Dead Hillstream Loach...

[-germ-]

Found my new baby loach stripped down to the bone this morning, 3 possible culprits...
Hillstream loaches?
Juvenile white cloud mountain minnows?
Siamese flying fox?
I'd assume the least likely are the minnows as they are so young and timid they avoid my loaches at all cost, and i'm not sure if loaches mouths are even capable of stripping flesh.
There is a lot of scrapping between my loaches and the flying fox (long story) but would he actually have been capable of killing one? The loach has been in good health and i'd be surprised if he'd have died before being eaten... Then again its obviously more than possible. Just wondering if anyones heard of a flying fox actually killing a fish, if there is any risk he is going to the LFS today.
Gutted... Rest In Peace Tiny Tim

 

[timmystood]

Sorry for your loss The only thing I would say is that Hillstream Loaches live in extremely fast water. We always recommend turning over the tanks volume 25 times an hour (fast than marines) and really no other tropicals (except other hillstream fish) will tolerate this type of flow, therefore, I would recommend keeping them in a species-only tank.

 

[-germ-]

Can't remember the turnover rate
It's a 20gall with an external canister thats for a 60+gal, and an internal for a 40gal. Its been set up with loaches in mind, plenty water movement, correct temperature. 20% water change every 1-2 days....
Loaches all extremely healthy and active.

 

[timmystood]

Chances are it has just died of something else and the flying fox and minnows have eaten it before you've had a chance to get to it.

 

[Lynda B]

My husband wants a flying fox for his tank and he was told that it would leave other fish alone but would attack members of its own species. As for eating a dead fish, many fish will go for the fresh protein when they can get it. That's just nature. I agree with timmystood that it most likely died of a natural cause and the other fish simply took advantage. Sorry for your loss.

 

[-germ-]

The info your husband was provided with was correct, It will leave fish not of its own species alone in general....
unless you happen to have particularly boisterous loaches, they chased him away from his food constantly when he first arrived in the tank,
in fact they tormented him, although he always gave as good as he got,
now he has his own territory and will chase any of my loaches away from this area competently,
my bravest loach still intentionally harasses him when food is in the tank.
The main query i have is, is a flying fox equipped to kill another fish?
I know in the majority of cases fish (apart from obvious cases; angels+small fish, most fish+fry etc) that fish are only eaten once dead but this situation isn't typical the loach was young and healthy, there is no sign of any of my fish suffering any form of illness or potentially fatal stress, if it wasn't the fox i can't guess what would have killed him.
Cheers for the advice so far

 

[rdd1952]

Rather than a flying fox, I would suggest a true Siamese Algae Eater. There is a difference. Here is a link that explains the differences with photos.

As for the original post, I would agree with timmystood that it most likely died from something else and the other fish just scavenged the body. I don't think the flyiing fox would kill another fish except one of it's own kind. Unfortunately, sometimes fish die for no apparent reason which could be the case with your loach.

 

[-germ-]

Cheers Rdd, i think it is a 'flying fox' as it has the golden stripe on its back....
Although it isn't brown but almost black, i'm rubbish at fish identification, or at least not confident of it, anyone capable of I.D'ing from a good photo?
Theres no other dead fish so i agree (at last) that it probably was just an accidental, unpredictable death....
In fact the other tank occupants are much more active now he's departed, odd.
Ta, all

 

[Bloo]

Chances are it has just died of something else and the flying fox and minnows have eaten it before you've had a chance to get to it.

My instinct goes with this too. It's highly unlikely that any of the other occupants you listed actually killed it.

 

[-germ-]

Yeah i agree, shame, he was only a young un....
Are you any good at fish ID'ing Bloo? Come on, i'm useless...

 

[Bloo]

Are you any good at fish ID'ing Bloo? Come on, i'm useless...

Not bad as long as we're not talking Cichlids.

 

[-germ-]

Hope this works...
Heres a pic and poll, careful, i tiled it so may be slow....
Sorry!

 

[rdd1952]

I looked at the photo and although it's hard to tell exactly what the stripe does once it enters the tail, I think it's definitely a flying fox. Here is a pretty good site that will help you ID it for sure.

Edit: After reading through that complete thread, I see that Bloo also gave you the above link. I keep that article bookmarked.

 

[-germ-]

Cheers all, thought it was a fox.
No more loach deaths, although still a fair bit of scrapping.
Fingers crossed that whatever happened to the little loach was a one off.