# Fish keep disappearing



## mauve (Apr 12, 2010)

Mistery.
First it was an algae eater, gone without a trace.
Now I come home and find one of my rams
gone. I searched everywhere, took the drift wood and inspected
it inside and out, nothing. Not even a body.
What the heck? Do I have a portal to another 
dimension in my tank?
Does it happen to anyone else?


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## BillD (Jun 5, 2006)

Yes it does. I have lost more than a few I never found the bodies from.


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## TBemba (Jan 11, 2010)

Well a couple of things could be happening.

1. You have a jumper, Check around the tank fish can sometimes travel pretty far.

2. A fish in your tank is eating your other fish. What do you have in the tank?

3. Sometimes a fish can hide really well and can show up.

4. Sometimes like socks in a dryer they go missing and you never find out what happened.


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## igor.kanshyn (Jan 14, 2010)

TBemba said:


> Well a couple of things could be happening.
> 
> 1. You have a jumper, Check around the tank fish can sometimes travel pretty far.
> 
> ...


It's a good list.
Jumping is quite possible. Search around a tank, look under a carpet if you have one ...


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## mauve (Apr 12, 2010)

I did check around the tank.
I have 4 neons, one algae eater (efficient, corps consuming cannibal, perhaps?), and one remaining ram.
The missing ram was in the tank this morning. 
I don't think it's beautiful body  could have been consumed that fast.
Could it be a bird? We have all kinds of aves visiting the balcony close to which the tank is.


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## WiyRay (Jan 11, 2009)

What kind of algae eater do you have? 
I've seen a chinese algae eater pick a goldfish that was x3 its size to its bare bones over a single night before.


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## mauve (Apr 12, 2010)

WiyRay said:


> What kind of algae eater do you have?
> I've seen a chinese algae eater pick a goldfish that was x3 its size to its bare bones over a single night before.


The Siamese one


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## igor.kanshyn (Jan 14, 2010)

mauve said:


> The Siamese one


I lost one recently, it jumped out from the small tank


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## TBemba (Jan 11, 2010)

mauve said:


> The Siamese one


Those guys can be really nasty. I wouldn't recommend having one with the fish you have currently.

Are you sure that is what you have? Because they can often be mislabeled in fish stores.

I had a Flying fox very similar and it cause all kinds of problems in my tank stressing out the Discus I had at the time.


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## mauve (Apr 12, 2010)

I bought it from Frank's, I am sure it is a SAE and he is quite meek.


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## Cory (May 2, 2008)

Most of the time if this happens the fish has died and its body has been consumed/rotted to the point where it cannot be found or recognized. Given that rams don't usually jump I'd say that's what happened. It may still be around just not in a form you recognize . Look for very small bones, with an SAE in there that'd be my guess.


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## mauve (Apr 12, 2010)

consumed in 5 hours? Also , the fish ould have to be dead. As far as I remember, it was super happy when I was leaving.
I searched every inch of the tank. There aren't that many places the remains could be hidden.


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## Holidays (Apr 18, 2010)

take a picture of your tank and post it here.


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## mauve (Apr 12, 2010)




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## mauve (Apr 12, 2010)

I took all the wood out to do a thorough search.


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## Holidays (Apr 18, 2010)

is that a filter or heater? do you have both filter and heater? what kind? do you have a lid for your tank? just a wild guess, do you have kids who like to play with your fish? I had a niece who drop a crayon in my tank, not cool....little niece.


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## WiyRay (Jan 11, 2009)

I don't know anything about siamese algae eaters. 
Anyways, that tank looks pretty open. Aside from that big block of wood with your pink t-shirt covering perfectly over that dark area in the picture  , i wouldn't know where else you could look.


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## AquariAM (Jan 28, 2010)

Over the last 10 years I've found about 8 fish that got 'stuck'. Most common are gouramis- especially Colisa sp that are like living minivans- forget how big they are and can't back out then they drown. Never had a catfish of any kind get stuck. Had livebearers and various kinds of cichlid get stuck. Fish can jump through the most tiny of holes that they only just fit through, then flop across a floor into another room. A friend had a 2" amano shrimp make it from his 3rd floor bedroom to the basement. How? Nobody knows.

If that's your tank setup, you have that filter covered at the intake like that and just the one log and you checked everywhere I think you may have jumpers.


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## Cory (May 2, 2008)

Of course, the fish would have to be dead although I have heard of aggressive SAE killing other fish and eating them. If you don't think he died and can't find him in the tank though then the only other option is a jump in which case he'll be on the floor somewhere. Fish bodies become dessicated fairly quickly so an already small ram will be even smaller on the floor.


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## mauve (Apr 12, 2010)

Misery solved.
The ram was sucked into the filter 
Considering that I've never had even smaller fish in smaller tanks stuck in the filter before, it was hard to imagine that ram would swim in, plus the opening is not that open with CO2 tube going in. Damn, that sucks.


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## qwerty (Dec 15, 2009)

Fish normally wont get sucked into a filter. This usually only happens when the fish is weak for some other reason.


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## Steeners (Mar 28, 2010)

Awww, poor little guy, sorry to hear


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## igor.kanshyn (Jan 14, 2010)

I't a pity. I'm sorry.
My big snails used to crawl on the filter intake and their body used to get sucked into it.

You can secure your filter intake with a net from a garlic package. The net can be attached with a rubber from newspapers.
Look at the picture I with my former net: http://www.shrimpnow.com/forums/atta...4&d=1270169008


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## mauve (Apr 12, 2010)

She was a really nice female, robust and ready to mate.
I think Menagerie still has them.


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## igor.kanshyn (Jan 14, 2010)

mauve said:


> She was a really nice female, robust and ready to mate.
> I think Menagerie still has them.


It happens.
Just for the record, I lost my pair of beautiful German Blue Rams from Menagerie. They died for unknown reasons.


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## Holidays (Apr 18, 2010)

the suction hole for the filter is bigger than the fish? hopefully you can fix or change it? its a nasty death for the poor fishy to be crushed in the filter.


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## mauve (Apr 12, 2010)

I think I am officially giving up on rams. Too fickle.
After spawning successfully a healthy male ended up in the filter. One minute he is chasing everybody in the tank and then the filter starts running slowly. 
Other even smaller fish do not end up sucked in.
Does any one want the female?


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## Philip.Chan.92 (Apr 25, 2010)

Just get a prefilter intake sponge...I will guarantee no fish or fry will EVER get sucked up into your filter. My fish only get caught in the filter when they are dead or near-death sick. You can even just put some nylon mesh netting over the filter intake, having a a fully exposed filter intake isn't the brightest idea


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## mauve (Apr 12, 2010)

Philip.Chan.92 said:


> Just get a prefilter intake sponge...I will guarantee no fish or fry will EVER get sucked up into your filter. My fish only get caught in the filter when they are dead or near-death sick. You can even just put some nylon mesh netting over the filter intake, having a a fully exposed filter intake isn't the brightest idea


That's the point, "dying or near dead", I don't mind them sucked in.
I mind them getting dead or near dead without any warning 
You are right though, i need to put something on that intake.


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