When I was a kid I left the canopy open on my aquarium one night after cleaning. I heard a strange noise before going to bed but couldn't isolate what it was. I woke up the next day to find that 3 SAE's had jumped out and where flopping around all night. I put them in a seperate tank and added salt. One died within a hour. The other the next day. One seemed to recover but died a few months later. It seemed healthy, but just up and died. Never know, he could make it fine. Treat with salt to help relieve stress and restore the slime coat. Good Luck.

Lessoned learned right? The same thing can happen with other fish as well, goldfish for instance. ALWAYS keep a lid on.

Tom

Rickib: Guess we have all had this experience. One, I found when changing betta water (and fish in other container) that they tend to jump due to stress so on.. I now put them in one of those plastic big cups with lid with hole (as for iced coffee from deli) and cover sides with towel to keep dark with small spriget of plant. Also when I drip new water (to make sure all is aclimized) I just put it in the little hole, and take a turkey baster to take some out as it adjusts.

Two, as a child I had three spot gouramies. Came home from school to see two had jumped (and had lid on tank,hmmm) I read Dr. Innes books back then, and tried experiment and added salt treatment to one the other not...(forgive me little fish) One got fungus all over the side that had dried up (face up) and the other lived and did ok for a long time. As woeisme states, salt helps, but I would guess it depends on nature of fish, constitution and degree of damage. can't hurt to try. Best Sherry

Ps. some type of stress coat for bettas might not hurt???

Well, first of all beta's are leapers. It's not just due to stress that provokes them to do so. It's their nature. Second, Betta's are air breathers. This is why they constantly go to the surface of the bowl or tank, they take gulps of air to breath and this is why they can survive out of the tank for bit longer. In the wild, the wild betta can travel from puddle to puddle this way before they find a deeper pool Mind you the hybrid we have now do not resemble the betta's of the wild.

So,keep that lid on, but leave space for your fish to breath.

Ianna

fish jumping out = don't like their home ?

"fish jumping out = don't like their home ?"

Nah, fish just jump out of the water sometimes, for whatever reason. When they do, they fully expect to land back in the water.

Thank heavens for my tank's lid or I think my white cloud would jump out every feeding.

Hey rick :)

This happens to a lot of fish keepers, especially with bettas. This happened to me once, the exact same scenario. Now everytime I take him out for a waterchange, I cover the cup tightly with tinfoil. They are especially prone to jumping during the waterchanges because they are stressed and want to go back in their tank.

The absolute best thing to do is keep the water quality perfect. Keep ammonia at 0, and if you've got a filter, nitrite at 0 and nitrate very close to 0. If you don't already have a bottle of waterconditioner that detoxifies ammonia, I suggest you get one, like Prime. You can add this to the water instead of doing the waterchanges for now to eliminate stress. Keep tank and room lights off. Don't feed, or add melafix or aquarium salt just yet because food will most likely be uneaten, and some bettas have bad reactions to the other two. He will go through bad stage, and hopefully he'll make it. Watch for fungus. I hope he gets better soon!

I have had a simular experiance, my comet jumped out of the water after a few hours i notice and put him in water expecting him 2 be dead but he started swimming normally. Unfortunatally he jumped out again during the night. Now i make sure the lid it placed on safely as fish can easliy escape.

I almost forgot..sometimes there is a reason associated with jumping fish. Fish like bettas often jump just because they can, but others may jump because of poor water quality, concerning an uncycled tank or water that is not dechlorinated, etc. Fish like Bala Sharks may jump because they are skiddish and easilly startled. Moving slowly, keeping a school (they are social fish), and keeping them in the very large sized aquarium will help. Always make sure the lid's on tight.

Our cat knocked over the tank and the fish ended up in a drawer on top of a magazine. Not sure for how long, but the fish was still moist and the magazine wet. Fish began to swim immediately upon introduction to water. My 13 yr old daughter bought the fish for me for Christmas. I have let her keep him in her room. Since this incident, I have done a lot of reading about bettas. Looks like this guy is going to move from his little tank, no filter no heat, to a 10 gallon tank with filter and heater. That is assuming he makes it. He seems ok in the bowl I have him in that is in a cupboard to provide darkness and protection. Wish us luck.

Letting him be in the dark for a day or two will help. Avoid feeding, per hippygirl.

It might take a day or two of normal lighting schedule after this before he'll accept food. (potentially a few more) If you try to feed without success it can foul the water quickly.

All fish respond differently. Some you could just about toss against the wall and would eat the moment they rebounded back into the tank (Obviously, figurative... -_-). Others will pout for days.

As an example, I've had convicts that would swim into my hand or net in the tank, can be lifted out to a transfer bucket of tank water, and will immediately eat there - where most fish would immediately go diving for cover and take a day or two.

Best of luck. ^_^

I have a lid on beta's tank with only 1/4 inch (or less) around the edge, he still somehow jumped out. I found him off the table and about 4 feet from the table in the hall. I also thought he was dead, but took a chance. He is still living this morning, but very sluggish and fins look a little ragged. Thanks for the tip on slime coat, I will buy some today.

My Betta jumped out of tank, we looked everywhere and couldn't find him. I found him 6 hours later, thought he was dead, but put him back in water and he started swimming!! He is very lethargic, but alive.. Hella weird!! Someone explain please