I came home to find one of my new little clownfish missing. Since I have mesh tops, I figured he was still in the tank somewhere, probably in the overflow. So I slid the canopy part way off, turned off the pump so that I could get a clear view, and sure enough he was swimming around in the right overflow. I tried to entice him into a net, but he would have none of that. I needed more room to maneuver, so I pulled the return line out of the bulkhead. I turned around and set the return line in a bucket then turned back around just in time to see Nemo getting flushed down the return, which was now draining back to the sump. Neeeeemmmmoooooo! 
I disconnected the right return line from the pump. No Nemo. I disconnected the left return line. No Nemo. Well, half an hour later, I managed to pull enough stuff out of the cabinet so that I could get at the actual pump. I pulled it out, removed the sponge and strainer from the intake and there's Nemo, inside the Mag12. I had to unscrew the intake cover to get him out. He appears none the worse for wear.
This was the second fish in the last two months to go through the slots in the surface overflow. At least the first one stayed in the overflow and didn't get into the drain or return.
So, after wasting over an hour fishing him out, I decided to do something about the issue. I cut two 1" x 9" or so strips of extra quarter inch clear mesh I had left over from making mesh tops, stretched it across the surface overflow slots, and zip tied it on. It will keep the fish out, but won't affect the flow. Both overflows took all of 5 minutes total to cover. You can barely see the clear mesh when looking at the tank from the front, but I'm going to see if I can find some black mesh anyway.
I would highly suggest doing something similar to anyone who has small or skinny fish. It might save you hours of frustration, and possibly save a couple fishes lives.
I disconnected the right return line from the pump. No Nemo. I disconnected the left return line. No Nemo. Well, half an hour later, I managed to pull enough stuff out of the cabinet so that I could get at the actual pump. I pulled it out, removed the sponge and strainer from the intake and there's Nemo, inside the Mag12. I had to unscrew the intake cover to get him out. He appears none the worse for wear.This was the second fish in the last two months to go through the slots in the surface overflow. At least the first one stayed in the overflow and didn't get into the drain or return.
So, after wasting over an hour fishing him out, I decided to do something about the issue. I cut two 1" x 9" or so strips of extra quarter inch clear mesh I had left over from making mesh tops, stretched it across the surface overflow slots, and zip tied it on. It will keep the fish out, but won't affect the flow. Both overflows took all of 5 minutes total to cover. You can barely see the clear mesh when looking at the tank from the front, but I'm going to see if I can find some black mesh anyway.
I would highly suggest doing something similar to anyone who has small or skinny fish. It might save you hours of frustration, and possibly save a couple fishes lives.
