A Sad Sad Day :(

[Rorie]

After adding a Paradise fish and a Rainbow Chichlid to my aquarium, i noticed that they were both far to aggressive for my tank and between them they killed two of my guppys

I called P@H (they have a girl who is great) and she was so shocked i was sold the above fish if i had guppys! So i went back to the shop i got the fish (not P@H) and got my money back and money to replace my guppys - and an appology for the bad information.

However, the Chichlid was a nightmare to get out the tank for the return, which meant i had to remove literally EVERYTHING from my tank as he was so good at hiding.

Of course i checked everything 3 times when taking it out to make sure no fish were on it. ONce the fish were out, i put one or two hiding places back in as i was going out to the shop. Now i have come home i have done a check, and my Algae eater has vanished! Now i know you will all say 'a fish cant vanish' but it has! Everything is out the aquarium, i have checked it all again to make sure there is no sad dead fish there. I have them checked the filters, the heaters, everything....and no algae eater

I dont know where he has gone, but i can only assume dead as he is not small in a 90L tank and there is no sign of him 3 fish down in 1 day, and 2 fish returned

 

[Biulu]

Sorry to hear that! But it proves once more that you'd better do your own research instead of relying on what the shop tells you...

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

Have you checked the filter? Some fish do get themselves into silly locations!

Which algae eater species has gone missing?

Sorry for your losses...

 

[Gytas]

Sorry that is really sad

 

[mattlee]

could it have been stuck to some decor when removed from the tank when trying to catch the fish....? have a good search on the floor.
also as stated above fish do get into the craziest places especially when stressed so give every thing a thorough search again

 

[Rorie]

Well generally i do always look online and research first, but at the shop these looked cool and i was 'assured' they would be fine. I think i made it clear i was unimpressed and the guy looked quite timid after.

I checked all the décor over and over and over in a fight of determination to find him. But no luck. I checked the floor, the buckets, the towels, everything. The filter i stripped down, took the pump apart, moved the gravel about. nothing!

When ever i have lost fish in the past they have been tricky to spot until i empty out the tank of decor and then they appear, but this one is a true mystery

 

[mattlee]

do you have any decor like tree roots that can be hollow? if so you might find the fish stuck deep into a root or something.....
other than that as you have checked and checked everywhere, could it have been in the returned bag at the lfs?

 

[Rorie]

Nope, all plants, rocks, and a resin cave thing that i have checked. My only theory is that it attached itself to the bag i put the other fish in, and then when lifting it out, he went 'somewhere'. However, with that said, i put the bag on top of he aquarium to tie, so i would have seen it. Hmm. Well, things can only get better!

 

[drobbyb]

Have you checked behind and under any furniture in the room? Fish love to flop when out of water and they can get into any small openings such as under a chair or couch or behind the tank stand.

 

[AlanTh]

Which one eat the Guppy? The Paradise Fish, or the Chiclid?

 

[mamboboy]

Never listen to advice from pets at home! I always try to test them with riduclous questions to see how they respond. For example they claimed it would be OK to keep an OSCAR with my Angelfish in a 90 litre aquarium. It's sad really because Oscars are beautiful fish, yet they are probably being homed in tiny little setups...
They also told me Clown loaches don't grow too big and the same tank would be enough. I actually wonder if they are told to tell these lies to get rid of stock, or they actually are that clueless?

 

[SlimyReef]

From my experience, I really can't see how those particular species would have been a problem.
Most likely they were just stressed

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

On a related note, I have encountered a real dilemma since this thread started yesterday...

One of my female Lionheads, the one that has paired up with the increasingly stocky male, went missing yesterday. My better half spotted her, poking her head out from the gap under the Juwel heater/filter chamber, every now and again! Part of me wonders if she is guarding eggs down there, or whether she went investigating and now cannot work out how to get back out!

 

[Rorie]

It was not pets at home that gave me the bad advise, but dobbies garden centre- they have the best fish! Pets at home have caused me issues in the past, I have now worked out that there are two members of staff that REALLY know their stuff. I don't think we can tar all the employees with the same lack of knowledge brush as some will know their stuff. However I do not like Pets at home's 2 hour rest period from when fish are delivered to when they go on sale!

It was the paradise fish that started the trouble and would chase all the fish nipping them! The chichlid wasn't so bad, but would still join in. He was really shy, so maybe would have been ok. But he did chase the fish too. I have hears really mixed things about these two. From what I have read, their personalities vary massively from peaceful in a community tank, to highly aggressive. So I guess I got the later. Also I think it is the guppies bright tails that attract the nipping, ir so I've been told