Wrasse jumping

MichaelClark55 · May 12, 2019

What a stressful morning! I have a wrasse dominate 125g reef so obviously I have a good tight screen top. Well, who would have thought I needed a top for the overflow chambers as well! My grandson casually mentions, "I wonder why the flasher is in there? " Luckily the drain pipe was easily removed so I could net him out. He's been in there at least 24 hrs since I didn't notice it. Thank God the grandson was here. Time to bend some screen material for overflow covers!

Ron Reefman · May 12, 2019

I've seen fish, crabs, snails and anemones all get into the overflow.

saltyhog · May 12, 2019

There is a 1/2" gap between the top of my overflow and the bottom of the screen. I cut a piece of black egg crate to fit on top of the overflow which fills that space so my wrasses can't jump over the overflow/under the net. Fixed my problem with wrasse in the overflow and sump.

It didn't happen frequently but what finally triggered me to do something about it was when my flame wrasse who was very large got stuck in the drain pipe and didn't make it to the sump. That made me realize it wasn't just an inconvenience to fish them out of the overflow/sump but a danger to my fish.

MichaelClark55 · May 12, 2019

saltyhog said:
There is a 1/2" gap between the top of my overflow and the bottom of the screen. I cut a piece of black egg crate to fit on top of the overflow which fills that space so my wrasses can't jump over the overflow/under the net. Fixed my problem with wrasse in the overflow and sump.

It didn't happen frequently but what finally triggered me to do something about it was when my flame wrasse who was very large got stuck in the drain pipe and didn't make it to the sump. That made me realize it wasn't just an inconvenience to fish them out of the overflow/sump but a danger to my fish.

Definitely not good for the fish to be confined in the overflow since getting them out is super stressful to me so I can only imagine how the fish feels about being chased around with a net.

MichaelClark55 · May 12, 2019

saltyhog said:
There is a 1/2" gap between the top of my overflow and the bottom of the screen. I cut a piece of black egg crate to fit on top of the overflow which fills that space so my wrasses can't jump over the overflow/under the net. Fixed my problem with wrasse in the overflow and sump.

It didn't happen frequently but what finally triggered me to do something about it was when my flame wrasse who was very large got stuck in the drain pipe and didn't make it to the sump. That made me realize it wasn't just an inconvenience to fish them out of the overflow/sump but a danger to my fish.

I think that's the best idea with the eggcrate. I saw some folks used solid material but something tells me that should be able to be exposed to the air. My setup is viewable from 4 sides so I can easily see in the back of the overflow so it has to be something that doesn't catch the eye. Where did you find black eggcrate?