It is usually a lot of work to get a fish out after getting stuck to filter intakes.
You will usually notice these types of problems if you have smaller-sized fish in the tank. Among the most common reasons behind this issue is the filter not having a guard at the front of the tank not being large enough for the fish to feel free.
When a fish gets stuck, you don’t want to simply let it pass away, so you will have to set it free as soon as possible.
There are a few things you can do to prevent fish from getting stuck and to get them free when you notice they can’t escape the filter.
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Usually, the fastest fix that will prevent this issue from even happening is to fix the pressure generated by the filter.
Although a powerful filter that sucks in a lot of water will be great for filtering any impurities, too much strength might also pull the fish.
Below you will find the easiest fixes you can implement on the spot to prevent this issue from happening ever again.
What Can You Do To Stop The Fish From Getting Stuck?
1. Set up Guards for the Filter Intake
The easiest way of preventing fish from getting inside a filter is by blocking its entrance. This is something easy to implement and you will usually only need a guard for the filter.
This guard is made specifically to enable the filter to pull water just as before but to stop everything else from getting inside the filter. With the entrance of the filter blocked, the fish will be in no danger of getting stuck to it.
This solution is the first one you should look into because a guard will not only be very easy to install, but it will also feature instant results and will offer complete protection.
These accessories aren’t even all that expensive compared to everything else in the tank and if installed properly, will have no impact on the filter’s performance.
2. Go for a Smaller Filter
If you’ve just recently installed the filter inside the tank and you’re already seeing issues like this, then you should really consider going for a smaller filter. The issue, in this case, is probably going to be the filter exerting too much strength when pulling water in.
Usually, a smaller filter will also have less power, making it harder to pull small fish close to it. In the case of filters, larger isn’t always better, because too much suction power will put too much pressure on the water and make the whole environment unstable.
This is why you should talk with a professional when choosing the right accessories for your tank. Otherwise, you could lose a lot of fish before finding the perfect balance of water filtering, temperature, and stability.
You want to keep the water as clean as possible, while also preventing the fish from getting stuck to the filter.
3. Go for a bigger fish tank
If money isn’t a problem you can also go for a bigger fish tank.
You will run into frequent problems when your tank is too small to house a big number of fish. If they don’t have enough room for good living standards they will not only get too close to the filter, but they will run into all kinds of other problems as well.
Another common issue associated with fish tanks that are too small is frequent fights breaking out between fish.
A fish that has enough room to swim will often learn to avoid the filter intake so these problems will be rarer with time.
4. Keep the Filter Intake Clean
Is your filter intake clean enough in your fish tank?
A dirty filter intake might have sticky impurities which would make it impossible for the fish to escape once it touches the filter.
You never want your filter to be dirty because then, even if fish don’t get stuck to it, it might have a hard time cleaning the water.
Conclusion
If you start to notice fish getting stuck to the intake of the filter, then there are a few things you can do to fix this. First off, try to figure out what is causing this and based on the issue, implement the needed solution. Sometimes it might be as simple as cleaning the filter or installing a filter guard, while in some situations the issue won’t get fixed unless you replace the tank with a bigger one.
