# Tang in Overflow..



## Aaron27 (Sep 15, 2010)

So... one of my blue Tangs decided to leap into the over-flow.
Any ideas on how to get it out?

It's a 24" deep overflow and it's hiding at the bottom, obviously evading any attempts to net it.


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## MEDHBSI (Sep 4, 2011)

happened to me before I finally got him with a long net. I'm not to sure what else you could do


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## tony1928 (Apr 22, 2010)

I've seen someone rig a piece of egg crate inside the overflow about six inches below the water line inside the overflow. He put a piece of coarse mesh on the egg crate. He had the same problem with fish getting into the overflow. 

Sent from my gigantic Samsung Note 2


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## Aaron27 (Sep 15, 2010)

I definitely tried to net it, but it was impossible. 

It's about a 4.5-5" Tang and it was curling itself around the pipe that drains into my sump, making it absolutely impossible to either net, or just flat out grab.

Good idea for the future Tony, I will have to try something like that. I've never had that happen in the 3+ ish years I've had my tank... or if it did happen, I probably just thought the fish was dead.
The only reason I even discovered it, was that I hadn't seen the fish for 2 days, and absolutely could not believe that it had suddenly died and been completely devoured.
So, I was just peering down from the top looking for the corpse, when I saw a flash of blue in the overflow.

People can laugh, but my solution last night was:
1) Fill the bottom of my overflow up to the middle slots/holes (about 12" up) with sand, forcing it higher in the overflow.
2) Get out 3 gigantic tupperware containers and drain half my display tank (about 45 gallons).
3) With the fish sitting on the sand, in almost no water, I reach in to grab it.
4) Get sliced three freakin' times by the barbs as I try to pick it up. (Holy CRAP they hurt ... a LOT)
5) I finally pick it up and yank it out, pushing it back into the main part of the tank.
6) Re-fill the tank.

It seemed to be swimming around ok this morning -- but I'll have a closer look when I get home from work.

Thank you for the ideas!


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## Aaron27 (Sep 15, 2010)

Uggh, now I also have to suction that 12" of sand back out of the overflow haha.


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## onefishtwofish (Apr 21, 2010)

good rescue job. hope that fish appreciates your efforts...............


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## JTang (Apr 21, 2010)

Hey that's a great rescue job u did! Hope she is fine after all...


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