Missing fish

[cait.russ]

A couple months back I introduced 5 black phantoms tetras to my tank and all seemed well for a few weeks until one of them went missing. I emptied the tank, checked inside the filter and checked all round the outside of the tank and nothing. Now the same thing has happened to one of my yoyo loach’s. I have one male in my tank which is a black phantom and probably the largest fish I currently have and I’m wondering if he could possibly be killing the smaller fish causing them to be eaten? I assume they’ve been eaten as there is absolutely no trace of either of the fish in or around the tank.

 

[mcordelia]

A possible scenario is this: fish are dying from a different cause (stress, disease, etc), and they are being eaten by the other fish before you find them.

can you post a picture of your tank? What size is it? What are your water parameters (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH, GH, KH, etc)

what other fish are n the tank?

 

[Guyb93]

I also had a vanishing fish not long ago stuff like that there are endless reasons why but yeah chew I water parameter if all good it’s guess work I suppose

 

[cait.russ]

There’s no disease amounts the fish I’ve had checked all the parameters and everything was fine. I did about a 70% water change today and removed all ornaments from the tank to check for any signs of them and given everything a clean down and the water all seems to be okay still. I have 4 guppies, 4 black phantoms, 1 yo-yo loach and a plec and everyone seems perfectly healthy and happy

 

[Fishiemang]

Usually, unless you have a large fish that gulps them down whole, you'll find a skeleton somewhere in the substrate or under a decoration.

I had a volcano thing in one of my tanks for a long while. When I first got into cories, I had a tank with like 8 khuli loaches in it. They ain't the smartest little worms, but they are ferocious when opportunity strikes. Well, I kept finding cories vanishing. Then the loaches started going missing. Ultimately, I had 3 loaches remaining and no cories. I took everything out of the tank, and low and behold, the fish were being dragged into the volcano amd.ate up. I found 5 long loach skeletons and 4 cory skulls with spines and ribs....picked clean. The khulies were having a buffet in there on cories until I stopped putting them in, then they turned on each other. Was nuts.

 

[Gypsum]

I've had fish go missing in my 240L tank. I blamed the raphael cats. At one point, I lifted up all the logs and slate caves searching for one (a juvenile panda cory), but never even found remains. Recently lost a black cory which never grew out quite right -- it was small and weirdly stunted compared to its pals, so I presumed it had some genetic deformity and would not last much longer. When it disappeared, I didn't bother overturning the tank. I'm sure the raphs took care of it.

 

[raylove]

To be honest you won't always find skeletons, particularly in a densely planted tank. I had a ailing large Congo tetra. One day he was missing and I assumed he had finally died, but despite an exhaustive search I never found the body. The tank only contained small fish so that was a mystery.
A few months ago I moved a tank. The fish were placed in a sparse new tank and I lost one pygmy chain loach. There were very few hiding places but after 6 weeks he turned up, looking a bit thin and pale but otherwise OK. No idea where he had been hiding!
I once lost 3 small clown loaches which I assumed had died then I found them alive and well under the undergravel filter!
I once had 4 Corydoras Stebei in a tank. I found a Corydoras body so I assumed one had died. Months later I moved the remaining 3 to a new tank, however, a year later I found one still living in the original tank! The dead Cory must have been a different species living unseen in the tank from years previous.