FishProfiles.com Message Forums

Hello

I had 5 harley rasboras in QT. Before I left for work this morning, I did a head count & all were there. I got home tonight and the smallest one is missing. I pulled the tank apart, even the filter, did a partial water change - but the fish is just plain gone

In the QT are the remaining rasboras, 1 guppy, 2 mollys & 2 bolivian rams. Could one of these have eaten the harley? If not, where could he be. He is definitely NOT in the tank.

Cheers
TW

Robyn,

Sorry to hear that

Did you look around the tank? If there is an opening then it could have jumped out, and if you have a cat then it might have been eaten by it.

Otherwise, the rams and the mollies could have eaten the fish as well, but I would assume they would do so only whe the fish was sick or even dead already. How long were they in the QT already? Why was this one smaller (could be a sign of illness)? Was he hanging with the group before or was he mostly by himself?

Ingo

---

Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Hi LF, I'm sad & puzzled by this fish.

You might remember an earlier thread, where I had a set of 8 harley rasbora (they were a valentine present from my hubby). Anyway, they were all very small (half inch or less). Within 8 days of purchase, all 8 were dead.

I now deal with a different LFS and I ordered in a new batch specifiying they had to be 3cm minimum (just over an inch). Unfortunately, he didn't tell his shop helper that they were mine & when I went to pick them up, only 4 bigger ones were there plus a whole bunch of really small ones. The other big ones had been sold. I bought the 4 big ones & he gave me one smaller for free. So that's why he was smaller - as far as I know, he was just younger. They have been in QT since Sunday. He was fine this morning. He seemed to school with the gang - didn't seem to be on his own. He's not in the tank. I took out every rock & every fake plant (QT has no real plants). As well as gravel vacuuming, I rumbled through all the gravel with my fingers. He was not in the water that I siphoned out during water change, 'cause I checked that too. He is definitely not in the tank, filter uptake or the filter media container either. I don't know how to open the actual filter motor, but that is the only place I haven't looked. I've not seen my fish jump before, but because it is so hot here at the moment, I have been leaving the feeding flap at front of tank open - so I guess he might have jumped - but I can't find him on the floor and we have no other animals here to eat him. He didn't seem sick at all, just smaller. He ate & everything. I have heard though, that fish & many animals try hard not to show sickness - part of their survival instinct not to show weakness I guess.

I didn't think his tank mates would eat him, but I can't find him. One of my ram was a nasty natured fish & constantly picked on my other ram, giving him no peace, never letting him leave the back corner or letting him eat, but he never bothered any other fish - just the ram. Because it upset me to see the other fish so harrassed (I'm sure he would eventually have died of stress & hunger) I took the bully ram back to LFS tonight & swapped him over. I just couldn't stand the aggression. But still, as I say, he never bothered the other fish.
Maybe the harley did get sick during the day & someone ate his remains??? But wouldn't they leave something for me to find? Or could he have dissolved in the water in the hours I was at work. He was definitely there at 6.45am today and gone by at least 4.30pm. Surely, that's not long enough to dissolve, is it.

I hope this isn't the start of another sad story with my rasbora. I hope the rest don't die.

Cheers
TW

Robyn,

I don't think a fish would dissolve in that short time, in particular the bones should be still around. But given that he was so small the bones would be small as well and if another fish or fishes ate him then they might very well have eaten the whole fish.

A small fish out of water will, in particular with your heat wave, shrink down very quickly and not look like the original (in the water) version. Did you check for maybe a small dark "thing" around the tank area?

Ingo

---

Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

I'm completely stumped by this. I have been down on my hands & knees & can't find him on the floor. I can only assume that he died (either by natural causes or my bully ram turned on him). I futher assume once he died, the other fish completly consumed his remains.

I hope my other rasboras make it. Don't know why I'm having trouble with these fish, but not with any others.

PS, I love my twin bar platys. I think they are by far the most attractive of any platys I've seen. I'm glad I saw your pictures, cause I had to order them in specially. I've never seen them in stock - only the ones I ordered.

Cheers
TW

Yeah, twin bars are very beautiful .

Did you get only males? If so, how many and how do they get along? If not, how many of each gender did you get?

About the Harlies: What is your ph again? What is the ph in the fish store (if you don't know you may want to ask)? How do you introduce them?

Ingo

---

Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

How large is the gravel? I had six nice harleys and they were very fond of the large (1-1.5inch) stones my wife lined the tamk with. more than once I discovered one pinned under one of them due to the fish trying to swin thru the gaps in the rocks. The large stones are gone now but I do know harleys are near impossible to hunt down. One time I did a vacuum and had all eight harleys (they are great I love them) happy and fine. Then just 5 hours later one was missing. Searched and searched for hours. Finally found just the head tucked behind an ornament. poor guy!

