Could our Gourami have eaten our Guppie?

[Newbie]

I can't figure this one out - yesterday, when I changed the filter I saw all of our fish. Last night, we couldn't find the female guppy. We looked under, around, behind everything. Today, she's still nowhere to be seen.

Is it possible one of the gouramis ate her? Wouldn't there be some evidence (leftovers?)

Help!!!


Tracey

20 gallon tank (established 6/6/03)
2 Red Fire Dwarf Gouramis
4 Zebra Danios
m/f pair of Fancy Guppies

 

[Tanked]

it is possible that a gourami may have eaten it, also that she may have ended up in the filter when you changed it. have you checked the filter? or possibly behind the tank? she may have jumped out as well do you have alot of hiding places in the tank? she could be hiding as well.

 

[pebbles]

,why the gourami, zebra danios are capable of this as well i'm sure. i think maybe something happened to the fish first ,and then maybe it was eaten if you can't find it.have you checked in the filter .sorry about the loss of your fish tho pebbles

 

[Newbie]

Thank you for the replies.
It's not in the filter - checked that. There are several possible hiding places, but I dug up and moved everything this morning trying to find her.
I guess I didn't consider the danios because they're so small - the largest is less than an inch long.

Do we have the wrong combination of fish?


Tracey

20 gallon tank (established 6/6/03)
2 Red Fire Dwarf Gouramis
4 Zebra Danios
m/f pair of Fancy Guppies

 

[wetwetwet]

HiYa and welcome Newbie

When you say established 6/6 ? Haas the tank cycled and did you use fish for the cycle?

And what do you mean by changed the filter?

Any readings for ammonia nitrite etc?

If the tank was still cycling ammonia/nitrite or stress could have killed the guppy and as pebbles says the others then 'disposed' of it...

Sorry about all the q's but it helps give a better picture

 

[Newbie]

Hi wet!

Don't mind the questions at all.
I guess the proper term for what I did was change the cartridge in the filter (sorry - still new at this) - I've looked the the filter part that holds water, in the old cartridge, etc.

I just checked my records and we filled the tank on June 3rd, then cycled it without fish. Later, we added the gouramis and then the guppies and danios.

The levels are:

Ammonia: .5
Nitrate: 20
Nitrite: 0
pH: 6.8

She looked fine yesterday morning - I just don't understand it.

 

[wetwetwet]

Hi Tracey,

How long have the fish bheen in there? - I would be surprised if you managed to cycle a tank in under 4 weeks without fish unless you 'seeded' it from an established tank? or maybe used ammonia (though not sure on this method)

Sry I'm not familiar with your filter - what is the cartridge? - is it the media? or carbon or ?

Were/are you testing regularly during the cycle and had ammonia and then nitrite spike?

Sorrry for the more q's but I'm a little confused (easily done lol )

 

[HooDude]

Wetwetwet,

Tracey is referring to those disposable filter cartridges, they consist of a thin layer of foam or floss followed by a minute ammount of carbon. They are removable and disposable, and commonly used by n00bs and people that are grossed out by fish waste (because you just pull it out by the nice little handle and throw it in the garbage). She is likely running an Aquatech 20-30 filter from wal-mart. Or it could be a fluval underwater filter with a replacable filter sleeve.

 

[wetwetwet]

Ok - so does this cartridge hold all the filter media which is disposed of each time you replace it?

 

[Newbie]

Hi all!

Thanks so much for trying to help.

When we filled the tank at first, we put in the chemicals that are supposed to help the cycling along - stress coat and Stress zyme - I think.

The nitrites have always been at zero since day 1 - we did have the cloudy water that cleared up, etc. I took a water sample in several times to have the "experts" test it and after 2 weeks I believe, they said we were ready for fish.

The filter we have is a TopFin 30. I honestly thought all filters had a cartridge to change. - we pull out the old cartridge, pull off the filter (which we added carbon to) and pull on the new filter, add more carbon and put it back in.

I'm still stumped on the disappearance of our fish- wouldn't there be some trace of her left??