Disappearing Fish

[leebee1]

hi there.
im having a few problems at the minute. i currently have a 5ft aquarium and have 1 firemouth cichlid, 1 lake milawi zebra cichlid, 1 red tailed shark and 1 konvict cichlid. i recently added 10 tiger barbs and 10 neon tetras. ive noticed how my neons have been disappearing, ive lost 9 in 3 days and have also lost 3 tiger barbs but no bodies are anywere in the aquarium. i know its not the tiger barbs attacking them as they just squabble amongst themselves. the only fish i have noticed making a nuisance of its self is the firemouth but that is not fully grown and couldnt possibly have eaten the neons and most of the time just keeps to its own area. please help as i dont want to keep having to restock my tank.

thanks in advance for the help.

 

[Davo86]

Hi Leebee
Umm, sorry to say but they are extremely likely to have been eaten given the tankmates,

The Firemouth and Convict are the obvious ones but it also could easily be the zebra which should really be only kept with other mbuna due to their aggression once they mature.

you really need to decide what you want to keep as as the fish grow other fish will start getting eaten or attacked and killed

option A
keep the following

Firemouth
Convict
RTB shark

option B
keep the following

neons
tiger barbs
RTB shark

option C
keep the following

mbuna )zebra cichlid_

Do you have any water stats?

 

[leebee1]

thanks for the help. i should have really thought about it. i originally tried to create a false marine tank with brightly coloured zebras i had a blue a yellow and a brown zebra but the blue got to aggresive and i put it in its own tank i think i should do the same with the others. the convict is still a baby and so is the brown zebra. the yellow zebra was killed by the blue. i think i should set the spare tank up as a cichlid only tank. no i dont have tank stats yet.

 

[Colin_T]

Besides the water statistics, ie: ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, PH & temperature, how long has the tank been set up for? If the tank is newly set up and you have an ammonia or nitrite reading the fish could be dieing and getting eaten by the remaining tank inhabitants.

How often do you do water changes and how much do you change? Also how do you go about doing the water change?

How often do you feed the fish? If the tank is newly set up you need to keep the feeding down to reduce the ammonia levels from building up too high. The more food the faster the ammonia levels go up and the more problems it will cause to the fish.

As mentioned by Davo you need to work out what sort of fish you want. Small convicts and firemouth cichlids can be kept with tiger barbs and neons but they might eat the neons when they get bigger. The zebra could cause problems as most are highly territorial. Zebras also come from hard alkaline water whereas neons and tiger barbs come from soft acid water. Keeping the PH close to neutral (7.0) will allow you to keep a variety of fishes but you need to keep peaceful fish or agro fish.

Edited to add, if you want a freshwater tank that resembles a marine tank then set up a rift lake cichlid tank. This will contain fishes from Lake Malawi, Tanganyika & Victoria in Africa. These fish can be brightly coloured with many being blue or yellow. They do well in hard alkaline water and their tank should be set up and the filter established before the fishes are introduced. Then buy a group of fish that are similar sized and put them in the tank together. This will allow them to establish their own territories and none of them will have an advantage over the others.
Some nice fish to try are the peacock cichlids (Aulonocara sp). Most of the zebras are very agressive so care must be taken selecting tank mates for them.

 

[leebee1]

the tank has been set up for about 6 months, i do water changes once a week. i used a syphon to take the water out and i used the syphon to pump it bk in. i also feed the fish twice a day. im using a fluval 4+ for my filter and have the temp ranging between 25 and 27. not had any problems with the fish untill i added the neons and barbs ive just taken my remaining zebra out and added it with blue zebra in my other tank. which is a 30 gal hex tank. they seem to be doing quite well. would the firemouth and convict be ok with them?

 

[Davo86]

the tank has been set up for about 6 months, i do water changes once a week. i used a syphon to take the water out and i used the syphon to pump it bk in. i also feed the fish twice a day. im using a fluval 4+ for my filter and have the temp ranging between 25 and 27. not had any problems with the fish untill i added the neons and barbs ive just taken my remaining zebra out and added it with blue zebra in my other tank. which is a 30 gal hex tank. they seem to be doing quite well. would the firemouth and convict be ok with them?

if it was me i'd stick the neons in the 30G and possibly the tiger barbs,
and then have the zebras and the convict and Firemouth in the 5 foot tank, which isn't exactly ideal BUT each fish will hold its own and is your best option atm

 

[Colin_T]

Because the tank has been set up for a while it is unlikely to be a water quality issue that is killing the neons. Thus it is more likely they are being eaten, probably at night. Any of the cichlids would do it but you would have to watch and see which one is showing the most interest in the neons. I would put my money on the biggest cichlid in the tank but neons make a tempting meal to many fish because they are small, thin and brightly coloured. This makes them snack size and easy to spot.
Because you have moved the zebra out I would keep an eye on the remaining neons and if they disappear too then the convict or firemouth are eating them.
The tiger barbs should be ok with the convict and friemouth because they are deeper bodied. Most tetras that are tall, rather than slim like a neon, should be ok with convicts and firemouths but you always have to monitor new fish and see how they get along with the original tank inhabitants.

 

[leebee1]

SUCCESS!!! no more neons or barbs have disappeared. the zebras are still doing fine. i wonder how they will do in the future as one is male and the other is female. my shrimp has finally decided to show its face again lol. so all in all i think it was the zebras that were the problem.