# The Cover Less Aquascape



## smr (Mar 17, 2006)

Hi Every one,

I have a question that has been bothering me for some time. 

I have seen a number of aquascapes on the net which did not have a cover but had light suspended over them. These aquariums also had fish in them apart from the very rich population of thriving plants.

Now initially I thought that maybe the tops were taken off for the photo shoot, but then I saw the lights hanging over them. Then I thought may be they put some glass/perspex covers so that the light gets to the plants but the fish do not jump out and they just take the covers off for photo shoots. 

But lately I have had the pleasure of seeing the photographs of Takashi Amano's ADA head office in Niigata Japan, I was astonished to see that a good majority of his tanks were all uncovered and had fish swimming in them. How come the fish do not jump out?

I have had some scary experience of fish jumping out of the water if I remove the cover even for a short time while doing regular cleaning and leaving the room for 5 or 10 minutes to attend to some other chores at home. I have had fish jump out of the water. I have also seen fish out of the water at local fish stores.

I love the look of the coverless aquarium so how can I achieve it and with which fish?

Thanks and regards


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## |squee| (Feb 3, 2005)

I used to have that fear initially too, when I just started out in aquariums.

Over time however, I realised fish jump out for two reasons mostly:
1. They jump naturally, like Hatchetfish or jittery fish like Killies. 
2. They do not like the water condition, or something has scared them really bad.

I don't cover my tanks (actually they're sort of covered by the light fixture). I think it's more of a psychological fear than anything else. Try it! Just let go of the cover for one day.

P.S. My fish are all common tetras/rasboras. The only fish that have jumped for me are killies and _Lamprologus_ (shell dwelling cichlids).


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## BryceM (Nov 6, 2005)

There was a poll here a while ago that showed that people were almost evenly split between using a cover and having an open top. The trend has definately been to move to rimless tanks whiched are filled to the very top. The perspective from the top gives you another dimension to see a beautiful tank. Some also like having parts of the hardscape and/or emersed growth sticking out of the tank.

Personally, I use a cover for the same reasons that you do. I've had plenty of fish go 'over the wall,' even through very small openings. Some fish are more likely to jump than others. I suspect that those with open tops stay away from hatchetfish and the like. Even so, they probably have some losses from time to time and just live with it. Certainly most small tetras and barbs will stay put well enough.


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## slickwillislim (Oct 11, 2005)

My only problem with the open top was shrimp jumping out. I would find them dried up. I only have had three jump out in about 4 months and two of them jumped out when the co2 got to high. My fish stay put. A while ago I had a ropefish and it jumped out many times when I took off the lid for maintenance of course this guy has a lung sort of thing so it can survive a long time if it stays moist.


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## Urkevitz (Oct 26, 2004)

I just stick around during feeding, sometimes the fish get really excited and jump out.


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## smr (Mar 17, 2006)

Thanks guys,

I find that about fifty percent people are like me, scared of seeing their fish jump out and the other fifty percent who swear that it only happens with a few fish. 

So I guess that I am still at square 1.

The next tank I set up I think I will research the fish and then just keep those that do not jump and then see where it goes from there.

One more funny thing, most people swear that the Betta is a jumper. Over the years I have had a number of bettas in different tanks and even in small uncovered jars and I have never had one jump out. Even now I have one in a 1-liter uncovered planted jar and he is quite happy in there making bubbles etc.

Thanks and regards.


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## fish_4_all (Jun 3, 2006)

Bettas will jump if started, I had some that knocked the lids off their little betta tanks. I have since switched to keeping them in my 10 gallon tanks and they are much happier. 

As for jumping fish. When I feed floating food to my swordtails they will jump and sometimes hit the cover, no floating food, no jump. I have had swords, platties, mollies, angels, corys, groumies and even a common pleco jump out of tanks in the past. All of these events happened in tanks where the fish didn't have a lot of places to hide or I fed floating food. Since I gave my cories and my BN places to hid in and lots of plants, they don't even go to the surface. My swords still jump after food but not any other time. 

The only time my swords didn't jump was when I had anacharis/elodea floating in the tank. When I put floating food in the fish simply pushed their way throgh it ate it. Never jumped. 

I plan to go completely topless with all of my tanks as soon as I get the right light fixtures for my tanks. I hate the tops and they just block light anyway, get hot and hold heat in and are a pain to clean. I think that plants on the surface are the key wether floating or simply growing to the surface from the bottom. Seems to make fish less likely to jump out. I know a guy that has cribs in an uncoverd tank and he said they will hit anything that is on the surface hard but don't jump since the plants hit the surface. If nothing else, and if I have problems with the fish jumping out after I remove the covers I will make a slanted plexiglass rim to prevent them from hitting the floor so they just slide right back in. 

