Keeping my jumping wrasse out of the overflow...

[Sea Willow]

For all who have had a fish jump in the overflow and know how difficult it is to get him out without pulling your pipes… this might be for you.
After the passed 2 days of trying and trying to get my Paracheilinus attenuatus wrasse, (Diamond tail flasher), out of my overflow. I knew I had to come up with a solution for the corner open overflows. This is not the first time, or even the second that I found myself squeezing my arm through a 3" opening between my canopy's top boards with a net attached to a piece of PVC trying to retrieve him. As I have 5 wrasses in my aquarium I needed a solution. I tried the egg crate on top of them, but found not all fish flip-flop around until they are in the water again, so that was out. I walked into my garage one day and seen my sons hockey nets and click… Yeah hockey nets I said to myself!!!! So I built mini versions to fit my overflows. I used 1/2" pvc, a few 45's, a few 3-way corner 90's with an upright, a couple zip ties and some black plastic net fencing from Home Depot I had lying around. Sorry the picture is not the best but hopefully will give you the idea… Thanks for looking and I hope this helps anyone also looking for a solution. Debbie

 

[redfishbluefish]

Nice little DIY fix. Good job.

 

[Sea Willow]

Thanks Paul!

 

[TanksNStuff]

Nice! I love how all the little nuances of this hobby inspire all these gadgets and ideas.

MatteZ gave me some black acrylic that I plan to cut to size and fit right on top of my overflow. This will keep stuff out of the overflow but will also keep the light out too, which will prevent any unwanted algae growth, etc. too.

This will be a flat top though, and as you said, some fish may not flip-flop back into the water so maybe I'll add your hockey net idea to mine as well.

Thanks for sharing Debbie.

 

[MatteZ]

Nice! I love how all the little nuances of this hobby inspire all these gadgets and ideas.

MatteZ gave me some black acrylic that I plan to cut to size and fit right on top of my overflow. This will keep stuff out of the overflow but will also keep the light out too, which will prevent any unwanted algae growth, etc. too.

This will be a flat top though, and as you said, some fish may not flip-flop back into the water so maybe I'll add your hockey net idea to mine as well.

Thanks for sharing Debbie.

I think I'm going to try and make a little angled box of some sort to keep them from landing on top. So they will just slide back in. When I mad the brace around that holds the hood up I cut the top part on an angel so that would not happen.
I have a Labouti wrasse that spooks all the time and goes crazy. You hear him hit the top of sides of the canopy.

 

[jgraz]

http://www.limpitsreef.com/D-Shaped-Overflow-Cover.html

These fit the d Shane overflows. I have 2 on the way and had one in my 90 also. Worked great but did need a slight bit of modification to get around the plumbing, since everybody's is slightly different. I also use screen tops so fish cannot land on top of these and get stranded. I also find the occasional larger snails on top though which makes me happy that they can't get into the overflows.

If I'm not mistaken he can/will make them to fit other overflows as well.

 

[downbeach]

I had the same problem, and got tired of removing the Durso to drain the overflow chamber and catch the fish in a mesh sock in the sump. I used some plastic canvas(5 mesh) and placed it upright between the two chamber walls of the overflow. The notch at the bottom left was for the return pipe. This worked well, but ultimately I had to make screen covers since the fish would sometimes jump onto the 18" piece of glass that was used as a center brace.