Fish hiding

[marnold00]

Hey all. So, i had one of my cherry barbs disappear. I took all wood/rocks/ornaments out the tank and left them out all evening and not sign. I also checked in the filter and ruffled through the plants. Nothing.

I only assumed that my cories and/or assassins "cleaned up" the body.

This morning there is still a missing cherry barb. These evening theyre back up to 7 and the one which was missing is as active as ever.

The missing one was the female (yes i know this is bad to only have 1 female to 6 males but its a long story which i havent been able to rectify) but i dont think she'd disappear when laying eggs... I though cherry barbs just squirted them out in the open... But she was definitely rather rotund and is a lot slimmer now.

Maybe she was severely bunged up and wasnt feeling good... Anywho i digress.

I checked everywhere! Any ideas? Has anyone seen this behaviour before?

 

[Byron]

I frequently sit and count the number in a species, and several times there will be one, or maybe two, "missing." I will never go tearing around the tank, and this is something you should not do in future, as it is extremely stressful to all the fish. Inevitably the "missing" fish turns up next day, or even a few days later. I have fairly well planted tanks of course, with lots of wood, so it is easy for a fish to "hide" for days at a time. I never worry, even if I may never see it again; one dead fish is not going to cause any issues. If a fish dies and I see it, floating often or sometimes at the front on the bottom, I will remove it. But unless I see it, I don't go looking for it. The stress on the other fish is considerable.

On spawning, barbs are egg scatterers as we term it. The "Reproduction" section in this profile explains it:
http://www.seriouslyfish.com/species/Puntius-titteya/

 

[marnold00]

Thanks. I need to worry less i think! Duly noted regarding the tearing it up. It wont happen again!

 

[Ch4rlie]

I do exactly the same as Byron, if I see one or two 'missing' fish, I will either think I miscounted or they're hiding which is the case more often than not.

But I do come across the very occasional death, usually unexplained and all other fish and shrimps are showing signs of good health then I do not worry too much. Obviously I take out the dead fish if I see it but due to the number of snails, shrimps and fish in the tank the body 'disappears' remarkably quickly and is all part of the normal life cycle.

Though do bear in mind when you have numerous fish it can be hard to count them, they don't exactly stay still in a line for you to count them!

You could try taking a full tank shot and count the blurs on your picture, sometimes that helps...sometimes