Fish Going Missing

[fletch244]

Hello just wondering if any one can help , ive got a 100 gallon tank had it about 2 years and its in perfect nick
but any new fish i put in are either getting ate or are just good at hiding

ive put 6 red tail sharks 20 neon tetra's and 4 tiger barbs in over the past few months and they have all gone accept for 1 tiger barb i dont no were the rest are ive got a huge silver shark thats quite aggresive but apart from that i dont think theres anything else that would be eating them

 

[Kizz]

what's your full stock list and how big is each fish ?

 

[fletch244]

right here we go

2 kissing gourami
2 clown loach
1 bristle nosed pleco
1 leopard corydoras
1 silver shark
1 suckermouth catfish (huge)
1 banded gourami
4 three spot gourami
5 buenos aires tetra

 

[marksp]

Hello just wondering if any one can help , ive got a 100 gallon tank had it about 2 years and its in perfect nick
but any new fish i put in are either getting ate or are just good at hiding

ive put 6 red tail sharks 20 neon tetra's and 4 tiger barbs in over the past few months and they have all gone accept for 1 tiger barb i dont no were the rest are ive got a huge silver shark thats quite aggresive but apart from that i dont think theres anything else that would be eating them

yes...what do you have in the tank and at what size?
bala Sharks don't have a rep for eating things.
Neons have a rep for dying as they have been line bred to such a degree they have their very own disease http/freshaquarium.about.com/cs/disease/p/neondisease.htm

 

[fletch244]

Hello just wondering if any one can help , ive got a 100 gallon tank had it about 2 years and its in perfect nick
but any new fish i put in are either getting ate or are just good at hiding

ive put 6 red tail sharks 20 neon tetra's and 4 tiger barbs in over the past few months and they have all gone accept for 1 tiger barb i dont no were the rest are ive got a huge silver shark thats quite aggresive but apart from that i dont think theres anything else that would be eating them

yes...what do you have in the tank and at what size?
bala Sharks don't have a rep for eating things.
Neons have a rep for dying as they have been line bred to such a degree they have their very own disease [URL="http/freshaquarium.about.com/cs/disease/p/neondisease.htm"]http/freshaquarium.about.com/cs/disease/p/neondisease.htm[/URL]

2 kissing gourami
2 clown loach
1 bristle nosed pleco
1 leopard corydoras
1 silver shark
1 suckermouth catfish (huge)
1 banded gourami
4 three spot gourami
5 buenos aires tetra

 

[rabbut]

I'd suspect OTS (Old Tank Syndrome) if it's just new fish you are loosing. Can you try and get numerical water test results for Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate and pH, the latter two being most important, please? If you don't have your own test kit to obtain these, a good LFS (Local Fish Shop) should be able to test the water for you Make sure they use liquid drop test kits, and that they give you numerical results, don't accept "it's fine" as it often isn't when they say that Also, Strips are as accurate as guessing your own numerical results

Could you run us through what maintenance you do, how and when please?

I'd probably stop adding new fish until you can sus out what's killing them We can't rule out the current stock getting to them either, as you have a few "large" fish in that list that would be capable of eating the fish you added if they were adults, I.E, the Pink Kissing Gourami, that get between one and three feet, depending on the exact species, and the Banded Goruami, again dependant on the exact species. What size are the afore mentioned fish at ATM? The Silver Shark may eat the Neons if large, but shouldn't be able to get at the RTBS or Tiger Barbs

One you have the tank sorted, you need to add to the numbers of some of the species you already have. The Clown Loach, Silver Shark, Tiger Barb and Corrydorus all need bigger groups of at least four to be happy, and being alone may explain the existing Silver Sharks aggression For future reference, you can only have one Red Tailed Black Shark in a tank as adults, unless you have a 12X6X6ft tank, as they would have a 6ft cubed territory in the wild and would kill any other RTBS or similar looking fish that entered that territory unless that fish was ready to spawn with them, and even then, they'd only mix for spawning. It works in the LFS as they are all juveniles and pack densely in most instances. It can be OK short-term in the home aquarium, but long-term that type of thing would become a blood-bath

All the best
Rabbut

 

[fletch244]

I'd suspect OTS (Old Tank Syndrome) if it's just new fish you are loosing. Can you try and get numerical water test results for Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate and pH, the latter two being most important, please? If you don't have your own test kit to obtain these, a good LFS (Local Fish Shop) should be able to test the water for you Make sure they use liquid drop test kits, and that they give you numerical results, don't accept "it's fine" as it often isn't when they say that Also, Strips are as accurate as guessing your own numerical results

Could you run us through what maintenance you do, how and when please?

I'd probably stop adding new fish until you can sus out what's killing them We can't rule out the current stock getting to them either, as you have a few "large" fish in that list that would be capable of eating the fish you added if they were adults, I.E, the Pink Kissing Gourami, that get between one and three feet, depending on the exact species, and the Banded Goruami, again dependant on the exact species. What size are the afore mentioned fish at ATM? The Silver Shark may eat the Neons if large, but shouldn't be able to get at the RTBS or Tiger Barbs

One you have the tank sorted, you need to add to the numbers of some of the species you already have. The Clown Loach, Silver Shark, Tiger Barb and Corrydorus all need bigger groups of at least four to be happy, and being alone may explain the existing Silver Sharks aggression For future reference, you can only have one Red Tailed Black Shark in a tank as adults, unless you have a 12X6X6ft tank, as they would have a 6ft cubed territory in the wild and would kill any other RTBS or similar looking fish that entered that territory unless that fish was ready to spawn with them, and even then, they'd only mix for spawning. It works in the LFS as they are all juveniles and pack densely in most instances. It can be OK short-term in the home aquarium, but long-term that type of thing would become a blood-bath

All the best
Rabbut

I do water changes every two weeks
and i clean the filter at least once a month maybe more
and ive always been told to put a cap full of nitrite minus a week
i use strips but as you say theyre nothing to go by

and as for adding more of the species i alredy have i totally agree i had 4 or 5 tiger barbs but they have gone missing accept from one
the 2 clown loach's that i have are really big i wouldnt want to have to many more of them
and i had 2 silver sharks but the big one chased the other one around nipping it and it kept banging its head of the glass untill aventully it died
the silver shark i have left is about 9 inches its the biggest one ive personnaly seen

 

[rabbut]

Best action at this point is to have the water tested with a good liquid regent based test kit Report back the numerical results and we can tailor our responses accordingly

How do you clean the filter? Do you use tap or tank water? Vigorous cleaning until the media is spotless or just a light swish? Anything else special you may wish to add about filter cleans?

How much water do you change each fortnight?

All the best
Rabbut

 

[fishman1981]

Silver Sharks get nervous which would consist of jumping out of the tank if possible to banging there heads into the glass