the five hour hawkfish ordeal

[hobogato]

so i hadnt seen our hawkfish in a while, so i decided to check the sump for him. we have egg crate covering the overflow, but somehow he manages to get thru every so often :wacko
sump? fish?


no.

hmmm.....maybe he is in the overflow :unsure

get the flashlight out, cram my head into the stand (scraping forehead and ears on various braces and hoseclamps) just far enough to see the little -insert choice of colorful words- 's shadow. <_<

ok, 1st attempt to retrieve him.... turn off all return pumps, run outside and unplug chiller, take loose that drain line from the sump, put it in a bucket, reach into the overflow and pull the durso out of the bulkhead so the rush of water will sweep him into the bucket :ph34r

always worked before - this time, no :blink

ok, cram myself under stand again with a flashlight that now barely glows - wouldnt know what 4 year old drained my flashlight batteries would ya?

still there.

so i get the bright idea of just taking out the drain bulkead and letting him fall into a little bucket. the nut is easily turning so i have christy hold down on the pipe in the bulkhead so the water doesnt drain out while i am unscrewing the bulkhead nut. yeah, that worked (obviously in very sarcastic voice). :angry

all the water pours out and brings with it the little bit of sand in the bottom of the bulkhead. anyone know what sand does to the threads of a bulkhead? >_< thats right, it binds them and makes it hard to turn the nut.

well it didnt do that to this one.... until the nut was 4 threads shy of coming off! :mellow

for the next 2.5 hours, i tried about every different pair of plyers and vice grips along with two different sized pipewrenches - no luck.

i even tried to put a ring of hose clamps around the bulkhead nut and bolt it to a brace in the stand and then turn the bulkhead with channel locks - i pulled a 1.5" wood screw out of a 2X4 brace and didnt budge the bulkhead nut :blink

decided i better go ahead and cut it off and get a new one, one problem... it is now 7:30 and the only place i can find one closes at 8!!

manage to cut the nut off of the bulkhead with a drimmel tool and rush to aquarium designs just in time to pick up a replacement bulkhead

big thanks to jason for stocking those things!!!

get home and put it all back together and get my glass full of bear exactly 5 hours and 7 minutes after it all began.

moral of the story - i dont know, be sure to feed the fish in your overflow???

[hobogato]

by the way - the fish is back in the tank, but hasnt moved more than 5 inches since the ordeal - think he is still recovering from his dry time in the bottom overflow - left out that it took me a couple of minutes to take out the return line and bulkhead so i could drag the fish out thru that hole and put him back in the tank

[Richard]

be sure to feed the fish in your overflow???


LOL! We have a percula clown in the overflow. Last time I spent 2 hours killing my back to catch him with a tiny little net but I finally got him. Next morning he's back in it. Now I just throw some food in there.

[txstateunivreefer]

wow that is persistance i would have given up on him by then that little fishy doesnt know how lucky he is huh?

[5.0Stang]

God i hate overflows with a passion 3 different gobies, one clown, firefish,sissortail. i think thats it they all did not live long after except one yellow gobie he kept going down.

[urban79]

I lost my clown fish . And I still to this day, dont know where he at.

[Texreefer]

Ace you should have called me.... I would have come right over and helped you drink a beer after you were done :w00t ;) .. seriously though, sounds like my luck

[Darth-Tater]

Sounds like I left your house just in time. dang I always miss the fun. :lol


Tater

[tropicana]

I lost my clown fish . And I still to this day, dont know where he at.

He was in your Sump wasnt he?

[taldrich13]

I had a six line jump into the pump chamber of my 12g nanocube and I was able to sick my hand in there and fish him out.

Same thing happened to a gobie. He jumped into the middle chamber so I tried the same trick but when I got him close to the surface there was a flash of fin and water and he was gone. I thought maybe he swam under the baffle into the first chamber that was filled with LR rubble so I carefully took out each piece and he wasn't there. The only thing I can think of is that he jumped out and I didn't here him flopping around and one of my cats got a tastey treat.

My pistol shrimp lost his buddy :(

[GMFett]

I think my purple firefish really likes it in the overflow. He's been there for about a year. What a loser... haha

[RayAllen]

whats funny is that people are the same way. hell if someone put me in a box Id try to find a way out too. I had a 30" tire track eel jump out of my tank 3 times before I found him a new home. And the tank was covered with things on top to weight it down but he still managed.