The case of the disappering fish....

danj

danj

Member
Good Morning ...... here we go again .... now the blue damsel (not one of the 4 yellowtails) went AWOL....... Soon I wont need the new tank !!!!! :rolleyes:
after the waterchange today... I'm putting back the sharks in the 29 .... I worked tooo hard to for last 3 years to loose them, & they are not happy in this little tank ....
so inventory as of right now: 4 very small Yellow tail Damsels
2 Hawaiian damsels
1 Fire Goby
1 B&W Percula Clown
4 Turbo snails
maybe 3 Hermit Crabs
supposed to be 2 Pepermint shrimps
1 Hatian Anenome
 
d12monkey

d12monkey

Member
The percula that you have, is it a true percula or a false. If it's a false the diffinately the anemone got to it if it got to close. They don't host anemones and can get eaten by them. I had one of my oscilaris (sp) (false percula) get stung real hard when it got to close to my LTA. Is the anemone nice and fat?
 
gregm779

gregm779

Member
This is a pretty wierd situation, I've mysteriously lost a fish before but never continuously like this especially with no real predators other than those catfish. In the pic I see the anemone which is too small to eat fish without you noticing and it's a haitian which are not an aggresive anemone. Do you have any starfish or anything you haven't listed? Do you have a smart cat or maybe a fish robber trying to start his SW tank next door? My friend tried those colombian sharks but got rid of them because they do try to eat everything that they run into. I'm not saying that is is them especially because you lost fish with them gone but waybe when you get a new tank you may want to keep them seperate.
 
B

bigdogzack

Guest
DanJ,
Following is actually the "body" of a response I made to another post; I feel it is also quit appropro for this thread, maybe even more so...I would like to add that when you ask a question, you really should be open to to learning far more than "just a strait answer", I actually strongly agreee that the people who took the time to try and broadon your knowledge base were doing you a big service and instead you got all pissy and offended...YOU ARE TRYING TO CRAM FISH AND INVERTS THAT WOULD TYPICALLY BE SPREAD OUT OVER LARGE AREAS OF THE REEF INTO AN AREA THAT WOULD TYPICALLY BE DEFENDED BY ANY ONE OF THE SPECIES YOU LISTED AS IT'S OWN SEPERATE TERRITORY....
""... you just MUST keep in mind that your local lfs is in the business of selling fish (and unfortunately to most, if a fish lives a "few months" the lfs will tell you "that's pretty typical", which is true, BUT ONLY BECAUSE THE POOR FISH WERE NOT PROPERLY CARED FOR), most, if not all marine fish (larger ones) have a life expectancy of several years (10-20+) and it is our responsibility to read, read, read, & read some more about their husbandry needs before we purchase them...it is really commendable that you're involved in this forum, but it does seem like your trying to avoid the facts by pointing out "exceptions to the rule" examples you have heard of (many of these "exceptions" do not "pan out" if really checked into...what I mean is, in reallity, many times these fish that are doing "just fine" are slowly starving to death, scared stiff {i.e. hiding all the time, living in a "corner" of the tank, etc.}, slowly dieing of mallnutrition, way to fat or skinny, etc.)....PLEASE strive to learn what the NATURAL behavior/body shape of a fish is and use that as a guide as to how well a fish is "doing"..."
 
d12monkey

d12monkey

Member
Bigdogzack: DanJ has acknowledged the fact that his tank is overstock. Please let's not start this pissing on each other ordeal again. If I was DanJ I would have been seriously aggrivated at the fact that everyone was continously bashing me for a mistake I made and came on here to try and rectify it. If you would've completed reading the post you would've notice that this issue of overstocking has been address. You'd also notice that I was one of the only people at first that attempted to stop this "pissing" contest and find a solution in a civil matter. So let's try to do it.
Granted you are entitled to your own voice and you can agree with other people but let's focus on the fact that he was it overstocked and that we need to find out what is going on. And I'm not trying to start anything by mentioning this out to you. And I commend you in you interest in reading and commenting in this tread.
But what you comment doesn't refer in any way as to why there would be such a consistant disapearance of fish without any trace.
Got any ideas?:D And like I said I'm not trying to offend you or put you down. I'm just trying to figure out what's going on in DanJ's tank. And I do agree that you should always compare as too how well the fish is doing with how well it would do in the wild.
Anyways DanJ: :rolleyes: you're right pretty soon you won't have to upgrade. But with those sharks you still definately need top upgrade.
 
