Ok here is one for you. I had neon tetra and zebra danio in the same tank. They seemed to be happy and co-habiting rather well! One afternoon after work i noticed that 2 tetra were missing - with no trace! 2 days later while syphoning the tank i noticed 2 little fish head "skulls". The i thought that these fish may be omnivorous. My first reaction was anger, but then i thought in the tank ecosystem, perhaps it was better for the fish to nibble and eat the dead fish before they could start degenerating - after all is this not how an ecosystem works?
Who eats Who?
- Thread starter Suricate
- Start date
Most all fish will indeed eat dead fish. I have lost 3 fish in my heavily planted 75 gallon tank and never found any sign of them. They just disappeared. ANd yes I'm sure they aren't any there any more. I'm sure they died and since I couldn't see them to remove them, they became food for the rest.
Maroonostrich
Fish Crazy
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Yes fish nibble at the dead.
And nibble at the dying often too!
In my case a sickening neon was snatched by a dwarf male cichlid- he and the healthy shoal cohabited for weeks until the weakly one made one false move...
And nibble at the dying often too!
In my case a sickening neon was snatched by a dwarf male cichlid- he and the healthy shoal cohabited for weeks until the weakly one made one false move...
Yip I know the feeling of LOOOOOKing into the tank wondering where the darn fish are.
In the end i find it facinating to observe the little animals and try to learn how to read them, find out when they happy or stressed (by their behaviour) as well as what the water quality is.
Speaking of water water quality, I have never tested it. is it wrong to try to rather observe the occupants of the tank to a let them tell you how they are experiencing the conditions. I mean here that you learn the tell tail signs and manage the tank accordingly, i am in no way meaning that the poor things should be pushed to ther stress limits or suffer.
In the end i find it facinating to observe the little animals and try to learn how to read them, find out when they happy or stressed (by their behaviour) as well as what the water quality is.
Speaking of water water quality, I have never tested it. is it wrong to try to rather observe the occupants of the tank to a let them tell you how they are experiencing the conditions. I mean here that you learn the tell tail signs and manage the tank accordingly, i am in no way meaning that the poor things should be pushed to ther stress limits or suffer.
A few days ago, I peered into the tank and saw one of our congo tetras dead against on the surface against the filter intake.
As I watched, the dead tetra seemed to climb up the filter and disappear out of the surface.
Puzzled, I took the hood off the tank to see what was going on to find a small red crab sitting on top of the filter out of the water hauling the corpse of the tetra out of the water for a snack!
This crab must be one of the ones we used to buy for Martha to eat that we used to keep in a small plasic tank on top of the community tank months ago.
It must have escaped the small tank, found it's way into the community tank and set up home on top of the filter!
He's still there now, I hadn't the heart to give him to Martha.
As I watched, the dead tetra seemed to climb up the filter and disappear out of the surface.
Puzzled, I took the hood off the tank to see what was going on to find a small red crab sitting on top of the filter out of the water hauling the corpse of the tetra out of the water for a snack!
This crab must be one of the ones we used to buy for Martha to eat that we used to keep in a small plasic tank on top of the community tank months ago.
It must have escaped the small tank, found it's way into the community tank and set up home on top of the filter!
He's still there now, I hadn't the heart to give him to Martha.
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