Which fish are the "jumpers" that require a mesh top...?

[salty150]

I know that almost all fish can jump if they get scared, etc...

But which fish are the known "jumpers"... without being scared...?

Wrasses...?

And it has been said on here, and elsewhere, that the fish that jump mostly jump at the sides/ends of the aquarium...?

So if you have a Euro-braced aquarium...

 

[bacc2bacc]

Firefish are notorious jumpers, purples and hellfrichs alike

 

[Fishyfish22]

tilefish, wrasses, gobies, tangs, clownfish.

short answer is, all of them. i had a 4" orange shoulder jump through a small opening
and they'll usually swim up the side and jump, but if a fish wants to jump they just will

 

[bnord]

Firstly, I love having a tank without a lid on it. Secondly, there’s no worse way in the world than to have a fish lose its life dried out on the floor behind your tank. Do some fish jump more than others absolutely. do unexpected fish get spooked, and, even though they’re not typically jumpers end up as a tortilla chip unfortunately, yes. Had a 3 year old CB Aptasia eating filefish find that i had not replaced the small round lid on the Neat port in the screen, and it still eats are months later
I’m about to pull the trigger on a custom built tank and considering having a wider euro brace as the dimensions will prohibit a screen lid to try to stop one or two more fish from jumping but it still makes me very nervous.

 

[bnord]

Firefish are notorious jumpers, purples and hellfrichs alike

And Midas blennie s and wrasses and ….

 

[Hurricane Aquatics]

They all are at some point. Sometimes fish get the monkey shines and just randomly go crazy.

I've had clownfish, diamond gobies, wrasse, Foxface Rabbit Fish, Royal Gramma, etc. jump out or almost make it out at one time or the other.

I used the have a sump behind my Petsmart bought 55 gallon back in 2011. The sump was at the wall behind the stand so the tank sit out a bit from the wall. Couldn't find my Scopas Tang one day after work. Looked everywhere and that's not a hard fish to find unless they hide in rockwork. Just happened to take the partial top off the sump and he was laying in the Bioballs with the water flowing on him.

How long had be been there? Beats me me, but he went on to live another decade or more as Iived and gave him to someone else.

Kraken lids are what I use. They're a bit pricey, but excellent quality and cover the entire top with very little PAR loss if any.

 

[scchase]

Lets see fish I have had jump over the years
Volitan Lionfish
Just about every wrasse
Achilles tang
Queen angel
Rock Beauty
eels like to explore
All gobies
All blennies

Now that I think about it I dont think I have ever had a puffer jump or heard of any seahorses jumping that should narrow it down

 

[Indymann99]

I will add that an eggcrate top will NOT stop gobies from getting out.

 

[Rmckoy]

Fire fish , any sand sifting goby , lawnmower blenny , wrasse ,

I’ve even had clownfish jump

 

[Tamberav]

I know that almost all fish can jump if they get scared, etc...

But which fish are the known "jumpers"... without being scared...?

Wrasses...?

And it has been said on here, and elsewhere, that the fish that jump mostly jump at the sides/ends of the aquarium...?

So if you have a Euro-braced aquarium...

Biggest Offenders:

Blennies
Wrasses
Gobies
Dragonettes/Scooters
Firefish/Dartfish/Tilefish

 

[Pistondog]

Longnose hawkfish

 

[Tired]

Anything physically capable of jumping should be assumed to be a jump risk. I had an anemone shrimp jump out once.

 

[brclark82]

I had a Diamond goby swim up the 500gph stream of my AC110 HOB and end up on the floor…every other inch of the tank was covered by glass or plastic

 

[ptrusk]

Just a matter of time. They all jump.

 

[BirdFish5000]

Imo, any fish. I think it is irresponsible to run a tank without a screen top. Are they 100% perfect? No. But they darn sure a significant reductioni n risk.

 

[Reeflix]

hawkfish, gobies (especially diamond watchmen) firefish, and the really excitable tangs

 

[c0kefree]

In the ocean the fish usually have several FEET of water above them… so when they get inevitably become scared they can dart in any direction quite a distance.
Now considering the average aquarium is what.. 24” deep (just a shot in the dark)… they don’t exactly have much wiggle room for when they choose to dart up, instead of any other direction.

That being said, it’s best to assume that if it can swim, it can also fly lol.

 

[Tired]

Yep- therein lies the problem. Plenty of reef fish are likely to never encounter the surface, since 10-20 feet up is a long way to go when you're 3 inches long and lurk around rockwork for your whole life, and those that do are rarely if ever in a place where darting up could land them on top of anything. Heck, even freshwater fish, which are usually in much closer proximity to land, can and do jump when startled. They make it a whole escape tactic- check out hatchetfish.

 

[bushdoc]

I disagree with a notion that all fish can jump.It is probably better to clasify fish as notorious, frequent and unlikely jumpers. I have 4 fish in my tank which are 8-10 years old and they never jumped.
I did loose many wrasses, even with seemingly tight net, longnose hawkfish ( but not flame hawkfish) and few dart fish.
I avoid some"notorious " jumpers as they will eventually find a way to visit my carpet ( so to speak).

 

[DaJMasta]

As many have said, almost anything can, and I've got 1/8" mesh over my tanks now because of it (and because a ruby scooter dragonet actually made it through the 1/4" mesh........).

Worth adding that shrimp can jump too, though. I've heard my peppermints break water a few times on nights with spawning, and I've had several smaller cleaner/anemone shrimp jump out of open topped tanks (and they are nearly impossible to notice when it happens).


It's not that everything will, but everything certainly can, and the tankmates will often dictate that. I had two firefish who never tried to jump without me digging around in the tank for months, then I got a wrasse that messes with them during the day and both are more prone to breaking water now. Mandarins you wouldn't expect it from given their normal speed and demeanor, but if they get startled out of their sleep in the middle of the night, they can jump straight out. Just a little new aggression or displacement of sleeping spots can multiply the jump risk several times, so if you keep things stable and don't add new livestock, if you can get through 6 months or so without a jump, you may be fairly safe in the long term.