My Chromis love the sump

[MikeInToronto]

I just got myself 5 little blue chromis. They are cute but they just end up in the sump over and over and over and over and ...
They are less than an inch long. I'm not going to pull them out of the sump anymore. I'll let them live in there since they like it so much. I have to give them a lot of credit though. Despite getting banged up every time they bounce their way through, they look none-the-worse when I put them back in the tank. One of them disappeared though. I think the carpet anemone might have got it. They tend to tempt fate around that thing and it makes me nervous.

I'd try to block the overflow but they are too small for eggcrate and anything smaller would just obstruct the flow. Even eggcrate messes up the flow.

That's my story to share for today.

[brizzo]

They tend to tempt fate around that thing and it makes me nervous.

I bet you yell at your fish like I do! :razz:

[Delphinus]

I've used gutter guard sometimes, zap strapped to the eggcrate .. but it's a huge PITA to keep clean if any hair algae gets a toehold in it.

[blacknife]

One of my local fish stores gave me some kind of filter matt that is about 2 inches thick that i cut to the right size then stuffed over my overflow, have not lost a fish down it since. it is open enough i just need to rinse it out once every week or 2 there is not much in it from my little reef fish. I think its meant more like a pre filter for bigger systems or ponds.

[KennyKen]

Yah, its usually my leopard wrasse i find down there, today it was the prawn goby, only he isnt in the sump, he is at the bottom of the overflow, which is about 8" across, very difficult to fish him out.
I just gave up after the second round that lasted an hour. Mine is all meshed up and cover, so i have no idea how he got in there

[Ken]

Hi, I had a few chromis, one of them went over the overflow and into the sump, my sump is fairly huge, so catching it was quite a challenge, so finally I just left him/her in the sump, totally forgotten about the poor guy, but just last week I saw the chromis in the sump and it seem very healthy and content. Unfortunately he/she is the sole single one, but happy. Regards Ken

[Rogue951]

I keep a bad strawberry pseudochromis and Allen's damsel in my sump.
too bad they don't play nice. they both have fantastic character.

[MikeInToronto]

About 6 years ago I had a group of anthias. They were beautiful and the male was spectacular. One day the male disappeared and I was confused because he wasn't in the sump, on the floor, anywhere.
One day while cleaning I found him in the sump. When I built the sump I added an extra hole in some sort of forethought and just capped it using a short piece of vinyl tubing. Well this is where he lived so I never saw him. I remember, too, thinking I doubt he would be in there so I didn't check.
Anyway I had already replaced him. I did something stupid after that and added him back to the tank. Well, the tank big so I couldn't recatch him and the other male killed him. The really sad part was my old male was 100x nicer than the new one. Lesson: Anthias are mean.

Thanks for all the replies and advice. I might try gutterguard.

[Snappy]

These over flow combs made by Aqua-Medic work well, are adjustable and will keep most live stock in the display. They come as a 2pack and you can easily cut them to size. Eggcrate is way too big in my opinion. I bought them through Red Coral Aquariums in Calgary.
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showpost.php?p=13958070&postcount=242

[MikeInToronto]

Yesterday I was heading out to Home Depot to get gutterguard and I got distracted and ended up going to the LFS. While there I picked up a Potter's angel. Anyway, last night he got sucked into the overflow pipe and it wasn't large enough for him to slide through. He was crammed in there and died. Poor fishy. I fed him to my carpet anemone.

I put eggcrate in the overflow. It works well enough. I'm going to Home Depot now to get the gutterguard.

The carpet never looked happier than this morning.

Maybe it was meant to be. Potters aren't really reefsafe. It still makes me sad, though.

I'm down to 1 chromis, too. I think the carpet ate at least some of the other 4.

[MikeInToronto]

These are pics of how I rigged up the gutter guard. Originally I tried just stretching it across the entire overflow but it isn't rigid enough to stay straight. I think the way I rigged it is much better because it doesn't disrupt the flow into the OF. It won't keep the fishes out but it will stop them from going into the sump.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2693/4532782042_b5f388109d_o.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2739/4532149579_10d3c109d3_o.jpg

The anemone is very efficient at digesting its meals. It excreted the "waste" this afternoon and the only thing that came out was a few spines and a blob of goo. Very sad indeed but at least it went to good use. I added a pic of the anemone with some of the goo in its mouth.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2739/4532782982_c13d34a62a_o.jpg