Missing Fish!

[timmystood]

OK, so I decieded while my tropical tank was having it's usual morning feeding-frenzy that I would do a rare head-count just to check everyone was present!

Everyone was there except one head + tail tetra! They normally hide pretty well, so I checked out all their usual spots but I couldn't find him. So, i've taken a touch to the tank to look in all the black spots etc. and still can't find him. I've even looked around the base of the plants expecting to find a body but I can't find him/her anywhere, it's really strange... I have looked EVERYWHERE in this tank

 

[millym]

quite often small fish can die & you never find any remains esp in a heavily planted tank, their tankmates are quite efficient at disposing of the corpse quickly by eating the remains & i would suspect this has been your tetras fate.......
unless your sure theres nowhere (like filter pipes) that your tetra could have swam into. have you checked your filter? just to make sure its not swimming around in there ive read a lot of posts from folk who've found missing fish in their filter or underneath an under gravel filter.

 

[mike_nofx]

What else is in the tank?

 

[millym]

mike nofx theres a link at the bottom of the post where you can see tank inhabitants.......im not sure about the cherry barbs but i dont think theres anything in there that would attack a small tetra..

 

[timmystood]

There's nothing in there that would attack a head + tail tetra because their bigger than most of the other tank mates. But even so, would the smaller fish still quickly eat his/her body?

 

[jarmado]

try another head count tomorrow or later tonight.
the numbers might change.

 

[timmystood]

I doubt it - i've looked everywhere!

 

[jarmado]

I doubt it - i've looked everywhere!

i am quite sure you will do another head count one of these days anyway.

 

[starrynightxxi]

cories and a plec could make short work of an H&T

 

[timmystood]

Really? I thought they would leave a body!

 

[Miss Wiggle]

I reckon it's died and either been eaten or decomposed quickly enough for you not too find it. You said it was a rare head count, so if you don't do them that often could it have been dead a few weeks?

 

[Majjie]

Have you got snails in the tank? They can make really short work of a small carcasse and all you would notice would be a group of snails. Happened with one of my guppies and I only noticed by accident because I disturbed the snails before they'd finished and found a tiny skeleton

 

[timmystood]

There is small snails in the tank! I assume it's eaten, but I checked the tank loads of times everyday so I thought I would have spotted it!!

 

[annka5]

They get eaten really, really fast. I had a neon die in my tank, they were all there swimming about early evening then a few hours later I saw what was basically a near-skeleton in the tank. I was amazed how quickly they polished off the remains. There was only rosy tetra, neons and a dwarf gurami in the tnak at that time.

 

[timmystood]

Wouldn't I find a skeleton though??