dash8, you remind me of a funny story. I was cleaning the bowl the Beta lived in and had the fish in another container next to the sink. As I watched, the fish leaped from the container and did a pefect, nothing but net, dive right down the drain and into the trap under the sink. In hindsight, I should have given him a burial at sea, but decided to rescue the fish. In my rush, I broke the plastic trap, but was able to rescue the dumb-ass fish. Three hours later, after a trip to the store to buy a new trap and trying to assemble it back together without leaking, I went next door to my neighbor to see if he had any advice or could help. He gave me some caulk which I used to make a flexible seal between the trap and the drain. Problem solved, and not too much paint peeled from the cussing. Seems when the piping was assembled, the *&^%^&* plumber built it in such a way that there was a side load on the trap. Putting it together from the bottom up worked fine, but trying to reconnect everything I couldn't get the trap to line up right to make a seal. My guess is that the trap will outlive the house, and I pity the poor fool who has to try to take it apart.
John