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i havent seen him for weeks since disappearing a few weeks ago..i couldnt find any dead body and there arent any cleaner crew in my tank...are they good jumpers?

Indeed, they are very good jumpers, especially when startled. Also if startled or harrassed they have a tendancy to bury themselves in the sand.

And, well, if they buried themselves in the sand and then died, you probably will never see any remains.

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There is always a bigger fish...

First question - have you experienced an ammonia spike in the aquarium during the 'period of disappearance'? If so, it's possible that your Yellow Wrasse has died in the substrate where any creatures that might have eaten it can't reach it. If you haven't had an ammonia spike, then there are two possibilities - one, the fish is still alive but staying hidden for some reason, and two, the fish has gone carpet surfing. While I would not say it is impossible for your Yellow Wrasse to remain hidden for this length of time and remain alive, as time passes the probability drops somewhat, and so I would start looking to see if you can see anything that looks like it is (or was) a dead fish somewhere on the floor.

Having said that, it's amazing where fishes can find themselves and survive. Several people here have posted some amazing survival accounts of fishes that ended up in external canister filters, for example, and managed to survive some time before being discovered. Plus, anyone who has kept Kuhlii Loaches in freshwater knows how easily they can disappear for months on end, only to reappear suddenly when least expected. Even Otocinclus can do that in a sufficiently well furnished aquarium - I've had to go to the trouble of stripping the Panda Fun Palace™ and netting them to count them before today.

Prepare yourself for the worst, and if your Yellow Wrasse DOES turn up alive, crack open the champagne to celebrate!


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002