Fish are dying by getting stuck to water re-supply pump?

Question

First off, I'd like to mention that I don't know the first thing about fish...they are not my particular choice of pet. The fish in question are my mother's and sadly, she isn't so great at doing research so I'm trying to learn more to help her out. We have a 20 gallon tank and I bought her a few fish(neon tetras, fancy guppies and a dalmation molly) to liven it up a bit. I asked the pet store worker and she insisted they would all live friendly and happily because I'd hate to buy fish that would be hostile to eachother. My current problem is that she told me today one Tetra and the Dalmation Molly are dead...they apparently swam too close to the pump, got stuck and died. How can I fix this so it doesn't happen again? Is there a different kind of pump that isn't so strong? Does she even need the pump?

Answer 1

Unless you've got a SUPERULTRAMEGA filter on there (something meant for a much larger tank than you have), healthy fish aren't getting sucked in by it and killed. If you find a fish stuck to the filter, it was already dead or weakened by the time it got there.

Is the tank cycled? Have you tested the water lately? If you just put a bunch of fish into a new tank all at once, there was probably an ammonia spike that killed them.

http://fins.actwin.com/mirror/begin-cycl...

ETA: A healthy fish can resist the force of a filter, but the suction is definitely enough to hold a DEAD fish there. The problem isn't the filter - it's something else.

Answer 2

what pump does she have?(to answer is there another pump that isn`t that strong)u mentioned you brought your mum some fish did you put them in the tank correctly as in float them in bag for 15 minutes then add some of your tank water leave another 15 minutes then release them into the tank and leave the lights of for 1 hour once released?

Answer 3

I am thinking you are talking about the filter, not the pump. What type of filter is she using? You could always try getting a sponge, cutting a hole out of the middle of the sponge, then sliding it on over top of the filter end. This will act like a sponge filter and protect your fish from getting sucked up.

Yes you will want a filter on the tank. Some filters like the aquaclear, you can adjust the flow. But I don't think you will be able to get any filter weak enough not to suck the fish in, unless you bought one that was too small for that size of tank. More filtration is better than very little.

Answer 4

I think you just need an attachment on the end of the tube that sucks the water from the tank that is small enough not to suck your fish into the filter...good luck!