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Hey guys hopefully one or more of you will be able to help with a little problem I have.
I am experiencing a case of disapperaing fish, to date, one of my sunset platy's and also my chinese algae eater have mysteriously disappeared, and I have found no skeletons as yet to suspect them being eaten.

obviously they may still be being eaten, so i will list all the fish currently in my tank and hopefully u will be able to help identify which fish if any is doing the eating(if that is what's happening)
In my tank is:
1 sunset platy(formerly 2 - one as already said, just disappeared)
2 leopard danio/white cloud cross
1 male siamese fighter(7cm)
1 male paradise fish(9cm)
2 bolivian rams(5cm)
1 small(2.5cm) one eyed tiger barb(formerly 5 but i removed other 4 due to aggression)
1 adult green barb(4cm)
2 bala sharks(8 & 12cm)
1 pango eel
2 corydoras sterbae
1 sailfin plec(20cm)

And i used to have a chinese algae eater(10cm) but that also mysteriously disappeared.

can any of u help me please? i have no idea what is going on in my tank but if there is a cannibal in there i need to relocate it to another tank asap before i get any more absentees.

Have you seen any signs of aggress between any of the fish? Also what size tank do you have? I know barbs can get nippy when they are by themselves and the long flowing fins of a Betta and the long feelers of the Paradise can look o so good. Also if I remember correctly you should not have the Paradise fish and Bettas together as the look similar to each other. Which means your Platy may have gotten in the middle of a fray and unfortunately is not near tuff enough to handle that. All that being sad you can start by checking in the filter. In one of my old ten gallons I had a Zebra Danio that would swim up the filter intake and hang out in the filter until I rescued him. Also check inside the decor that you have.

"No whammy, No whammy, No whammy, STOP!!"

1984-Michael Larsen On Press Your Luck

It is a good point about the barbs. Your lack of a school of barbs may mean that they will turn their nippy temper towards other fish. Same goes for the danios, as they also tend to be very active chasers. Also, bettas are known to mistake other similar fish as bettas, and it may be possible that it may be somewhat to blame.

How large is this tank, anyway? You have a lot of fish. This may have a detrimental effect on the water quality, which could kill fish. A small aquarium may also affect territorial aggression. It is possible that your fish are dying and they are being picked at by the other fish after death. Test the water conditions and see if they're okay, and even if they are, do a water change just to be safe.

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The aquarist is one who must learn the ways of the biologist, the chemist, and the veterinarian.

Yep I also wonder what size is the tank.
Are you aware that Bala sharks grow to be 16 inches long, need a group of 6 or more, and a minimum tank size of
180 gallons?

My first thought would be the Chinese Algae Eater - these are fish known to become aggressive and actively hunt kill and eat other fish.

However, you said the CAE has since disappeared, which draws instant attention for me to your Eel.
You say Pango Eel, do you know what species this is?
Eels are carnivorous, and big eels would gladly devour small fish.

My toher though is that the Tiger barbs being in such a small group (really should be kept in a minimum of 8 so that they only attack each other and not other fish in the tank), could have led to them attacking the fish, causing severe injuries, and then the fish die and are devoured by your Sailfin Pleco, which is by the way, another candidate for a 180 gallon tank, as these fish acheive sizes of 18-24 inches in length, and 4-6 inches in width.


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Any pictures of the Leopard Danio/White Cloud hybrid? I've never heard of the that happening, but seeing as how both species are closely related, I wouldn't be too surprised if it's true.

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I'm not your neighbor, you Bakersfield trash.

A LOT of issues to resolve here.

[1] Bala Sharks - these have already been covered by So_Very_Sneaky above, though because they're active fishes, I'd think twice about putting them in anything smaller than a 250 gallon setup. Even a 180 might be a bit cramped for them, let alone anything smaller.

[2] Paradise Fish. If your Paradise Fish is Macropodus opercularis, then be advised that this is an aggressive species, which is more than capable of holding its own with Convict Cichlids and even the likes of Salvinis and Dempseys. I would put this fairly high on the list of suspects when it comes to smaller fishes disappearing once it starts to acquire some body mass.

[3] The "Pango Eel" ... now this is a nicely confusing term. Hence the reason I prefer scientific names! Now this could be one of the Pangio loaches that were formely listed in the Genus Acanthophthalmus and are better known as Kuhlii Loaches, but I suspect that if you bought one of those, you'd have bought it labelled as a Kuhlii Loach ... so, what IS this fish? If this fish is a Mastacembelid Eel, then you're looking at a potentially large (and predatory) fish. Most aquarium Mastacembelids are capable of exceeding a foot in length, many reach 18 or 24 inches, and the Fire Eel, Mastacembelus erythrotaenia, is a metre long juggernaut when fully grown! And, ALL Mastacembelids are ambush predators ...

[4] Your Sailfin Plec - is this Glyptopterichthys gibbiceps? Because that's going to be an 18 inch Plec when it's fully grown, and it'll be a producer of ammonia-laden urine and faeces on an industrial scale at that size. That fish on its own will need a 125 gallon as a baseline setup, and preferably something substantially bigger. Plus, I'd hesitate to keep a big Plec in an aquarium that wasn't equipped with a seriously beefy external canister filter to handle the waste - something like one of the big Eheim units.

[5] Shoaling fishes. Fishes such as Tiger Barbs, Danios etc., should be kept in decent sized groups. Increased numbers spreads any latent aggression more thinly. Take out the Bala Sharks and the big Plec, and assuming the aquarium is large enough to house those fishes, you've ample room for some seriously big shoals of things such as Tiger Barbs. Oh, and how come your male Betta hasn't had its fins shredded by the Tiger Barbs? Plus, Corydoras sterbai is a sky high desirable Corydoras species among my fellow UK aquarists, and where possible, even despite the hideous expense of the species, we strive to keep it in groups of at least 6, and preferably more, not least because it's happier that way, and also because we can recoup some of the hideous expense by breeding them!

