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Small tank jumpers, open top tanks

Fluxtor

Fluxtor

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Joined
19 Mar 2024
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163
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Bath
What's peoples thoughts on open top tanks! I've had a jumper today and gutted! This was in my Superfish scaper 60 and the jumper was a lemon tetra. I'm planning a much bigger tank and really want to go open top but now worried about jumpers. I just think the open top tanks look so much nicer! I guess I could run the water lower but I just think that takes away part of the aesthetics too. Obviously livestock is the primary concern here so maybe a glass cover?
 
It’s always a risk in open top, things that can help is stocking choice, lid, floating plants, water level height. That’s all I can think of at the moment 🙂
 
FrozenShivers said:
It’s always a risk in open top, things that can help is stocking choice, lid, floating plants, water level height. That’s all I can think of at the moment 🙂
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Yeah have some floaters which I thinned out a bit as they were completely blocking the light and I was running the water a bit high! Lessons learnt!
 
Keep the water line down an inch or 2,if I fill it to close to the top I get the occasional one jumping out,it will happen from time to time with open top tanks
 
If you have an open top tank at some point you will have jumpers, it’s inevitable unfortunately. Ensure you have a light that doesn’t just turn on and off and has a ramp down feature. I’ve found a lot of fish will dart about with the sudden change in light levels.

Also some species are just prone to jumping. For example wild bettas will look for gaps even in covered tanks. Another that’s notorious are rope fish, they’ll find the tiniest gaps to escape through.

Thanks
 
I got a lot less jumpers in my 90cm (45cm high) than 60cm (30cm high) tank. The extra volume does make a difference, as does running it lowtech vs hightech (I had so many more jumpers running CO2 than not).

In addition to those and the floating plants, I found that having some emergent wood with emergent plants on it coming out of the tank and growing just below the surface also helped reduce the number of jumpers, the fish seemed to hide in the shadows of that rather than jump when spooked. Could get a similar effect with some large structural botanicals like big twigs or dried palm leaves too I imagine.
 
Conort2 said:
If you have an open top tank at some point you will have jumpers, it’s inevitable unfortunately. Ensure you have a light that doesn’t just turn on and off and has a ramp down feature. I’ve found a lot of fish will dart about with the sudden change in light levels.

Also some species are just prone to jumping. For example wild bettas will look for gaps even in covered tanks. Another that’s notorious are rope fish, they’ll find the tiniest gaps to escape through.

Thanks
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Good point about light ramp up, helps reduce them being spooked. From my limited knowledge, most fish are sensitive to vibrations, so tank location could also affect jumpers if it's in a heavy foot traffic area in your house.
 
Another good way is to have a table lamp on a timer set near the aquarium/s to come on a hour or so before tank lighting. As @Connert2 says some will always be prone to jumping and Killiefish eg def need a cover
 
On my last tank I had a glass lid - actually two glass lids on top of each other.

Was great for preventing water loss via evaporation, held the heat much better and protected my Betta.

The disadvantages was much more light needed (the glass reduced the par by half), condensation dripping ment I had to keep footing plants away from some areas and loss of top down viewing.
 
If possible I always think a taller tank works better, with a lower waterline. I have a 200l tank (w75cm X d60cm X h65cm) filled half way, which has resulted in me having some really fun emergent planting and also the capability to keep some jumpers. This was a happy accident, but agree with other posters about cover and structural places to hide!
Edited for spelling 🙂
 
Hi all,
megwattscreative said:
If possible I always think a taller tank works better, with a lower waterline. I have a 200l tank (w75cm X d60cm X h65cm) filled half way, which has resulted in me having some really fun emergent planting and also the capability to keep some jumpers.
Click to expand...
We have a number of set-ups like this on the forum, and they tend to be very successful (as @megwattscreative is).
cheers Darrel
 
Even tho this is an old thread I will like to comment on few issues I had, It is better to have your tank open WATER AIR/PLANTS LIGHTING/BETTER MAINTENANCE - in base on my experience you have to check few issues on jumping fish!
Fish just dont jump cause jumping, they jump if ether they are unconformable some is bother them - you should check some tips here:

  • LIGHT TOO STRONG AT STARTING TIME - get a timer or different light or race your light a little inches
  • WATER IS NOT RIGHT - Do water check, test you water in case of Ammonia - Nitrate - Water is @ the right Temp
  • TANK TO SMALL OR CROWDED OF PLANTS - Try getting a bigger tank in base of type of fish you have

I had fish jumping on my few tanks I had and I resolved if checking this I just mentioned.
I dont like to cover my tanks they look better and better maintenance.!

PG1._
 
It depends on the species, but in my experience, fishes jump at night. It is probably a reflex some of them have to survive eventual predation when they are asleep.
 
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