How high can fish jump?

Clarinuto · Jul 16, 2020

I am wondering if anyone knows or has a guess about how high fish can jump?

I have several fish in my tank that are known to be jumpers. I am considering putting a wooden canopy on the tank to block out the light spill into the living room. The canopy will be between 8 to 10 inches higher than the water level. I was thinking that with this extra height I might be able to ditch having lids on the tank because it would be too high for jumpers to get out...

What do you think? I have a melanurus wrasse, a couple gobies, and a couple jawfish. TIA

Softhammer · Jul 16, 2020

Heat control is going to be the big issue with a fully enclosed hood. Also I’ve had a 5” clown bounce off the wall a good 2 ft above the tank And splash back in. Wrasses can go much further as evidenced by many desiccated corpses I have experienced.

Clarinuto · Jul 16, 2020

Softhammer said:
Heat control is going to be the big issue with a fully enclosed hood. Also I’ve had a 5” clown bounce off the wall a good 2 ft above the tank And splash back in. Wrasses can go much further as evidenced by many desiccated corpses I have experienced.

Oh wow, I've grossly underestimated their abilities!

bevo5 · Jul 16, 2020

High enough.

I once came home to a fish in a tank next to the tank it was originally in. It was a little 10g on the floor next to a 125. The luck in hitting that tank was pretty incredible.

I figured that was one of the only fish to ever experience the falling sensation and living to tell his friends about it. He was totally chill...just went for a little flight.

Wes10C · Jul 16, 2020

If it swims fast it can probably jump a loooooong ways

NashobaTek · Jul 16, 2020

If a great white can jump all the way out of the water you know little fish can jump pretty high, especially if they get a swimming start.

tnyr5 · Jul 16, 2020

A big fairy/flasher can easily go 6 feet into the air. If your net cover is old and starting to get brittle, they will jump right through it. Change your net covers once a year!

adamf83 · Jul 16, 2020

Clarinuto said:
Oh wow, I've grossly underestimated their abilities!

I’ll second that.... my clowns like to play. The big one propelled/helped the smaller one out of the tank, across the top of the lid and made it 4ft to the floor where I nearly stepped on it when I was investigating the noise. Scooped it up, put him back in the tank and thankfully he was fine.

Don’t underestimate them....

Breadman03 · Jul 16, 2020

I had a blue throat trigger that nearly scraped my ceiling. It was like watching slow-pitch softball.

mattzang · Jul 16, 2020

i have a 29 gallon petco tank for a QT, the really tall kind, and i drained it to the bottom and was moving an orangeback fairy wrasse and that dude flew out of the tank as i was trying to catch him and easily cleared it plus a couple feet. it was impressive

Big G · Jul 16, 2020

Had an R2R member post a couple of years ago that his clownfish jumped up out of the water and bit him on the eyeball as he was just bending over the tank to do some cleaning. Yikes!

Softhammer · Jul 16, 2020

Omg, good stuff. I’m always expecting people to call BS on my claims! Glad theres proof that I’m not making this up! This almost deserves its own thread as the Fish Olympics.

Big G · Jul 16, 2020

Difrano · Jul 16, 2020

My assassin female clown jumps out of the water to bite my hand like 3 inches above water, I know she dreams that some day she will kill me and eat me....

HB AL · Jul 16, 2020

Clarinuto said:
I am wondering if anyone knows or has a guess about how high fish can jump?

I have several fish in my tank that are known to be jumpers. I am considering putting a wooden canopy on the tank to block out the light spill into the living room. The canopy will be between 8 to 10 inches higher than the water level. I was thinking that with this extra height I might be able to ditch having lids on the tank because it would be too high for jumpers to get out...

What do you think? I have a melanurus wrasse, a couple gobies, and a couple jawfish. TIA

The 8 to 10 inches you mention should be more than enough to keep fish from carpet surfing. If you were keeping something larger in your tank like say a mahi-mahi, marlin, etc.

then I would go with a lid to be safe but most fish we keep in an aquarium aren’t big enough (enough muscle) or not a fish that naturally jumps for them to clear that height. I guess it could be possible if the fish was big enough and jumped at the perfect angle with enough force but that would be very rare if having to clear a 10 inch wall.

Hugh Mann · Jul 16, 2020

Can't say how high they can jump, but as a testament to the power behind their fins.

I had a little flame hawkfish, maybe 1.5 inches long, who would periodically attempt to leap from the tank. This little fish impacted the lid, which is a 23"x13" piece of 1/4" glass hard enough to sound like a bird hitting a window.

I'm honestly shocked that fish didn't kill itself doing that.

Nick Steele · Jul 16, 2020

I know of a tuxedo damsel that cleared a 12-13” gap up and over to the tank behind it that resulted in its death but domino damsels. Fish was about 2 and a half inches.

MeMyFishandI · Jul 16, 2020

I had a fresh water fish leap out of the bucket it was in, fly a good four feet just to slap my then ten year old daughter in face. Daughter was traumatized, I couldn't stop laughing.

mike550 · Jul 17, 2020

Clarinuto said:
I am wondering if anyone knows or has a guess about how high fish can jump?

I have several fish in my tank that are known to be jumpers. I am considering putting a wooden canopy on the tank to block out the light spill into the living room. The canopy will be between 8 to 10 inches higher than the water level. I was thinking that with this extra height I might be able to ditch having lids on the tank because it would be too high for jumpers to get out...

What do you think? I have a melanurus wrasse, a couple gobies, and a couple jawfish. TIA

I have a similar setup and use glass lids. Ignoring the debate about whether or not glass lids are a good idea — plenty of threads on that. Besides protecting your fish, it also reduces the humidity and risk of condensation on your lights. My canopy is open on the back side so I have some air circulation that helps with keeping the canopy temp down and also moisture etc.