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It sounds strange, but i have

Tankmates are Corydoras Aenus, Black Neon Tetras, Platies. I have lost a black Neon.

I have moved all of the ornaments, and practically turned the tank upside down, but still no fish. It's been missing 24 hours. HELP, i don't know what to do.

Thanks in advance.

BlackNeonFerret,

Did you check around the aquarium?
Any cat that may be able to get it?
Was it a small one? When grown up you should have noticed leftovers if he would have been eaten.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

If the fish were hungry and stripped the carcass quickly the skeleton may have been broken up and be small enough to get sucked into the filter intake. I found the remains of an old green tiger barb that way, the rainbows and siamese flying foxes must have stripped the corpse in less than 4 hours.

Its a bit like the reverse of kevin kline in a fish called wanda- they do recommend the green ones!

One should always have something glib to say in times of horror.

Poor little fishy.

Are black neon tetras known for jumping out of tanks if so ask pickles
otherwise if he expired in the tank then 4 hours is more that enough time for the tankmates to clear what remained.
Do you always do a body count..it may be more than 24 hours
I do a count every morning at feeding time and my fish don't stand still for a count.
sorry about your loss

All of those fish are herbavores arn't they? I don't think that they would find much delight in a neon. I wouldn't rule out the possibility compleatly. Check your filter and double count your fish

Inky

Lol, none of them are herbivorous, they are all generalistic feeders that practice true omnivory, none of them will probably be above scavenging although they will prefer the flesh to go a little old so its easier to tear up, and the cories especially are scavengers. Most fish are cannibals and will eat the flesh of other species as well. Most fish are complete opportunists, even traditionally algae eating fish and vegetarian fish like scats, ottos, plecs, and pacu will take animal protien when its available. Only specialist feeders wouldnt touch the corpse of a neighbour, or fish that are habituated out of predation and scavenging, or otherwise too well fed to bother.

If you have a bigger fish that will willingly tear a corpse up , the smaller fish with smaller mouths and less efficient teeth will still eat the scattered pieces, and go for the soft parts once the skin has been breached. Dead fish depending on your stock can be gone in 30 seconds, 20 minutes, several hours or a day or two later. It depends on the fish you have.

The fact that most fish corpses are not eaten immediately in communities only shows that people keep predominantly small fish, and that theyre probably well fed. Some fish will not break from a feeding regime, but most fish that retain their full natural instincts might well have a go. A few fish will have a notable fear of the corpse, perhaps a sense of revulsion that is instinctive , and mirrors our own ,- a natural perogative to stay away from fish with disease, much in the same way some shoaling fish will drive away a noticeably sick animal. Many viruses like NTD and IPV actually require cystic transmission to spread effectively, and that happens when the infected fish is eaten, and this untimately proves the point that cannibalism is commonplace, even amongst species like the humble neon tetra. The fish that dont eat it may become infected and die, and the others wont, but then again if the corpse is harmless the fish that doesnt partake has just done itself out of some life changing or saving protien, or given up a chance to have the fuel to breed. There are evolutionary perogatives and benefits to both types of behaviour.

People confuse the nature of cannibalism with that of the role of predator, and there need be no correlation between the two. Fish dont always kill to eat, they just eat what they can find, and that includes friends, relatives, and mates. Animals are not hampered by human morality, and will do whatever it takes to survive and thrive. Self sacrifice and abstinence arent usually part of every neon tetras guidebook on life.

The corpse of a tiger barb in a 120 gal tank like mine with good filtration, 2 types of scavenging shrimp,some large adult fish, and a load of fishy scavengers isnt usually going to last more than 20 minutes without being attacked. The neons and the rest pile in just the same as the other fish,( including notably, the other tiger barbs) as soon as the corpse has been "popped". Its another of those odd things that sometimes after a fish has died and been eaten it acts as a stimulus for others to start breeding too, and some fish presumably make the effort to eat that corpse precisely so that they do have a little extra energy for breeding and egg production. Its twistedly cyclical, but thats nature at work for you.

If the fish hasnt died of anything noticeably contagious , I see no point in removing it from a tank that large when you have an efficient cleanup squad. Its totally natural behaviour. If your tank is less than 50 gal , you want to get it out of there asap so it doesnt cause water pollution. Obviously any fish going rotten needs removing. Its not really any different to offering feeder fish to predators, unless of course the fish that dies is large and likely to make a real mess of the tank. If theyre not gonna eat it, remove it, and if they are, why bother? With a small dead fish its pretty much the same as having a frozen cube of beefheart in there, if its not getting eaten, just take it out. Try hard to find the corpse by all means, but dont be surprised to find nothing more than a few ribs or tail spines. The only thing that strikes me as odd is how you almost never find the skulls.

Obviously you wouldnt normally feed a sick fish to another fish, but it happens often enough to people when fish just mysteriously dissappear, as long as there isnt a serious health problem in the tank you dont need to really be worrying about it. Folks with huge tanks will be used to it, and know what I mean. You wouldnt want to see it happening in a shop if you were about to buy stock, but in an aquarium thats stable and full of other healthy fish you dont always have to throw a fit when it happens. Unless of course you suspect a fish may be helping itself to cagemates that were not until it decided to make them that way, dead.

Ultimately though, if you do spot a fish corpse you should always check it out for cause of death and remove it for safety sake, I appreciate most people wont have truly effective crews of cleanup shrimps and other scavengers. If you have the big tanks and a structured feeding community, you probably knew all this already !Its down to what you consider to be acceptable risk, if it worries you, and there definately will be water quality issues because of the corpse, take it out. Simple really.

Checked EVERYWHERE.

i can't find him.

I do a fish count twice a day.

I don't think any of the fish could of eaten him, as none are big enough. It is just a complete mystery.

I have checked the entire tank 3 times, but there is no sign of a corpse anywhere!

I don't think my cat would of got it, the tank has a tight lid, and he dosen't go upstairs anyway.

Thanks so much, i really appreciate your comments.

Didnt throw him out in a water change or change the decor he might have been hiding in did you? Ive gravel vacuumed dwarf puffers before, and it wouldnt be the same if a small neon didnt try to get up the python occasionally. I have an SAE that almost insists on going up the tube occasionally, he sees old food getting sucked up, and he just goes for it!

I didn't chuck him out, because all of the water goes into a bucket, and i always check, and i had him after the water change. It is just a complete mystery.

I would think it died and was eaten very quickly by the other fish and the skelton just broke up or finished in the filter.

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Keith

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Unless he was on the heel of your shoe, and got walked across to a different room

Well, i think i can safely say it's dead, and i'm not going to find it. Thanks for all your help.