# Lid Hold Down Help



## willrwilli (Jan 15, 2008)

I have a couple of 5" Oscars, and quite often I hear the glass lid open and close. I realize this is due to the fish hitting it, and I know it is only a matter of time that one of them ends up on the floor. I have a 125 gallon tank with the standard hinged glass cover. How do you all secure your lid? I am thinking about painting a 2 x 4 and putting it on the top. Have any of you done something different? Any one use velcro? Please let me know.


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## Guest (Apr 30, 2008)

my oscar did that once.
so i put a 5 pound weight on the side of it [not on the top on the edge kinda]
never tried any of those you listed


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## TheFishGuy (Apr 21, 2005)

Weight.... only for a couple of days should make them stop.... once they realize they can't get a rise out of it anymore :lol:


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## willrwilli (Jan 15, 2008)

willrwilli said:


> I have a couple of 5" Oscars, and quite often I hear the glass lid open and close. I realize this is due to the fish hitting it, and I know it is only a matter of time that one of them ends up on the floor. I have a 125 gallon tank with the standard hinged glass cover. How do you all secure your lid? I am thinking about painting a 2 x 4 and putting it on the top. Have any of you done something different? Any one use velcro? Please let me know.


Last Night I painted the 2x4 black and was letting it dry overnight before putting it on the tank. Before going to bed at midnight, I moved the lights on top of the front hinges just in case. At 6:00 AM my wife wakes me up to tell me there is a fish on the floor. It was my 5" black tiger oscar, and It is not going to make it. I am thinking about doing 2 things.

1. Take back the other 5" and putting 4 2" Oscars temporarily in my 55 gallon tank. If this is done how long do you think I have before needing the bigger tank, and yes I know I will need about 200 gallons. I would use the 125 to house my 13 african cichlids that are in the 55 right now.

2. Take back the other 5" and putting the 4 babies in my 125 gallon tank that will look empty.


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## plastic31 (Feb 4, 2008)

it will look empty...for now, but in the time you have waiting for them to grow you can set up an awsome tank for the four of them, they will love it!


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## TheFishGuy (Apr 21, 2005)

You've got to be kidding me... That stinks... Sorry for your loss


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## terd ferguson (Jul 31, 2007)

willrwilli said:


> willrwilli said:
> 
> 
> > I have a couple of 5" Oscars, and quite often I hear the glass lid open and close. I realize this is due to the fish hitting it, and I know it is only a matter of time that one of them ends up on the floor. I have a 125 gallon tank with the standard hinged glass cover. How do you all secure your lid? I am thinking about painting a 2 x 4 and putting it on the top. Have any of you done something different? Any one use velcro? Please let me know.
> ...


Sorry for your loss. I lost an Oscar to jumping out. I learned the hard way how important a good secure lid can be. You could always get a couple of 5 pound bags of fishtank gravel from Wal Mart for a couple of bucks and set those on top of the lids to keep them down. That's what my LFS does on their couple of big tanks with potential jumpers.

Whatever you decide to do, do it now. You'll feel bad if another jumps out before you work out a solution. Good luck. :thumb:


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## heylady (Oct 14, 2004)

Sorry to hear about your oscar!! 

I have a texas cichlid that likes to leap up so I have resorted to putting an unused tank ornament on the lid (this thing weighs quite a bit). If I didn't have that I'd use a brick! May not look too great but you do what you gotta do!

Sorry again about your O!!


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## willrwilli (Jan 15, 2008)

TheFishGuy said:


> You've got to be kidding me... That stinks... Sorry for your loss


Thanks. It seems like every time I splurge and pay big bucks on a fish that is always the one that dies. I now have 2 painted 2x4's on the front and back of the tank along with the 2 light strips. I have decided to take back the big ones, and just start out with 3 or 4 babies until I get the larger tank. That just seems to make more sense at this time.


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