plants eat them???

[Magnum Man29 143]

so, many of my tanks a full of terrestrial plant roots… and occasionally I lose a fish… but there are times that I can’t find this dead fish to remove it from the tank… seems most likely to happen with a small tetra type fish, but several months ago I lost an adult silver dollar, and I never found it… this particular tank, has large pothos vines that grow all over the house… I suppose in it’s last effort, it may have made a mighty leap out of the tank, and flopped under the stand, but a fish that large, I’d probably smell, before it dried out… but it seems interesting how efficient some plants are at consuming a dead fish… anyone else witness anything similar???

 

[CaptainBarnicles5 3]

I never find dead fish in my tank, unless I notice when its obviously just died. I have a group of Amano shrimp that I suspect make quick work of a body...the snails take care of whatever is left I imagine

 

[gwand28 144]

Some of my dead fish get stuck to the intake sponge on the HOB filter box. Most seem to dissolve into the tank. The bodies are never recovered.

 

[Back in the fold2 1]

I have had some of my Nothobranchius guentherii eaten by snails very quickly when they croaked . I have so many that on the odd occasion I miss one’s demise and this is their fate . Eaten by snails .

 

[GaryE28 143]

Some fish in warm tanks should be named DeBach, or DeBeethoven, for they are excellent Decomposers.

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[raylove]

I quite often don't find small fish that die and that doesn't surprise me as there is so much plant and hardscape cover. I did once lose a 5 inch Congo Tetra though. It was old and on the way out so I looked for him each day as I was expecting him to die. However, on the day he finally went missing I couldn't find him. I didn't want to leave such a large dead fish in the tank so I tore everything apart to try and find him but I never did. I had no snails nor anything that I would expect to devour him so comprehensively so it remains a complete mystery where he went.

 

[raylove]

I actually had the opposite experience once. I bought 4 Corydoras sterbie but they didn't do too well and I lost two in the first few weeks. The surviving 2 did all right but nine months later, sitting in my armchair, I noticed THREE Cory's swimming around. I had definitely found two bodies so I was surprised, but when I looked closer, the third fish was a different species. I hadn't added any more fish in the previous 9 months so I have no idea where or when this guy hitch-hiked in!