# Open topped tank.



## ForAnAngel (Apr 5, 2014)

I appear to have a non jumper in my tank. He is hilarious when I get in the room he is always watching what I'm doing. He even follows my hand when cleaning the glass. I have become very attached to my lil man. Long story short, I replace my hood with a finnex planted plus light. The water is 1 and 1/2 inch from the rim, which means it's 2 and 1/2 inches from water to table top. Am I safe from him being able to jump out of these conditions? I have never seen him jump at all, but not really sure how much they can clear. Long winded, but thank you.


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## pfenty (Apr 15, 2014)

I think he'll be okay, before I got aquariums for my babies, they were in a regular fish bowl. And it was filled almost the brim sometimes and I never had a problem.


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## haveyouhadyourteayet (Jan 14, 2014)

I've never had jumping issues. You can always use cling wrap too


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## Sathori (Jul 7, 2013)

When I had no lid on my tank, I just kept the water at least an inch lower than the top of the tank. My betta loved jumping for food, but wouldn't jump other than that. I've also had a betta in a 2gal bowl and he never jumped out - just made tons of bubble nests xD


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## Betta Nut (Dec 3, 2013)

I had a girl jump out overnight her first night with the water being well over 2 inches from the top. I'll never risk that again. None of my boys are jumpers per se, but each one I've seen at least a few times hit their lid in a "freak out" maneuver, like when I bang my knee on my desk. (sorry fishies!)

It's just not worth the risk. Something as simple as some plastic craft mesh that people use for dividers cut to size is better than nothing.


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## sainthogan (Sep 27, 2012)

My female jumped through a tiny hole in her lid chasing a fruit fly with the water almost 2 inches below the lip of the tank. Just because he doesn't appear to be a jumper, doesn't mean he won't. Anything can cause a "non-jumper" to jump, being startled, seeing a bug, bad water conditions, feeling frisky, weather pattern changes (my male not only makes bubble nests when there is going to be a storm, but in certain weather conditions, he starts jumping like crazy), etc. 
If you are going to not have a lid, I would suggest keeping the water well below 4 inches - I have heard people here say that their fish jumps well over 3 - 4 inches in the air. Or, as the others have suggested, put some sort of mesh, or cling wrap with holes.


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## MattsBettas (Dec 18, 2012)

+1 to Betta Nut and sainthogan. 

Bettas are jumpers, there's no way around it. Not having a lid is automatically risky, I always recommend having at least a simple one.


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## ForAnAngel (Apr 5, 2014)

What do you recommend!? I want to do something that doesn't look incredibly tacky, like taping down or anything. What kind of materials? Thanks.


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## AudaxViator (Feb 5, 2014)

Well how big is your tank? Is it a rectangle or bow front? Depending on the dimensions you could get something like this, it comes in several sizes and I have one for my 10gal that is excellent.


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## ForAnAngel (Apr 5, 2014)

Rectangular 10 gallon! That looks much better. Wonder if petsmart or petco have them.


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## AudaxViator (Feb 5, 2014)

Yep, I'm pretty sure they both carry them, I know Petco does. However I think they are cheaper at DrFosters&Smith. When I did a price check the online price was a lot cheaper, even with shipping.


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## ForAnAngel (Apr 5, 2014)

I purchased that glass top and do not love it. I really enjoy open top, so may just go to an arts and crafts store and cut out a design that will sit on the inner rim and go vertically about 3-4 inches. Some sort of hard plastic. Anyone ever seen something of the sort? Will show you what I create... Oh boy.


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## AudaxViator (Feb 5, 2014)

Why did you not like the glass top I linked to? Just curious because mine is great, sorry I recommended something that didn't work well for you! Hopefully you can return it 

If you have lights anything but glass will warp so that's why I stay away from hard plastic. If you don't have lights you can go to a hardware store and find acrylic and plexiglass, just make sure you get the kind that you can cut and resize. I take a ruler, mark the dimensions, and then run a box cutter over the acrylic several times so there is a straight line. Then just snap it off and you'll have a custom top! I used it as a terrarium top and it worked great. But yeah these will bow and warp if you have lights.


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