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I've had a Bristlenose catfish for about 6 years (I bought him as an Ancistrus Goldspot).

A couple of weeks ago I bought 3 Yoyo Loaches, mainly for snail control but also had heard they were quite fun. My tank is well planted with lots of nooks and crannies to hide in.

The 3 loaches found a home in a rocky area where the Bristlenose also generally hangs out...for a few days I saw a couple of the loaches (never all three), then after about a week I saw just one...by around the second week, the one had grown a fair bit to probably around 1/2 to 2/3 of the length of the Bristlenose and 'butched' out a bit as well.

Today, I realised I hadn't seen a loach for a couple of days and was a tad worried. After literally tearing the tank apart, there is no sign of any of the three loaches...no remains, no nothing.

My only conclusion is that the Bristlenose has eaten them, I have nothing else in the tank apart from a couple of Cory Cats, a school of Danios and a smaller school of Black Phantom Tetras.

All my research led me to believe Bristlenoses were primarily plant/algae eaters, only needing a 'meaty' supplement here and there, but this unexplained disappearance seems to tell me otherwise.

We have had other mysterious disappearances over the years, a few Cory Cats, and we also once found the head and tail of a Swordtail 4 or 5 years ago.

Has anyone ever had any experience of an Ancistrus Goldspot with a taste for other fish? This seems so weird to me as the loaches weren't exactly small, out of the shop they were perhaps 2 - 2.5 inches in length. The Ancistrus is 5.5 - 6 inches...that's a hell of a meal and I would have expected the Ancistrus to look bloated, but he doesn't.

Any explanations or stabs in the dark at an explanation would be appreciated!

Ancistrus is generally fed on algae pellets, flake food, bloodworm is also put into the tank now and then, he also feeds on algae on rocks, etc.

Thanks for any help!

I doubt that the bristlenose is doing the actual killing (especially if you noticed no signs of aggression, but it would have no trouble cleaning up afterwards. I'd start looking for other culprits. Perhaps it is an environmental issue.

Thanks for the reply. Typically, after posting the topic, I spent some time looking at the tank and who should I see but one of the Loaches! I don't know where he was hiding when I did the tank search but there he was large as life looking well, colours good etc. Where the other two are I don't know but it seems he's hanging out in the same place as the Bristlenose with no apparent problems. This seems to rule out Ancistrus eating them but also environmental issues (the loach looked great and this is a long established and well maintained tank with healthy fish, old and newish stock...I'm a newbie here but a pretty experienced tropical fish keeper although I appreciate that there is always more to learn and always someone who knows more than you!)

Still...two missing loaches and nowhere to hide...or so I thought. Maybe they're just shy but I'm sure they're not in the tank.

Just typing this the loach has popped out again. Looks really good, looking quite sturdy, blacks as black as charcoal and fins high and proud. Lovely fish, wish I know where the other two are!

Depending what else is in the tank I am sure a BN would soon make very short work of and dead fish in the tank. By the size you have stated it is still growing but slowly.

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Keith

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I say, keep an eye on the yo-yo. They are extremely social and if its friends are alive and flipping, you'll eventually see them. I have 6 and they are not shy AT ALL. Once settled in, you'll see them at feeding time at the very least. Mine are never under cover and all ways making trouble or stopping it. They don't allow any shenanigans, unless they started it. They love to sleep together, in the weirdest places and positions. Once, I caught 3 of them sleeping almost completely vertical, head down on a rock. Unless the other 2 died, you'll soon see them. But I'd also keep an eye on the yo-yo to see if someone is trying to make him a snack. Every once in a while some one goes off their usual diet.

TTFN --->Ta-Ta-For-Now
Kelly ;o}

OK guys. I honestly didn't really think a Bristlenose would kill and eat another fish, but I'm aware they'll chow down on an already dead one. It's a bit of a mystery as the loaches initially settled in really well, although one took a bit more time than the others...within half an hour of being freed from the bag, they were snuffling about, exploring feeding and looking good and have almost become more shy over the two or three weeks they've been in the tank, hence the 'where the hell have they gone' question.

Is it possible that the dominant loach could have killed them and the Bristlenose eaten them? Again, I personally don't think so from what I've read of Yoyo's but I've also read that there can be some scrapping to define a heirarchy.

I'll keep an eye out and hopefully the other two will show up but I'm 99% sure they're 'gone'.

Thanks for your input everyone.

Edit: Oooh, a Kudos point...what's that then?

How big is the aquarium? Yoyos like a lot of space.

Even if your aquarium is copiously equipped with hiding places (bogwood caves etc) you still need a certain size of aquarium if they're going to be happy.

Also, is there any way in which the Yoyos could have escaped from the aquarium and gone carpet surfing, or disappeared beneath the undergravel filter plate if you have one? Only if you have an undergravel filter, you need to exercise care making sure that fishes such as this and Otocinclus don't decide to "explore" the nice tubing, with the inevitable disastrous results. Likewise, if your lid isn't tight fitting, they might have engaged in a spot of carpet surfing, with similarly disastrous results.


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

Cal brought up a valid point that I had forgotten. The first day we introduced the yo-yo's to the tank. They did a fair amount of "jumping". The kids and hubby were quite entertained by it. They would jump up and then shimmy down the glass. But we only saw them do it on the first day. So like Cal said, check the floor surrounding the tank, maybe behind the tank. See if you find their remains. Unless you have a 4 legged pet that could have found them and cleaned it up for you.

TTFN --->Ta-Ta-For-Now
Kelly ;o}

It's a 340 litre Juwel Trigon, they have reasonable lids and I've checked around the floor to no avail so

As most Juwel tanks, this has an internal filter housing which they 'shouldn't' be able to get into, I have checked and they're not in it.

The one left that I did spot after my first post looks really good, but now being sure the others aren't in there, I got some more, and strange enough, they're behaving brilliantly. Extroverted, and playful, just like the 'puppies' of the fish world that I read they were on another website.

I'm easily spotting these every day, they all look great, feeding well...in direct contrast to the first batch that disappeared and I never really saw again. They all came from the same LFS run by a hobbyist.

I think this will remain a mystery.

I probably should have stated my tank from the off in the first post, but as stated, it's a Juwel Trigon 340 litre tank currently stocked with:

8 Zeb Danio
5 Phantom Tetra
1 Bristlenose Cat
5 Yoyo Loaches (hopefully staying that way!)
2 Cory Cats...very old and 'left over' from 'old' stock.
600,000 trumpet snails (probably).

Thanks again!