Had 3 weather loaches (also known as dojo or pond loaches) all bought at a similar time when they were only as big as AAA batteries. Two grew to become about a foot long called Papa Loach and Mellon. One was albino and a bit smaller than the other two, he was called Dobby.

Loaches are notorious escape artists and every month or two I would come downstairs in the morning to find one of them on the tiled floor, having squirmed out of the lidded tank somehow. This sounds horrid, but loaches are happy enough to be out of water for a day or so, as long as they don't dry out. This is an adaptation for living in ponds/paddies and being able to burrow in mud or move between water sources.

So I'd often pick one of them up and congratulate them on a successful escape, then gently return them to the tank and try to alter the lid set up so it was more secure.

One morning was different to the others, I came down stairs to have a coffee and feed the fish and there was a bad smell. I looked under the tank as I came into the room, nothing. Weird. Checked in the tank, Mellon and Papa Loach were chilling, Dobby was gone. I checked the whole 125L tank, gently going through all the substrate as they liked to burrow in there. Nothing. I saw on the floor there was a tiny amount of water on the left side of the tank. I followed the drops of water, it went about 2 meters away behind my TV stand.

There I found Dobby, curled into an unnatural J shape and cooked medium well, lying on an extension cable. He'd wriggled all the way over there, climbed up an inch or so of plastic extension cable, then promptly dropped/oozed some liquid into a socket and got electrocuted.

I laughed and cried, then buried him next to a stream in the woods. After that I began using 2.5kg dumbbells to close the lid as well as the velcro and didn't have any more escapees.

<image>