Author Topic: Please Help Me Explain....  (Read 2042 times)

Offline Nick

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Please Help Me Explain....
« on: March 30, 2013, 12:52:10 PM »
As many of you many know I am going to be moving in the upcoming months. Because of this I have sold off all of my fish and a few of the tanks. Today while prepping the remaining tanks for packing (cleaning/drying out filters) I discovered a 3" tanganyikan inside a H.O.T Magnum Filter. How in the hell would he have gotten in there, let alone lived? And I don't just mean for the last week since I turned the tank off, I mean since the last 3 months when I thought he had jumped out of the tank and died or got eaten by the cats. The body was completely intact, the eyes looked like the just started to decompose, but still whole. Please correct me if im wrong but wouldn't he have just turned to mush after three months in a running filter? Mind you we are not talking about a Aqua Clear where there is a relativity large amount of room inside depending on how it is set up. We are talking about a completely sealed powerfilter with very very little room inside.

I thought about this a while and the only way I could imagine he could have gotten in is through the outtake tube. The outtake is the only area that wasn't sealed off. The intake had a pre-filter on it. I don't prime these filters over the tank either. They get filled over the sink and then put on the tank. I literally have not touched this filter in 3 months either.

So lets assume he did go up the outtake....ITS NOT A STRAIT TUBE!!!! Its a SMALL curved two piece outtake. I am really puzzled and confused by this one.  Below is a pic of the fish.

Nothing but a few empty tanks.

Offline Ron

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Re: Please Help Me Explain....
« Reply #1 on: March 31, 2013, 07:45:40 AM »
So lets assume he did go up the outtake....ITS NOT A STRAIT TUBE!!!! Its a SMALL curved two piece outtake. I am really puzzled and confused by this one.  Below is a pic of the fish.
He is a rock-dwelling species, yes? I wouldn't be surprised if he could contort himself to get inside.

I also can't help but wonder how bad you must have scared him while netting other fish out of the tank!  :P

Based on the description, I wouldn't think he'd been in there for more than 3-4 days, otherwise you would have probably found a pile of mush around a skeleton.
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Offline Nick

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Re: Please Help Me Explain....
« Reply #2 on: March 31, 2013, 09:29:11 AM »
So lets assume he did go up the outtake....ITS NOT A STRAIT TUBE!!!! Its a SMALL curved two piece outtake. I am really puzzled and confused by this one.  Below is a pic of the fish.
He is a rock-dwelling species, yes? I wouldn't be surprised if he could contort himself to get inside.

I also can't help but wonder how bad you must have scared him while netting other fish out of the tank!  :P

Based on the description, I wouldn't think he'd been in there for more than 3-4 days, otherwise you would have probably found a pile of mush around a skeleton.

I swear I haven't seen this fish in at least 3 months. 100% sure he wasnt in the tank last Saturday when I turned the filter off. Its a bare tank with no where to his except behind the heater where the loach was. I guess this just moves to the top of the strangest things I've ever seen.
Nothing but a few empty tanks.

Offline fishman

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Re: Please Help Me Explain....
« Reply #3 on: March 31, 2013, 10:56:47 AM »
I always look in my power filters for fry.  I always find cories, whiptails, or plecos in the bottom. Look before you dump  I once found a clown loach that jumped into the outflow of a whisper.  I looked on the floor but no luck, once I cleaned the filter I found a 3 inch loach.  He was in tgere for a month.

Offline mightieskeeper

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Re: Please Help Me Explain....
« Reply #4 on: April 02, 2013, 11:03:29 AM »
Wow, that is one powerful filter to suck up the fish! Lol
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