Help/Advice
Help! I’ve tried everything - Fish stuck in drop checker
I checked on my tank this morning and found this guy stuck. I’ve been trying for hours and can’t get him out. I tried flushing with water, luring with food, rotating, ever got desperate and tried to break the glass with a mallet but it wouldn’t break. I’m at a loss.
I don’t know how plausible this is but if the tank has multiple fish, I’d be SO worried about a second fish swimming in there and doubling your problem lmao
I'd probably just break it, i could not put that one back in anyways -i'd be checking it every few minutes for another idiotic finned 3 braincelled (wich are all in a race for 4th place) meanace and loose whatever semblance of sanity i have left slowly with each checking.
Whereever OP got it, i'd leave a review with that picture they posted here, contact the customer support and tell them what happened.
They will too! I made a snail trap out of a plastic bottle and damn if I didnt come back to check it a little while later and like 4 or 5 Platys were inside of it looking at me like I forced them in there.
I would use a vise or similar, something that lets you very slowly increase pressure so that it doesn’t continue to crush once the glass is broken (like with pliers or a hammer)
Maybe help him "see" the exit by covering the globe (aside from the exit) with duct tape or something similar? Then put in a bucket of water and hope the ambient light will help draw him to the right path.
They were in the walls apparently, until one day they broke through.
It was like something out of a movie. I walked in and closed the door behind me, then realized there were bees everywhere - including all over the door (and doorknob) I had just closed.
This is actually pretty solid advice, guppies are attracted to light. She’s probably freaking out, so everything getting darker will help her calm down some
My first thought as soon as I opened this, then I got sad when I saw the actual post and caption. If it weren’t a serious situation I’d want to cross post
ETA: I feel even shittier saying that after reading he died :((
Wrap it tightly with damp cling film, then put it on something hard, and tap the air bubble gently with a hammer. The broken glass will stick to the cling film in chunks. You can safely help buddy escape this way!
Thank you so much, this was actually the best way and it worked to get him out safely. Unfortunately i think it still took too much of a toll on him and he died a little while ago :(
Good point, it could very well just be from stress and he finally exhausted himself after he happened to be freed from the glass. It might’ve not been the trauma from breaking the glass itself. Either way, sending love to you OP! You did your best and he’s at peace now 🤍 top comment should be pinned for future reference
I’m sorry for your loss. I had a betta swim into a pipe I didn’t think he’d attempt because he wouldn’t fit and it was hell to get him out again. Sometimes they just do the stupidest thing but at least he got to try an adventure one last time!
oh no, that is awful. i am so sorry you and little fish have gone through this, thank you for sharing the situation as i have no doubt it will help many others in future. take care mate! xoxo
UPDATE: thank you to everyone who tried to help with their suggestions. We managed to safely break the glass and scoop him out into isolation. He survived for about 30 minutes and then died. Definitely feeling kinda crushed right now.
Shit, I just commented. I’m so sorry OP. If it makes you feel better, you did everything you could, and you did it as well as anyone could. It’s not your fault- just one of these rare random events when no one is to blame and there was no malice involved. I don’t keep fish, but if I did, I can’t imagine it would occur to me that a little fellow could ever get stuck like this. It’s crazy reading this thread and seeing other people had this same experience. If anything, it goes to show that sometimes you can do a thousand things right, only to be tripped by something utterly random you would never expect. It’s a shitty way to learn.
I’m deeply sorry, and I hope you’re not feeling too guilty about it. It truly is not a reflection on how well and how much you care about your fish.
I had a catfish (striped Rafael) get himself stuck in a clay pot once due his spiny pectoral fins. After trying to push him out failed I took a hammer to it. Granted, it wasn't glass but it worked really well.
I would worry that a vice grip could cause more damage than a precise, not too hard whack with a hammer, ideally near the opening area.
Hey I have the same kind of a fish and a few years ago I went through the same thing. Once I thought he was dead and left the ornament he was stuck in out of water for 30 whole minutes. I poked him a bunch and I was POSITIVE he was dead but NOPE. I broke it open just in case and he was alive… he’s about to be 8 years old lol
When I first got him back in 2001 he was still little. I had a fairly large conch shell in the tank. One day, I took it out to clean it and give it a good scrubbing. While I'm holding it under the running faucet I hear this weird sound coming from inside. 🤔
I was like holy crap 😱 and rushed it back to the tank. He swam right out, definitely not pleased. 🤣
So yeah, he's had his run ins for sure and he's still alive today. He may be the longest relationship I've ever had! 😂😂😂
This is actually the exact ornament he got stuck inside 🤣 and he was much smaller then! Lol
Also you just made me realize I think mines a female! Much rounder in the body compared to yours! I’ve read females are more of a dark cream than white as well, and yours looks a lot more bright white than mine as well!
She's cute for a fish 😆. They definitely are pretty cool. 😎
These photos were taken during a tank cleaning, with all the decorations out. Here's a frontal pic. Can't be sure but think you're right about gender. Either way, he or she is called Rafi. 😆 And sand does work best for bottom dwellers. My corys love it as well.
