Have you had a wrasse or firefish jump?

[Meloco14]

Hey guys, I am trying to decide on what fish to add to my tank. Right now I am very interested in either a small group of wrasses, or a pair of purple firefish. Both of these have a reputation of being jumpers, and my tank is open top. Is this reputation well deserved? I have never personally heard of a fish jumping from a tank unless it is very stressed. But obviously I don't want to add a fish to the tank even if there is a small chance of it jumping. I am thinking that to be safe I shouldn't take a chance with any of these fish and an open top, but I wanted some more opinions, preferably from people with experience with these fish. The specific wrasses I am considering are P. carpenteri, C. rubripinnis, or C. filamentosus. I have never kept any of these species, so if you have any other information about them that I should know, please share. Thanks for the opinions.

 

[Len]

I've had all sorts of wrasses and firefish jump in the last 20 years. The reputation is definitely well deserved IME.

 

[melas]

true dat!!!!

 

[Anonymous]

They'll jump. Promise.

Keeping a covered top or hood is as necessary as feeding them IMO.

 

[pwj1286]

I was bagging up a Green Bird Wrasse the other day. He jumped out the container about a foot and landed back into the container, while I was holding the container and walking to the bagging station. I got a kick out of it.

We have a $150 Mystery Wrasse that I have no clue to where he went. He had a cover too, a tank to himself!
_________________
Honda XR series

 

[melas]

that sure IS a mystery!

 

[Anonymous]

Yes I have. The bigger problem I had was they tend to end up in the overflow box.

 

[Meloco14]

Ok, thanks for the confirmation. I am thinking of getting some egg crate to use as a cover. I think this will work best, since I have a bunch of hang on items I would need to cut out slots to fit the various hoses and pipes coming out of the tank. I think egg crate would be fairly easy to do this with. Is this a good idea? Is egg crate enough to keep them in the tank?

 

[Talonstorm]

I have egg crate over my tank and have not had any problems with my firefish leaping out. Come to think of it, I have never seen him try to jump except when they guy caught him at the LFS.

Good luck, my firefish is my favorite.

Tina

 

[Meloco14]

Thanks Tina!