Black hole in my tank?

[sudz]

The problem with schools is that its hard to tell if you've lost one!

Over the last few weeks, i have kind of had an inkling that my "school" (of 9) neons was getting "thinner". I attributed this to the loss of one of them which i've had for almost 3 years. (old age i assume) I just did a water change... 35%... so the fish were a little more... concentrated" I have 5. I check the water BEFORE I dump it (as i have sucked one up before, inadvertently)

5! out of 9! No bodies anywhere, i just finished checking the filter.

my ONLY guess is that my almost full sized Boesaumi Rainbow is eating them hole!

he IS looking well fed lately! I actually commented to someone about how hes really filling in and getting some meat on him. Im thinking its the rainbow (the biggest fish in the tank) because there is no body left. Smaller fish would leave the corpse meatless, but it would still be there... correct?

Its just pretty random for that to happen! It's got me baffled.

I think i'm going to replace them with cardinals. MAybe with luck they'll school together. What do you think guys?

 

[Bud8Fan]

Fish eat fish, somebody in that tank is guilty.

And my money is on the fat one.

 

[bs6749]

The same thing just happened to me. I had 5 danios and this week some time one was lost. I looked and looked but no body was found.

 

[pobdave]

Have you got snails in the tank?My MTS cleanup crew can make short work of a tetra.
Check the filter also.

 

[majolo]

I've always read how Boesmani rainbows have unusually narrow throats -- I wouldn't have thought they'd be able to eat any fish other than fry (but I have no personal experience with them).

 

[sudz]

I thought so too! However, he is VERY prone on eating things much larger than he can handle. THe shrimp pellets, he'll gobble 5 or 6 of them before they start falling out of his mouth. Then he realizes hes choking, gets stressed and gets black bands along his body (he changes color! Cool, eh?) Then eventually wises up and spits em out.

No snails, *beams with pride* Clown loaches are wonderful

Yeah. Weird. I think i'll just replace em with larger cardinals. I very much like the extra half-body of red color. Very snazzy. and Ultimately, they'll get along in my future 55/75 gallon long. (when i move in january)

Im PRETTY sure the boesaumi Rainbow and the anglefish will get along fine. Has anyone heard of this combo?

 

[coldmachineUK]

Neons are becoming quite difficult to sustain in aquariums long-term nowadays, again for the same reasons as mollies and guppies (breeding related). They're notoriously susceptible to even the slightest change in params, and I've found that when I've lost one in the past it's never isolated: I lose 2-3 in one go. I don't think it's anything you could have avoided tbh. Could also have been over a long period of time: tiny little things so hard to keep track of as you say!

 

[JulieB]

I have two Boesemani rainbows and 2 angel fish (one is veiled) and they get along fine. At first the rainbows picked at the long fins on the angels, but I split their feeding into two sessions, AM and PM and now they're fine. The rainbows were just hungry.

On the neon note: I've had one particular neon for years now. I have a shoal of about 12 neons (they're hard to count!), but one I've had for a long time. About 8 months ago, when he was the only one in the tank, I thought he was a gonner. His eyes had scales grown over them, his tail was missing, and he was swimming sideways on the gravel. But I waited for him to die before I took him out, I didn't want to euthanize him. His eyes have since cleared up (one of them grows over with scales occasionally, but then it clears off) and his tail has grown back. He has a dark band, I guess a scar, where the old tail came off. He swims with the best of them and seems to be doing quite well! I'm glad I left him in there. He obviously has lots of living left in him!

 

[sudz]

Thanks for the Rainbow/Anglefish advice. What size tank are they in?

I very much agree with the over-breeding of neons. I find more and more defects in fish stores. Poor color, Small fish, Bent spines, Deformed fins, Discolorations... One of my neons purchased a year ago (and went "missing" down the black hole of my rainbows mouth!) Was a "half" albino... Pinky/orange on the inside, but still had the colors overtop. It was weird.

 

[JulieB]

They are in a 56 gal tank. How bizzarre, your 1/2 albino neon!