Fish you wouldn't know you had... is that good???

[Magnum Man]

I'm sure we all have a fish that disappears, and just when you though it went into a corner somewhere and died... it shows up... it's probably not good to have dead fish in your tank, that you don't know are there... in my case, I think the plants and fish eat them, and with enough plants, and a water change routine, you may not even notice on your water parameters... and then some fish just show up, you haven't seen them for a month, then maybe they die, and don't show up next month, consumed by your eco system... and on rare occasions they showing up, and disappearing and this continues for years... in the case of my Kuhli Loaches they are totally thriving, I just don't see them for a month at a time, going on now for 3 years... should we really be keeping these fish... maybe we're doing something wrong, maybe they don't settle into aquarium life well... maybe they mature... I have some dissent in my Cichlid tank right now, where I have a few hiding... thoughts on disappearing fish???

 

[gwand]

In my nano Asian tank I have six dwarf emerald raspora. I never see them unless I disturb the plants they are hiding amongst. In my African tank one Alestopetersius caudalis went missing a month ago. No body recovered as of yet. I assume the worse.

 

[emeraldking]

I've got also a number of fish that prefer to hide more than to be in the open. But that's just their nature.
A couple of times a fish shows up that I haven't put in there myself. But it has turned out that some plants I've bought back then , had fish eggs stuck to them which have hatched in one of my tanks.

 

[CassCats]

I buy fish i know I'll never see.

My microglanis and my Bunocephalus catfish are prime examples.

 

[Ceez]

I put some caves into my 180g for the plecos in there and guess who use them, the dang clown loaches...if it was up to them I'd never see them unless its dinner time.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Try keeping some of the B&W Hypancistrus plecos. Early on when working with zebras I had 13 adults and 53 offspring in a 30 gal. breeder tank and folks who would visit would always ask why there were no fish in that tank.

Clowns love to hide in caves. I do not keep clowns with plecos, at least not the plecos I keep. The clowns do not take kindly to plecos trying to use their caves. In fact, when they get big clowns, do not even want to share their cave any more. I put 6 albinos Ancistrus into my clown tank back when none of them were over 6 inches. Within 2 weeks all the plecos were gone. And I do not mean hiding, I mean gone.

Early on I did a favor for a friend and got them a truckload of free tanks from a place that had shut down its second store and had all the tanks from that stores on the loading dock behind their still going store. When I asked to owner about them he said they are free to anybody would take them away. So my friend did. When she arrived at my home for go fetch those tanks she had brought me 3 clowns about 4 inches long/ I had no place to put them, so I ran to town and grabbed a 15 gal. tank for them to do Q in.

I also ordered them 3 caves so they could each have their own. Instead they seemed to prefer for all three of them to cram together into the same cave. How one could get in and out on its own I never figured out. I could not have put the three of them into that cave if I used oil and a rubber mallet.

edited to change on to in in the 2nd line.

 

[fishorama]

I have 2 stiphodon gobies I've had for 13 years. I only see them now every few months at most. I didn't realize I still had 2 until my husband saw both. My tank is very overgrown so it's not really a surprise.

My kuhlis (2 species of pangios) were out & about all the time. 2 even hung out in plants at the surface. Scared the crap out us all when I poked 1 to see if it was alive. They got used to me changing water & didn't bother to move. I moved them to a bigger tank & they'd wait by the door end of the tank. I added black 1s & they never calmed down, busy loachy dancing all over the tank except at feeding time. I miss the semicinctas most. I also had similar shaped, but very different, fork tailed loaches (v. maassi). Dark purple/blue w/a peach color dorsal stripe, really pretty but aggressive compared to the pangios they lived with. They lived under dense plants & wood & only came out if I vacuumed too near them.

We had hiding raphael catfish twice that we only saw once in a while late at night if we paid attention. Same with clown plecos & some others. My bn adults hide, but the now juvenile size 1s are mostly out.

We had a group of clown loaches a long time ago & they were very shy. Their tank was in a room we walked through but didn't hang out in much. We'd see them swimming along the back of the tank sometimes. My last group of clown loaches weren't really people shy but as they grew, they didn't share caves happily. Their tank was next to my computer & the "best" cave was next to me . They seemed attracted to sites with a blue background. I think with some of the botiid loaches they want their eyes shaded, diurnal or crepuscular rather than nocturnal. I cried when I had to sell them before moving.