[6] Aquarium size. We're still waiting to find out how large this aquarium is. With the Bala Sharks and the big Plec, I hope it's a VERY large aquarium, otherwise you'll be facing some serious rehousing issues in a very short period of time. And, even if it IS a very large aquarium, the mixture of fishes you have in there is, I have to tell you, massively at variance with what I would consider to be good stocking. I also hope you have some top quality filtration kit attached to it with the bioload that Plec is putting out on its own, never mind the other fishes ...


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

Applauds Cali for another great post.
/:'

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ook time for me to explain - the tank is only 3ftx1ftx15ins - 100litre setup - not much space i know - so yes territorial issues will be an issue. but i have provided loads and loads of plant cover as well as bogwood etc - plants are good - as they provide cover and also complete the nitrogen cycle. however - water quality is not an issue as I am running a fluval 3plus internal filter - plus a fluval 403 external filter - combined water processing capacity of both filters is 1900litres per hour - im sure thats more than enough to keep the water quality right lol. also i have an abundance of oxygen entering the water so asphyxyation isnt an issue either.
the pango eel is not a suspect in my eyes as is only about 5ins long and looks like a worm - lives under the gravel all the time - it has a diameter of about 4mm - not a suspect im sure u'll agree.
I am interested in the theory of the paradise fish being a suspect, as its colours have recently become a lot more vivid. the darker stripes are really prominent now.

erm - the guy who likes the coydoras? how much are u paying for your sterbai? £2.50 each i paid for mine - so if u paid more than that - u got your eyballs ripped out mate, and if you want any more - i can easily get hold of them so send me an email ok?

er the barb issue - i removed the barbs only last week - and the other tiger with the missing eye and the green barb are quite a placid pair of fish now so i think removing the other tigers has actually calmed the aggression in the tank down.
also i am fully aware of the full grown adult size of all the fish in my tank - that is why i.m in the process of constructing a larger aquarium to place the plec and sharks into - they will be living with some malawi cichlids in the new setup once i have completed it.
but as for the check ur aquarium furniture suggestion - it was the first thing i did - every plant and piece of furniture came outta the tank, and was checked thoroughly, and the substrate was thoroughly checked in case the carcass was buried - not a single bone or scrap of flesh did i find. and it hasnt gone up the fluval 403 intake pipe as it has a guard on the end to prevent fish as small as neons being sucked up.
Also I checked if the algae eater had decided to escape the tank, and there was no dead fish outside of the tank, so it has gotto have been eaten but by what is what i'm wondering.
also this stuff about the betta and the paradise fish - i hear so much stuff about them not getting on i laugh when i hear it - they are literally friends - they swim WITH eachother - seem to enjoy eachother's company, and both of them also love the current created by both filters and they love swimming in the air bubbles also - just goes to prove you cant believe every theory about bettas.
i think that just about covers it.
as to why the male fighter hasnt had his fins nipped - probably as he's built up a lot of muscle in the strong current and can move pretty fast when he wants to, he is a beautiful specimen, a nice bright deep red with long flowing perfect fins - he looks so good i've often thought about showing him - but there aint many fish shows up here in northern england lol.
I think that just about covers all the questions u guys asked me - please someone - tell me where my algae eater went!!!

Have you tried looking around the tank (i.e. on the floor around it, under the stand, etc)? Most slender Cypriniform fish are notorious for jumping out of tanks, so that's a possibility. Of course, if you have any dogs or cats in the house, they will make short work of any fish they find on the floor.

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I'm not your neighbor, you Bakersfield trash.

yea i already looked just in case, but its a marina brand tank - the lid is made for the tank and fully covers the entire top area - have to have a lid like that as sharks are notorious jumpers also. but no dead fish on the floor as i said in my last post m8. and my cat doesnt have access to the bedroom where my tank is so the evidence cant have been er - "consumed" lol.

Have you look under the rocks & gravel?
My 2 nicaraguense disappeared after a rush water change. I found them burried in the gravel underneath a rock 2 hours after .
In a hurry, I burried them alive by refilling the holes they dug & hid. These guys could have dug themselves out of it - but I put a rock over them .

One of them survived this and fully recovered in just one day. The other didn't make it . Never do water change in a hurry ..

yeees as i said above, i removed every plant and every piece of furniture/decoration from the tank. and rooted thru the substrate thoroughly - its not there - not even a skeleton. it is definitely not in the tank and hasnt jumped , so the only other possibility is that its been eaten - but what in my tank would eat the skeleton aswell?

Fish skeletons are not exactly as permanent as human bones, and can become missing rather easily especially when other fish come in and pick at the dead animal. With your filtration power, the skeletons could even have been just sucked up. Even if your water quality is pristine, I stand by the opinion that your fish died before being actually consumed. With all of those little mouths it would be easy for a dead body to disappear; a 20 cm sailfin would do quite a bit of damage to dead fish. Therefore, the trouble wouldn't be on which fish ate your missing fish, but which fish might have killed them.

However, an aggressive killer fish would be relatively obvious, especially since you primarily have diurnal fish as opposed to nocturnal fish. Fish don't exactly spend hours plotting out their attack plans, they just go ahead and attack. If you didn't see any obvious aggression than it's not likely that any of your fish directly killed any of the others.

--------------------------------------------
The aquarist is one who must learn the ways of the biologist, the chemist, and the veterinarian.