Hope that is what you were looking for and best of luck.


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## smr (Mar 17, 2006)

Thanks Fish 4 All,

I think the slanted plexigalss is a good idea.

All my tanks are heavily planted and I think maybe that is why the Bettas never jump out of the water. Also I think my bettas recognize me and come up for the food but never jump out of the water.

I have a Yoyo Loach that makes a lot of splashing noise in the aquarium from time to time. I have a 5 gallon with harlequin rasboras that I have left uncovered experimentally but so far everything is fine. As they say "lets keep our fingers crossed".

Thanks and regards


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## KeIgO86 (Jun 23, 2005)

I've by far lost about several yamato shrimps, 5 rasboras (a species other than harlequin which i can't identify) and 7 cardinal tetras due to their suicide jumps when I did not notice. They are usually found on the floor all dried up and "preserved". 

I did catch some of them in suicidal action on several occasions. Of course, those were the lucky guys I managed to rescue and throw back into the tank. I notice they most frequently jump when I reach into the tank to do some minor rescaping, especially so when the tank lights are off. I guess the fish are more jumpy when they can't see a thing or the threat they have sensed.


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## smr (Mar 17, 2006)

Thank you all for your replies. 

Well as you can all see the debate is still on about the cover-less aquarium.

I was wondering if any of you have seen pictures of Takashi Amano's ADA at Niigata. The pictures are somewhere on the net, I cannot remember the site/s. You will see that nearly all his tanks are cover-less and that he does have fish in them. Now I am sure that he will not tolerate even a 10% loss of fish through 'kamakaze' jumps. Also I am pretty sure that he will not have one of his assistants going around all the time looking for fish on the floor. And he does seem to have a variety of fish. 

So the question is what does he do differently that his fish stay put? One more observation, although his tanks are planted, all of them have a lot of open space especially on the top and none of them have any floating plants.

I wonder if he will answer any questions through the e-mail. Well first I will need his e-mail address!!!

Another thought, maybe find some one who subscribes to his Aqua Journal and ask him a question through that huh?

Well as the saying goes 'keep plugging along until you get the answer'

Thanks and regards


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## smr (Mar 17, 2006)

Guys, some thoughts on the coverless aquarium.

I guess that the way to keep an uncovered tank is to have a large and deep tank at least 18" deep. 

Secondly have a lot of vegetaion and hiding places in the tank, like small caves under the bogwood etc. 

Thirdly, approach the tank from an angle that the fish have place to go away from you and hide, e.g. from one of the side (breadth side) rather than right from in front of the tank. 

Fourthly I think that the fish become used to you feeding them all the time, so if you do need to make some changes in the aquarium, such as water changes, pruning plants etc., it should be done with the least amount of disturbance and splashing etc.

Fifth, I think it would be a good idea to have a coverless aquarium with an extended high wall at the top. What I mean is have a box with only four sides extending to a hieght of maybe four - six inches high without the top if you have jumpers like the botias. (Although I don't like this idea but it will still be a coverless aquarium & I think few small fish will jump more than two or three inches out of the water).

If anyone can come up with any more ideas please do post it here.

Thanks and regards.


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## Tankman (Feb 19, 2006)

Not really, am afraid my smaller 10G or 40.2 L tank's less than 18" in depth but it's still coverless. All my tanks are coverless for a reason- I live in an equatorial/tropical country where it can get very warm- so going coverless helps the heat escape better 
As for the prob. of fish jumping out, seems ok for me, unless they're very stressed, which is very rare


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## Tankman (Feb 19, 2006)

Not really, am afraid my smaller 10G or 40.2 L tank's less than 18" in depth but it's still coverless. All my tanks are coverless for a reason- I live in an equatorial/tropical country where it can get very warm- so going coverless helps the heat escape better 
As for the prob. of fish jumping out, seems ok for me, unless they're very stressed, which is very rare


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## Intros (Apr 26, 2006)

I have had problems with my partial uncovered tank not with the fish , but with my Neritina snails - I've lost two in only one night, in the morning was already late to save them, even I tried to put them back in tank.


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## smr (Mar 17, 2006)

Tankman, may I ask where you live, because I live in the hot and humid climate of Karachi, Pakistan.

Also I am interested in finding out which fish you have and how heavily is the tank planted? How often do the fish jump and have you lost many fish due to jumping?

The tank that I am initially thinking of keeping uncovered is 24"(L) X 12"(B) X 18"(H).

Regards and good luck


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