flame - houdini?!

saltn00b

Active Member
hey everyone i am rather confused this week.
i just started restocking and started off with a trio of small fish in my QT tank and started the hypo process.
my QT tank is a 29 tall.
one penguine bio wheel (600 i think) on the back
bare bottom, covered with a sheet of plastic
2 faux corals (1 brain and one tube sponge that has some small openings)
a PVC joint
one mj 600
and a rio 50.
i got:
a juvenile flame angel
a purple firefish
and a LMB
within 1 day the LMB dissappeared. i figured the flame was being a bit aggressive, so it was hiding. 24 hours later i picked up the fake sponge coral
and when i put it back, the LMBs head came rolling out into view with some other debree. very weird.
the tank is brought down to hypo conditions, keeping on eye on levels
the flame had a few spots of ich and it dissapeared and has not returned.
fast foreward 1 week till yesterday morning, both remaining fish looked vibrant and happy. i walk away from the tank and return 2 hours later, and the flame angel has totally disappeared!! i assume it is dead for some unknown reason which is upsetting because i have been doing this hypo thing for a few years now, but there is no proof! there is no body to be found anywhere! it is a small tank and there are not many options for a dead or living fish to hide. i have looked all around the tank and there is no fish to be found. nothing stuck to intakes... just... nothing...!
if there was some predator in the tank, it would have to be a large fish because i have done hypo a few times in it and i would think all inverts would die...
any ideas?
 

saltn00b

Active Member
well angels are not known to be jumpers, and the tank was covered at all parts but right over the heater. regardless, i have checked all around the tank and even have moved it to see if it squirmed under the stand...
 
S

scorpiojkd

Guest
I had a couple faux corals a long time ago and had a flame angel. Not sure how he did it but he got way up inside the faux coral and died. I ended up taking a hack saw to the coral just to find out if that was where he went.... yep, thats where he went.
 

saltn00b

Active Member
well one week later, i find a mass of fleshy material rolling along the floor. i pulled it out and there was an obvious rib-cage structure as a large part of this mass of flesh. this was surely the attacked and partially consumed flame angel...
the question still remains ... what could possibly do this??
the tank is still in Hypo. i have pulled out the blue sponge decor that had the holes in it and have it drying out . maybe i will see some evil creature crawling out of it gasping for water to breathe...
hopefully this will ensure my remaining firefish's survival!
 

ryno_mn

Member
Just a thought, a buddy of mine had a rat that got into his aquarium and got himself stuck in the tank...but the rat managed to get a couple of his fish.
 
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