through the filter intake
you need to cover the intake

 

[Jchillin]

A piece of pantyhose works just great for that. The material will allow particles in but your fish will be sort of obstructed from adventuring in your intake.

 

[Apocalypse_Gold]

I have another intake with much smaller slots. I orignally bought it because it has a surface skimmer. The reason I stopped using it was it kept coming detatched so there was no cover at all. I'm going to figure out some way to make it stay better.

 

[tetrin]

I'm just not sure how he got in there

for once i know the correct answer. i have seen my zebra danio go inside my AC300, not via the intake, but swimmimg against the current through the outlet!
there are two danios in my 29g that do this all the time. they go into the filter, play there for some time, and swim back to the main tank.
besides, there's no way to escape the impeller in a AC filter if you enter through the intake, unless its a fry.
i thought i'd put a stop to this, but they seem to love the challenge of swimming against a strong current.

 

[Bubble_B0y]

I'm just not sure how he got in there

for once i know the correct answer. i have seen my zebra danio go inside my AC300, not via the intake, but swimmimg against the current through the outlet!
there are two danios in my 29g that do this all the time. they go into the filter, play there for some time, and swim back to the main tank.

yes - i've had that happened a few times - they jump above the waterfall

 

[Apocalypse_Gold]

I thought that, but I dont know how he would then manage to get under the sponge. There aint much wiggle room. I need to alter the intake one way or another to protect other fry.

 

[Jchillin]

i have seen my zebra danio go inside my AC300, not via the intake, but swimmimg against the current through the outlet!

Sorta like salmon on their way to spawning grounds? LOL.

My intake tube is slightly higher than the impeller, when it dumps the water in, an eddy takes the water down and up under the foam pads, then up through the remaining media and out. There's a slim chance that a fish can endure the ride if they are small enough. My "accidental" ramshorns have done this many times.

My apple snails use the outflow as a sailing adventure and would land in the filter, resting on the bio-balls.