damndamsel

damndamsel

New Member
2 cents
No clue why the fish would be dying but..
I think I could throw a 1# Tbone in my tank when I go to bed and it would be gone by morning heh. But really I have had fish die that were totally consumed just while I was at work with only a damsel in the tank.
The amount of critters hiding in your sand/rock till lights out could be surprising.
 
d12monkey

d12monkey

Member
I personally don't think that those fish are just dyng the params are to good for that. I think something is catching them while they sleep.
:D Hey DanJ time for an all night campout session.
Some nice red leds make for a good night vision light.
 
jacknjill

jacknjill

Active Member
hey i just thought of something while reading another thread. do you ever hear any clicking noises at night or any time? you could have a mantis shrimp. they eat fish, inverts, etc andlive in rockwork so its easy to miss them
 
new2u

new2u

Member
id think his shrimp would go first if it was a manits in the rock and he would know if a slasher was living in his tank cuz they dig sand tunnels
 
jacknjill

jacknjill

Active Member

Originally posted by DanJ
so inventory as of right now: 4 very small Yellow tail Damsels
2 Hawaiian damsels
1 Fire Goby
1 B&W Percula Clown
4 Turbo snails
maybe 3 Hermit Crabs
supposed to be 2 Pepermint shrimps
1 Hatian Anenome
he said supposd to be 2 pep. shrimps. maybe the mantis ate them if he has one
 
timo

timo

Member
Let's not confuse the issue, as the picture provided shows, there are not a whole lot of "hiding places", particularly for 10 fish.
 
d12monkey

d12monkey

Member
Well I'm officially stumped. Just gonna keep an eye on the tread and see what develops.
Might comment if anything pops into my head
 
jacknjill

jacknjill

Active Member
are you sure there is no way that the fish could have got sucked up a filter or something. check all equipment for fish bodies
 
fishy411

fishy411

Member

Originally posted by DanJ
Well I've been quite busy but I just caught up w/ all the posts..... Thanks D12 .... enough said. I have said before... the 3 tangs are gone off w/ Pete. They are quite well...... Now We are going to advance things and get a new tank for the fish. & the Sharks will keep the 29gallon tank. Now if everybody behaves.... we'll have no porblems. So let's start over okay? Friends??? :yes: So let's get started and everything else is water under the bridge..... :D
i didnt read the whole thread but if no ones said this
thje sharks need a bigger tank than a 29. They need a minimum 70 gallons.it is relatively inexpensive to start a fw tank and i think u could make a great 75 gallon with those sharks as a centerpiece Please listen and dont take this as an insult. It is actually unbelievably cheap.
75 gallon tank 150$
penguin filter(400 model) 40 $ and it will be more than adequate
heater 20$
gravel 20$
stand- i made my own. It looks very professional i will post pics later. All together it was 40$ and this thing could easily hold a 100 instead of my measly 55.
270$ dollars altogehter. U could also add in like 20 other fish if they're not too big. I can direct u to a forum that could help u a lot if u want to set up a new tank.
 
d12monkey

d12monkey

Member
Maybe you should go back and read it... LOL
Just messing around.
Danj actually has aclimated the sharks to a complete marine environment. So going back is really not and option that DanJ wants to take.
So DanJ how are you water intakes? Are they secured? And what are your feed patterns and how much food are you feeding? I'm interested in seeing if they are not picking off the weakest member of the group due to starvation. I don't think it has been discussed before. But I may have missed it if it was.
 
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