Hi LF

Did you get only males? If so, how many and how do they get along? If not, how many of each gender did you get?

I have 2 male & 2 female platys (one female is a mickey mouse, but she's not as pretty. I wish she was a twin bar). They all seem to get along just fine - occasionally I see one platy swimming fast with another in hot pursuit just behind - but this is very rare - the chase is never sustained - usually just once across the tank then interest in the chase is lost & everyone is best buddies again. I've had at least 2 lots of fry, but none have survived. My LFS will take any fry that do survive, so I shouldn't have any overcrowding issues.

About the Harlies: What is your ph again? What is the ph in the fish store (if you don't know you may want to ask)?

[link]Here is the thread about my other 8 that died
http://www.fishprofiles.com/files/threads/27156.1.htm?19#
[/link] if you have the time & energy to read it. Although the FP consensus was that my pH was fine, I thought it was the only reading that is a little high. So, this time around, before adding them, I've lowered my pH to around 7 or 7.2 & I'm monitoring the pH daily. I don't know what LFS pH is, I'll have to ask. It is a different LFS & if you end up reading my thread, I explain why I changed over. New LFS is a small business man, I can walk to his shop & I know he's passionate about fish (so I have no worries or guilt about returning fish or giving him fry, as I might with a department or chain style pet/fish store - I know he'll care for them). It's not just a job to him, it's a passion & he is trying very hard to look after me. When you're at his LFS, he'll keep you taking for an hour about fish, if you let him. I'm getting off subject here, but he ordered in some pandas after I told him they're on my stocking list - I've never seen these in stock in an Oz LFS for some reason & when I showed him the profile from FP, he thought he'd order some for his shop to see how they went. They were selling fast, but I'm not ready for pandas yet - I have enough fish in QT & I want to do this stocking of tank thing right. It will be a couple of weeks until I'm ready for pandas. But, I've paid for 8 & he threw in 1 extra for free (that was all he had left from his order). I was happy to pay for all 9 as I really wanted 10 anyway. I said " I'll have all 9 please" & he said " I'll charge you for 8 - is that ok with you?" My pandas are in their own tank in his store, with my name in red texta on the front of the tank - so I think that's pretty good service. By the time I take them home, he'll have cared them for more than a month so they'll be older & stronger - right?? Anyway, back to subject of Harlies

How do you introduce them?

Float the bag for 15 mins, open it & add 1 cup of tank water & float for 10 mins, add 1 more cup of tank water & float for 10 mins, then release into tank. I leave the tank light off until the next day. So I hope that I've introduced them as gently as I can, so as not to overstress my new babies.

Cheers
TW

Hi divertran

Here is a picture of my gravel, with a pea for comparison. I rummaged really well through the gravel & I didn't see anything that was bigger than what I assume was uneaten fish food - but maybe it also contained some fragments of my poor little fish. I'll keep track of the ammonia, to see if there is anything rotting in there, but I'm convinced I'm never going to see him again. His remains must have been eaten & his little bones so tiny, to either be eaten as well, or be so broken up so small to be unrecognisable as a fish anymore.

Attached Image:


Cheers
TW

Robyn,

Harlies are known to be pretty hardy, much more so than tetras. Nevertheless, just like any fish, they don't take a sudden change of water conditions too well.

that was the reason I asked for the ph in your house and the LFS, plus how you introduce them. A small gap of 7 to 7.4 doesn't seem to be too much though, and maybe that is why it only cost the smaller one its live. In general, I would suggest you change your acclimatization routine a little.

For one thing, there is the option of drip acclimatization, a method where you constantly let tank water drip into your fish bag for maybe an hour or so. This is the most gentle way of adjusting fish to new water conditions. Unfortunately, I have never used this style so I cannot give you advice on the technical setup for it.

My way is to start with maybe a quarter of a cup of tank water that I add to the bag, then I wait 10 min and do this volume again and wait another 10 min. Then I slowly increase the volume added and decrease the time span between additions until after about an hour I have reached 1 cup every 5 min. Now, depending on the fishs hardiness and the known differences between the water conditions (like LFS water = unknown while QT water = known), I add the fish or keep on doing it for another 30 min.

Both ways should be preceeded with a 15 to 20 min period of simply floating the bag for temp adjustment.

Hope this helps,

Ingo

---

Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Thanks LF

Not sure how to do the drip method, but I'll follow your other method from here. Thanks for the tip

BTW everyone was present & accounted for when I left for work today.

Cheers
TW