Divider fail

[Koda]

So today I get home from work and go to look at my bettas. I have 3, Kinu is in his own 2.5 gallon tank (which will be upgraded to a 5g in 2 weeks) and Kaito and Drogo share a divided 10g. When I go to look for my boys in the 10g I couldn't find them. I looked all over before noticing they had both managed to get into the middle section meant to space them further apart and keep the heater and filter away from them. Kaito had gotten himself stuck between the filter and the tank wall, I assume in an attempt to hide, but when I got him out he seemed fine. His fins were all in tack and he swam around normally. Drogo on the other hand is now missing a good chunk of his anal fin :(

I have no idea how they BOTH got through the dividers, but it looks like I might have to upgrade Kinu sooner rather than later and put Kaito in the 2.5g to prevent this from happening again....especially since I plan to leave them in my un-experienced step-mom's care next week -.- I'd hate to make her clean 3 tanks instead of 2 but I'd rather make her do more work than risk losing a fish or 2 because the dividers aren't working.
*sigh* I had other plans for that 2.5g

[thekoimaiden]

Did they slip through the sides? Or jump over? I have these neat little jump guards that I made from the leftover craft mesh my dividers were made with. I keep it in one tank all the time because I have a little acrobat, but I just put one in my second tank when I go away on vacation.

[Koda]

Drogo I know had slipped through the sides before. I thought I made sure there was no wiggle room for that anymore, but they could've figured out how to push through anyways. As far as jumping over, there is a little space between the top of the mesh and the hood so maybe? If that's so it's a bit of a long shot. I may try to figure out how to get the dividers to work better when I come back from vacation, but I don't want to risk them getting through while I'm gone so they'll all be in single tanks for now.