Other than it being a good plot point, why Nemo? Wasn’t Jacques the shrimp small enough to swim in there and do this? If I’m overlooking an obvious reason just let me know; this is one of those things that’s just bothered me since I first saw the movie and I’d like to put it to rest in my mind. 
Well, you are right about Jacques being small enough, but I doubt his limbs are as strong as Nemo’s fin.
Yah, I’m with TSS; I doubt Jacques would be strong enough to pick up a pebble. But then again he did peddle that volcano valvy thingy … maybe he has more strength then we know. He probably pretended not to know English when they considered it. 
Yeah, it’s gonna be something along the lines of that he wasn’t strong enough, or he was just a wimp. 
Oh, great. Now I’m going to be thinking about that all day. My best guess is that Nemo spoke more English (or Engfish ).
In my opinion, it was because Jacques is not made for fast swimming against currents. Therefore, he would not be able to get as close to the opening as Nemo could.
I also agree with the fact that he isn’t strong enough to handle a pebble that big.
Oh, yeah, he’s really light. You can see that on the full screen DVD menu.
All rightie then. 
Good enough I guess.
To be honest I never even thought about Jacques doing it. When Gill said “yer the only one who can get in and out of that thing” I figured that was it. I didnt think of anyone else doing it. Plus Jacques has those feelers and I’m not sure if he could have made it through the filter with those or not…
lennonluvr: and also, when Gill said “yer the only one who can get in and out of that thing”, doesn’t that give the hint that Jacque already tried fitting himself in there?
That could be, but we don’t know anything from their past. Except where the tank gang come from and how Gill that that broken fin.
And besides, we have never seen Jacques swimming more than a few millimeters aboce the ground. Maybe he couldn’t jam the filter because he can’t swim that high.
You’ve got a point there, WoN- even with Nemo’s weaker fin, he can still outswim Jacques who is, on the other hand, a very, very weak swimmer. By the way he swims, it does look as though it takes a lot of effort for him to move just a little, so he might not have been strong enough to swim up and carry the stone at the same time.
Not to me, because the possibility of Jacque’s trying that never crossed my mind. I’m not saying that there wasnt supposed to be a hint of that, but I never got it if there was.