what happened to my male swordfish

[michelle1968]

hi all

Im a new user but i am jumping in here with 2 feet...I have a 33 gallon tank and have a rope fish, bala shark, clown loach, red tailed shark, 2 alge eaters, 1 small frog, 2 female swordfish....my problem is I had 3 swordfish...the male is now AWOL....have no idea where he is...have searched my tank to no avail and also the outside perimeter but cannot find any trace of him...my tank is well sealed in because my rope fish use to jump out and I had to make sure there was no small exits so my swordfish could not have escaped...any ideas what may have happened...figured if he was eaten you would see some sign of him but absolutely nothing!!!

If anyone has any ideas on what may have happened, I would love to here from you..

Thanks

 

[Colisa lalia]

Hi, I'm really glad you are interested in fish. I am quite pleased to hear that your fish are doing well except for the sword, but... I have to warn you your tank is far too small to house either a clown loach or a bala shark. Balas get to a foot easy, need a lot of room and like to school. Clowns can get up to a foot, usually 6-8 inches, and they also like to school. After reading your post I am almost 100% certain that your ropefish ate your swordfish.
Ropefish are quite predatory and the reason you won't see any remains of the swordfish is because the ropefish swallowed it whole.

 

[ryan]

The ropefish will need alot more room soon and I wouldn't be surprised if he had something to do with the disaperance.

 

[michelle1968]

thank you all for responding so quickly...i would never have guessed the rope fish...seems so docile...my fishes are only small yet...will probably have to get a bigger tank...come to think of it the rope fish was like having spasms a couple of nights ago and seem to be dislodging something from its mouth..didn't look much like my fishy but could have been some remnants...oh my poor swordfish...maybe will have to bring back rope fish if he's gonna do that....again thanks so much for your help...

 

[Mustang5L5]

Yup, rope fish got him. I had a ropefish before, but my 12" Albino Catfish ate him. Well, actually he only got half of him down and then had to spit it back up. It was dead at that point...and it was rather disgusting.

Of course I was 10 then.


That's why it's always good to research your fish before you buy

 

[michelle1968]

me again... this is my first fish tank 33 US Gallon and I should have came here first obviously, you would think the people at the fish stores would tell you from the start (which i did ask) on what would be best suited...they sold me 3 tiger barbs which killed my first bala shark...i was so mad...so i whipped them back to the store and got my swordtails...which are being eaten by my rope fish...the pet store told me that my rope fish would not do any harm to other fish, that he was very mild mannered...well i guess eating your neighbor is mild mannered to them....back to the fish store I'm going again...they also told me if was strange that my red tailed shark (which i bought myself with no guidence) was not killing my fish because they are aggressive...he seems to get along real well with all my fish haven't had any problems and he is beautiful to look at...oh well I know in the future where to go to get advice...HERE!!!....Thanks again...oh and anyone have any suggestions on what types of fish I should be looking for? Thanks

PS: so sorry you had to witness that at 10....I also have 2 kids that are 3 and 4 and managed to not let them see what happened to by bala shark...

 

[Colisa lalia]

After you can move the ropefish back to the store and find a home for the bala shark and the loach, I would suggest some tetras and barbs. Not tiger barbs, but say black ruby barbs, or cherry barbs, or any kind of rasbora is usually good. Tetras that stay about 2 in are almost always nice. You could try neons, or black widows, or black neons, or glowlights, there are lots to chose from. Oh and for these fish above always get at least six so they can school. GL