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Re: Jumping fish and open tops



Date: Fri, 14 Jul 2000 01:30:35 -0800
From: "II, Thomas Barr" <tcbiii at earthlink_net>

> Jumping fish and evaporation are the bad parts, everything else is great!

We had problems with jumping fish, especially rainbows and SAE, until we solved 
the problem with a little doo-dad. 

We had a local plastic fabricator create a 2 piece acrylic "fence" for the top 
of the tank. The tank is an All-Glass brand 120 g tank and has a plastic rim 
around it that has a depressed lip all around the inside that supports the 
fence:

           ||
           ||< fence
  +------+ ||  
  |      | ||  
  |      +---+
  | +---+    |
  +-|   |----+
    |   |  
    |   |~~~~~~~~  water level
    glass
    
We had two L-shaped pieces formed from 1/8" acrylic that was 6" high. The 
L-shapes fit together inside the tank rim and rest on the lip. Top view:

     +------------------+
                        |
    |                   |
    |                   |
    |
    +-------------------
    
We had the shop cut notches for all the wires, siphons, water resturns, etc that 
go over the edge. The notches are on the rear or right side of the piece that 
goes in back. The front piece is plain. For cleaning and maintenance, we remove 
the front piece and set it aside. 

We have not lost a single fish since we added it 4 years ago. It cost us $39 at 
the time. It works best if you measure really carefully so that the pieces fit 
together snuggly in the rim. The long sides should be 1/8" shorter than the 
internal dimension of the rim so that the short pieces can overlap the long 
pieces with a snug fit:

   +------------
   |   ______
   | ||______
   | ||
   | || 
   | ||
   
The clear fence is hardly noticeable, at least until the rainbows splash water 
all over it during a feeding frenzy. A little water and a soft 100% cotton rag 
clean it up nicely. 

Now if we could just solve the evaporation problem...
 
 
George Booth in Ft. Collins, Colorado (booth at frii_com)
  http://www.frii.com/~booth/AquaticConcepts