dissapearing things

[kris]

Ok -so everyone loses something (someone) eventually. But usually you can at least find the dead things (and mourn appropriately) I however actually LOSE things. Like my gorgeous flame angel that I've had for almost a year, an orange linkia star, and numerous snails. Honestly there is no sign of them anywhere, just vanished.
This is a small 40g reef (used to be a fish, then a qt, now a reef) Anyway it's only inhabitants (at least the only ones I personally put in there) are some polyps and shrooms and 2 clown fish, and a bunch of snails.,about 25-30 lbs rock and a deep sand bed.
I suppose I should assume something ate them, seeing as there are no bodies. But what excatly should I be looking for????

 

[timsedwards]

uh-oh....i smell a mantis......

 

[sebae0]

have you checked the floor? i lost a jawfish the same way no sign of him anywhere, even checked immediate area around the tank. i guess once he hit the floor he flopped around a bit until he got under my furnace about 3' away, poor thing, i would do a good inspection around the area to make sure. jmo

 

[banshee]

good call, Tims....I immediately thought of the same thing becuase of my experience with them. It may not be a Mantis, though. Do you hear any "clicking" sounds when the lights are off?

 

[kris]

Tee-Hee, I too, once had to scrape a psychotic fairy wrasse off the carpet!! besides starfish don't jump, neither do snails.
I had considered the mantis, having heard the horror stories. But wouldn't all my snails be gone by now?? My star dissapeared about 3 mos ago, the fish about 1 week ago, hard to say about the snails, but I still have lots of the ceriths running around in the sand.

 

[ags]

I too have had things mysteriously disappear without any remains but have also lost fish to suicidal jumping fish as well. In the case of them disappearing I never heard any clicking sounds. I just couldn't figure it out either. It always seems to happen to certain types of livestock too. I have lost 3 cleaner shrimp to mysterious causes. No remains, no clicking, no spike in water quality. Have had the majority of my tank inhabitants for over a year - except shrimp.

 

[thomas712]

I go with door number 2, an unknown crab.
Thomas
There is no cat in the house is there?

 

[kris]

As a matter of fact there are 3 cats in our house, but that still doesn't account for the starfish, cause I'm certain he didn't jump.
Who knows--one of the great reef mysteries.
I sure do miss that flame though. She was awesome.

 

[banshee]

Thomas brings up a good point. I almost forgot about the killer crab I had in my tank when I first set it up (about 3 years ago). He had a nice collection of shells at the entrance to his cave. It made him easy to find, though.

 

[kris]

ok I found something weird in my tank, but I'll tell you about in a new thread. Which I'll entitle "friend or foe"
Thanks Guys

 

[ophiura]

Well, how long did you have the orange Linckia? They are extremely delicate and typically I would not recommend them for your size tank, as most will starve at about 9-12 months. And indeed, you may never find them. But that is why we have clean up crews!

 

[kris]

ok, now I feel really bad about my orange little guy. He was my very first (and only) starfish so I did do a fair amount of research about him first, but I don't recall anyone (or any book) saying anything about tank size, just about how much lr I had and that he needed really good water quality--both of which I provided the little guy. I had him about 4 months (give or take).
Which star would be good for my tank, I would really like one, it being one of the few creatures left I have not kept over the last 15 yrs. (yes I've been doing this that long, but only reefing for about 2yrs)
Thanks for your help and ideas everyone.

 

[wrassecal]

I've had 2 starfish crawl out of my tank. The dogs got em but I found enough evidence to know...like my schnauzer was sporting purple lipstick I had a green brittlestar crawl out also.

 

[ophiura]

Linckia multiflora, which Ryebread has posted pics of (so you should be able to do a search), is the best reef safe seastar for this size tank. They often reproduce in this size tank (via arm drops), indicating that they find plenty to eat. This is the only reef safe seastar I would recommend in this tank size range.