Odd fish suicide...or murder...

[citymouse]

I find this odd, so I'm just wondering if anyone has ever had this issue.
My tiger Goby somehow managed to jump up into the overflow, through the drains and ended up on top of the filter sponge where he died . He was a big fish, I've had him about at least a year, mostly he just hid under rocks.
I moved him into the new tank this month, he did his usual hiding, but I was seeing more of him, which was nice. Last night he was swimming around sand sifting and eating, perfectly normal.

First of all, he's a bottom fish, never saw him venture up. 2nd, he had to jump at least an inch up and over into the overflow, AND there is a screen top that is maybe 1/2" from the overflow, so he had to of bumped into it.
This all seems so bizarre to me, what are the odd that a fish of that size could manage this feat? I feel horrible that he laid in there suffering, if only he made it over into the sump, at least he would have survived.

If anything, I was concerned that my small blue/green chromis would get sucked in there, since they are still pretty young. But my full grown large Goby? I don't get it. My other fish are all suspects at this point, the female clown is at the top of the list.

Anyway, has anyone ever heard of such a thing with a fish of this size?

 

[Jason mack]

Firstly .. I’m sorry for your loss ,Yes it is amazing but yes it happens , I have a yellow watchman goby and a sand hopper , both are sand sifting bottom dwellers, both have jumped into my overflow box , luckily I managed to get them both out again .. this hobby never ceases to amaze me .. who knows why they do it , maybe they were spooked .. or chased .. but these things happen !!

 

[citymouse]

Firstly .. I’m sorry for your loss ,Yes it is amazing but yes it happens , I have a yellow watchman goby and a sand hopper , both are sand sifting bottom dwellers, both have jumped into my overflow box , luckily I managed to get them both out again .. this hobby never ceases to amaze me .. who knows why they do it , maybe they were spooked .. or chased .. but these things happen !!

I was just reading and older thread about how people have used plastic needlepoint canvas to cover the holes and top, one person made a dark acrylic top, but I can't do that, it would block the air tubes that stick up out of the drain pipes. I'm going to get some of the canvas and construct something to keep my fish from doing this! I've been thinking that the snail could easily get himself in there and clog up the drain pipes too, he's pretty big, he'd definitely get stuck in there.

I never would have seen him in there, it's in the middle of my tank and it's black, the only way I'll find out is when they get sucked into the drain, because there filter socks and a sponge there, they don't stand a chance! I just removed to socks late last night because they were clogging up that area and it was overflowing into the sump where it should, I stuck the sponge in there to make up for the socks that I planned on washing today (I just did this the day before too), if I hadn't done that, the water would have pushed him over into the sump.

I can't believe he managed to jump in up and over to get into that area without bouncing off the screen, it's a tiny space for a long fish to jump through.
I was just taking a bunch of pictures of him last night too, because since I got him, I only saw him about 3 times until getting the bigger tank.

 

[Tahoe61]

Neither as both are human attributes. Fish jump for any number of reasons, and all fish have the potential to jump. I have had fish jump through holes the size of nickle. I have had fish jump the moment the lid was off the tank. It does seem like a horrible death and sorry about your Goby. My Goby would sometimes swim up and down looking for a spot for no reason I could identify.