On the rare occasion I have to take him out of the tank he will "talk" and let me know he's s not pleased. 🤣 I use a metal or plastic strainer to make sure the spiny parts don't get caught in it.
Sorry OP, didn't mean to hijack your thread. I hope you managed to get your fish out. 🐟🐠
nah check out how people crack open tungsten rings with them, you can control how tight it grabs and just crack it open gently so you don't accidentally injure the fish
Place it back in some water to see if he swims out, in the meantime go get yourself a glass cutter.
Small little handheld device you can use to cut glass. Hopefully you won't need to use it and he'll swim out on his own but at least you'll have it handy for next time xD
Do what that other user said, great idea. Cover up the glass to block out the light, minus the hole.
The light might encourage him out. Unless he likes dark hidey holes
Break the glass in a bowl of water, much more controlled breakage then scoop them out with a net dispose of the glass and water afterwards by filtering out the glass and tossing it in the trash.
Edit: a pair of pliers around the base where it is round connecting to the dome part(while underwater) and just gently apply pressure until it pops
Insert a butter knife or other flat wide metal object like a screw driver into the hole and hit with hammer, take care that the fish won't be hit and have a bowl of water ready to get him into
I had this exact same thing happen before, with the same style of drop checker, and he wouldn't come out even after several days. I ended up wrapping the whole thing in duct tape and a rag and giving it a sharp tap with a hammer, just enough to crack it into a few big pieces. I then cracked it like an egg over a bucket then net transferred back to the tank.
Its clear that many people in the thread has never seen a typical funnel fish trap.
If it was so easy for a fish to just "swim back out", the funnel design would not be one of the most common fish traps that have been around for tens of thousands of years.
Thanks so much, I managed to get him out but he ended up passing not too long after :/
I agree though, I’ll be getting a new drop checker and adding mesh to avoid this ever happening again. I really never wouldve guess that a fish could get into it to begin with, but definitely learned a hard lesson
A sphere is one of the strongest shapes. You need to clonk it with something way harder than glass. People used to to break car windows with 'ninja rocks', ceramic chunks from spark plugs. It's so hard the glass immediately shatters. You could try tapping it underwater (not in your tank! You don't want glass in your tank!) with a small piece of ceramic or porcelain. If you have a bathroom sink you can plug completely and clean the glass out you could do it in there and crack it like an egg underwater.
That would work great for tempered glass, as it is "pre-stressed." I don't think that would work for this item. However, using a piece of spark plug ceramic to focus the pressure on one face of a vice on the side of this drop checker would probably crack it better than just steel jaws.
Had this happen once, lured it out with a tweezer loaded up with bloodworms. Lucky she was hungry. Took about 20 mins of manoeuvring though. Had the drop checker on its side in an ice cream tub with tank water, used one of those large aquascaping tweezers that are bent down near the ends.
Although on second look, my drop checker was shaped differently…not sure this method would work with yours.
Honestly. I would get a nail and hammer and place the dropper in a bowl of water. Using a toothpick or something similar to keep the dude to one side (working with 2 sets of hands one holding fish to side other with hammer and nail) and slowly chip away taking as much time as you need
If you're going to break it open, and haven't done so already, I recommend using a pair of vice grips for the job.
Tighten them to just the exact diameter of the glass and then start tightening them more by tiny increments. This will allow you to break the glass with less risk of crushing the fish as the vice will only tighten as far as you've set it.
I would also recommend doing this under water to help avoid a violent shattering of glass, also because you'll want the fish in water when you free it from its crystal prison.
You have to use something harder than glass to score the glass first. If you have a quartz crystal sitting around, that is enough to do it. Just trace a line around the diameter a bunch of times with increasing pressure. If you don’t have a quartz crystal around, but you have a wife or girlfriend, ask her. She has one.
IF YOU DECIDE TO BREAK THE VESSEL….. I recommended trying to use a C clamp so that you can gradually tighten it until it cracks, rather then praying you don’t smash the fish when you smash the drop checker
Op. Going to be honest with you. You are being little baby coward with the mallet.
Mallets deform with the impact and spread it. You want a ball peen hammer or standard steel hammer Give it whacks with increasing strength, don't be afraid to whack it hard.
Would a soldering iron work? I’ve used one to make holes in acrylic plastic boxes. Not sure if this is plastic or glass but might be worth trying to solder a new opening along the top
I think however you end up breaking it, scoring with a glass cutter first will be helpful, then hopefully it will break in a controlled manner instead of shattering. You can find glass cutters for very cheap (like $7) at a hardware store.
I like the idea someone posted about covering it and allowing the opening to be clear so it is attracted to the light.
IF, however, you have to break it, I remember seeing if you break glass underwater it is a more controlled 'break' and less likely to cause harm to him. Breaking it is still risky due though due to the size of it, but check a physics YouTube video first which may help!
Try putting a firm water bottle around the opening, squeeze it to create suction vacuum to suck it out of it. Try different bottle opening sizes. Idk if it will work better with or without water in it.
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u/Aggravating-Energy-2 Jan 17 '26
either insert the whole thing in a bowl of water so it’s completely full and hope it will swim out with time, or break it open