Who Gives A Fish Forums

I've got a pair of 3 inch Angel fish, and I'm really attached to them... this morning, I could only spot one of them before I left for work. You know those fish traps they use on survival shows? The ones where the fish just need to swim out of the hole to escape? Yeah, something like that happened to my Angel fish.

I got home from work and still, only one Angel fish was visible. I couldn't find the other one anywhere, so I decided to investigate. I removed the tank backing, and that's when I found my missing Angel. It was hiding in one of those 3-sided resin cast "hollow logs" that cover the riser tubes for my under gravel filter. I used my cell phone light to coax it out - at first, it tried a couple of gaps at the bottom, but they were too tight. As it swam up, the gaps got bigger, and eventually, it managed to swim out.

I fed my fish, and the missing Angel ate normally. The other one was thrilled to see its friend, happy as can be. Everything seems totally normal now.

From the fish's viewpoint, that gap the Angel swam through might've seemed identical to other spots along the edge, thanks to the internal reflection off the glass - it could've looked like one continuous gap all along the contact zone. After bumping into the glass and the backing a few times, it probably just resigned itself to being stuck in that smaller space. Especially with most of the light coming from outside the 3D backing. The view from inside the tank is a whole different story from the view outside. Just a thought. Angels are generally pretty smart, and sometimes too curious for their own good - way smarter than any tetra I've ever had.

Cichlids are naturally inquisitive, kinda like cats, burning through their nine lives at a rapid pace. If they keep getting stuck in the same situation, it's time to rethink the hardscape.

I once had tetras trapped in my filter for who knows how long - they just waited it out, hoping something would change. If nothing does, it can be fatal. But with time, as long as I left the setup unchanged, they'd all find their way back in, repeatedly.

Fish can surprise you, like finding gems in a dark cave. They're stupid til they figure out the trick, then they're geniuses.