gourami stuck in driftwood!

[fishdude]

I have 4 dwarf gouramis in a ten gallon tank with 6 glowlight tetras, and 2 albino cories


yesterday i was shocked to find one of my large adults had gone into a hole in my driftwood half his size and gotten stuck! I eventualy managed to pull him out, but he was torn up and died over night. is there a reason for him going in the hole?

And, after i removed him my other gouramis tried to go thru the hole so i removed it


is this an instinct or something because they have never done it before?

[Andy16]

Probably got chased my another gourami into the hole. Might have looked like a good spot for it at the time, until in got stuck.

[Hebdizzle]

what makes you think he was actually stuck? How are you positive he wasn't still hiding in there? If he got in there... 95% of the time they can get out.

[Tempest]

Yeah, they can get stuck. One of my angelfish did the same thing chasing food. Lucky for the angelfish the hole went all the way through and I pushed it on out. It recovered from the abrasions with the aid of some melafix.