Loaches Online Forum

I went ahead and ordered 5 "borneo sucker fish" from the local petco and they came in today. The guy I talked to left them in a bag and changed out the water and added some stress coat so they were already to go when I got there. I got them home and was in the process of aclimating them over about 30 minutes the way I usually do by putting them in one of those plastic containers that they use at the fish store that hang on the side of the tank. I had it on a counter and had just put the last of the water from the tank they were going into, I waited another 15 minutes and then went to net them to put in my Q tank. I looked in there and there were only 4 fish. I know I had put 5 in there...but there were only 4. I looked in the bag again to make sure that I hadn't forgot one...then I looked on the counter and noticed that there was a dried water trail over to the edge of the counter. I looked on the floor and there was the 5th one. I picked him up and he was dry and not moving.

I went ahead and put him back in the container with the water and he didn't move so I figured he was a goner. I got the rest of the fish out and was ready to put him in a ziplock bag for a trip to the freezer until I could take him and the receipt back to petco. As I was started to net his body he swam up the side of the container and jumped onto the counter a second time and I netted him and put him in the Q tank. He seems to be okay, but I'm going to watch him....what a silly fish...and a lucky one. He had to have been out of the water long enough to dry off....which was probably 5 or ten minutes at least.

The only other time I've seen this is when I had african rope (reed) fish (which I recently saw at walmart too) and he had been out of the tank for at least thirty minutes and he lived too....


Cheers,

Kevin

Hillstreams can be surprising in the way they can escape. I have had the same thing happen myself a few times. You have to be very careful that they are covered when they are being acclimated. That seems to be the time they like to go airborn. I hope your guy (and all the others) do well.
By the way, what species are they?

They are gastros like the others. They are very small though...they are only about an inch long.


Everyone seems okay so far. In a couple days they will get a deworming treatment and then maybe a fungus treatment.


Kevin

LES.. and I recently moved our lonely Wui into the Hillstream Heaven tank and then added 4 more lovely specimens from Emma and Steve's.

Both were introduced using the Fintro and both times one of them jumped onto the part of the fintro that wasn't completely covered by water.

They are all 'happily' ensconsed in the new tank but gave us quite a scare!

wow. lucky fish indeed. if i were you, i would be very careful about the lid you use on your tank. don't use anything that the fish can jump out of easily. or weight the lid down with something.