Alien Abduction ... Disappearing Fish ?

[knobby]

Hi, i hope someone here can shed some light on this, i have a 30 liter biorb, no heater in the kitchen which stays at about 20-22 degree C.
I put two Gold barbs in, then ater a month i put two Zebra danios in, then after another month i put a CAE in (i know that might have been a mistake now)

Just recently one of the barbs "disappeared" like its gone, can't find it anywhere !!!
thought it was maybe the CAE, but they just attack fish don't they ? not eat them overnight...
then a danio went, and now the CAE has gone , so it looks like it wasn't him then ... whats happening, alien abduction ?
all i can think is somehow they're getting into the filter under the substrate.
Nearly forgot, i change the filter kit at 5-6 weeks and do about 1/3 water change

Any ideas

 

[xingumike]

Strip it down and find them i'd say, there is only a finite amount of room in a biorb and water quality in a tank that small will soon go downhill with potentially 3 dead fish in there.

sorry for loss dude

 

[knobby]

looks like a task 4 the weekens then

Cheers

 

[Bert]

I had a tetra die last week, and I looked forever for him. It wasn't until I took out the filter that I found him. I thought maybe the betta had killed him and ate him or something but I still and not sure how he died.

 

[zoekin8yg]

when weve had tetras die they have ended up in the filter. think a cae is a bit big for that though, he might be in there somewhere.

 

[gettotank110]

1st of all what is a cae and when i 1st got started the same thing happened to me and it took me a while to conclude 3 things that were happening 1. getting sucked into the filter 2...fish can eat another fish in only a pher hours depending on size 3...... the darn things were hiding so good it took me to remove a large peice of artificial coral out only to find that the little dummies found a whole and hid them selved in it other wise look behind you tank i have had fish jump out that 1 inch gap behind of the glass top

 

[knobby]

Interesting ... The CAE is a Chinese Algae Eater, sometimes called a loach, they are graet at first but get aggressive as they get big.

any suggestions for a algae eater of some sort in my tank when its all sorted again

something small !

Gaz

 

[catxx]

in a 30 litre all you would be able to have is otocinclus, BUT they need warmer water and need a heater. as did the other fish you had in the tank.

so i suggest a magnet scraper for your bioorb, and maintenance to keep the algae down that way
are you doing weekly water changes?

 

[gettotank110]

ok i know what that is i just didnt know the abriviation try some small plecs or even rainbow sharks iv noticed that mine clean the alge off of my heater and my power head and their not mean in any way

 

[knobby]

Thanks for the replies..
put a heater in today, 23 degrees, good clean out and filter change and 1/3 water change, bought 3 gold barbs to add to the 1 in there already ...
hoping the heater will give a bit more stability to the tank and more choice of algae eaty types

now for some more research i think

 

[kribensis12]

I am sorry but a 30 liter bio-orb is abuot 7 gallons( I think) and with the circluar shape it means even less swimming room. So your tank is over stocked. I would get rid of the barbs, find the other fish, if dead, find out why, then put some guppies in there.

 

[Jozlyn]

Did you find the missing fish? You might want to establish what happend to them before you add anymore. Do you have a cat???

 

[Birdie]

I lost a guppy a few weeks ago. One day there - next day *gone*

I spent at least an hour looking for him in a 20g tank ( so we are not talking a vast expanse here) Took apart all the caves etc, hunting in and around filter - even took the filter bits apart, even though the inlet thingy is a sort of grille with holes *far* smaller than a guppy. Not a sign. Never found so much as a bone. He wasn't sick, and the only other tank inhabitants were tiddly and peaceful - guppies, small cories, and honey gourami. I did lots and lots of water tests over the next days, in case he was quietly rotting somewhere sob - but no ammonina spike, nothing.

I have a few theories as to what happened - all full of holes and a bit unconvincing.

1) Although he looked the picture of guppy health, he was in fact terminally ill , and died, and was promptly gobbled up by his tiny tankmates, leaving not a single scale or bone, in a short space of time.

2) His highly aggressive (not) tankmates attacked and killed him, and quickly ate the evidence.

3) While I inadvertently left the lid hatch wotsit open for a while he jumped out (through the floating plants) and the cat got him. Can guppies even jump? The tank isn't unattended for long, as it sits in plain view, in a high-traffic area.

4) The aliens got him on their way to your house.

 

[knobby]

I am sorry but a 30 liter bio-orb is abuot 7 gallons( I think) and with the circluar shape it means even less swimming room. So your tank is over stocked. I would get rid of the barbs, find the other fish, if dead, find out why, then put some guppies in there.

Why do you feel its overstocked, i thought that it was about 1" of fish per gallon ?

all the fish are around the 3/4" to 1" mark , don't forget that the CAE is now gone.
I am probably adding 3 gold barbs to the 1 left to make 4 as a group. Then introduce maybe another 3 Zebra danios to the 1 left to make 4 as a group

Thats about 6 or 7" i reckon also a heater to about 24 degrees

Gaz

 

[Elsha]

Why do you feel its overstocked, i thought that it was about 1" of fish per gallon ?

all the fish are around the 3/4" to 1" mark , don't forget that the CAE is now gone.

Fish grow. Zebra danios, for instance, can reach up to 2" when fully grown, perhaps a little larger - I don't know about gold barbs, but I'd imagine they'd be over an inch, perhaps as much as two. That's up to sixteen inches of fully-grown fish.