My Cory Cat has disspeared :O

[Dgameman1]

I originally had 3 cory cats. I slept over at my friends house and when I came back, I was missing a cory cat.

I looked everywhere, i even took out the decorations.

He's not in the filter, and I scavaged through the gravel a bit. Any ideas??

I have a 20 gallon freshwater tank with..

1 Serpae Tetra
5 Neon Tetra
1 Dalmatian Molly
1 Ballon Molly
3 Fancy Guppies
and 3 (2) Corry Cats.

Any ideas?? I also looked outside of the tank for any signs of if he jumped out, nothing =/

 

[FreshSaltGirl]

Well, it certainly is a puzzle. I've had that sort of thing happen to me a couple times now...unfortunately. The conclusion I've drawn so far, is that perhaps the cory died during the night and was eaten quickly, so as to make it seem as though he were never there in the first place. Though I'm certain mollies, guppies and tetras are either omnivorous or herbivorous - there have been cases wherein they have devoured a fallen tankmate. I had 3 neons in a little 4.5 gallon a couple years ago, and one day I looked and there were only 2 left. I checked the filter, the gravel, the surrounding floor - everything! So, he must have been eaten. Either that or he's hiding really well. OR: I've found smaller fish wedged near the bottom of plant decorations and sometimes under the leaves, too. Be sure to check there as well. If you still see no sign of him, well...I'm sorry for your loss ;( cories really are great little guys.

 

[Dgameman1]

Well, it certainly is a puzzle. I've had that sort of thing happen to me a couple times now...unfortunately. The conclusion I've drawn so far, is that perhaps the cory died during the night and was eaten quickly, so as to make it seem as though he were never there in the first place. Though I'm certain mollies, guppies and tetras are either omnivorous or herbivorous - there have been cases wherein they have devoured a fallen tankmate. I had 3 neons in a little 4.5 gallon a couple years ago, and one day I looked and there were only 2 left. I checked the filter, the gravel, the surrounding floor - everything! So, he must have been eaten. Either that or he's hiding really well. OR: I've found smaller fish wedged near the bottom of plant decorations and sometimes under the leaves, too. Be sure to check there as well. If you still see no sign of him, well...I'm sorry for your loss ;( cories really are great little guys.

Aww man, that's so upsetting to hear Do you have any idea on who could have eaten him??

 

[Stewy]

Just another thought. Do you have a good hood on your tank? I had one go sky diving after it over shot the surface for a gulp of air...fortunately I was in the room when it happened. If your tank is not completely covered you might wanna look around the floor. Hopefully it turns up. Good luck.

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[Luananeko]

Aww man, that's so upsetting to hear Do you have any idea on who could have eaten him??

Unfortunately every single one of the fish you listed on your stock list (other than maybe the neon tetras) could happily have snacked on their fallen tankmate... Cory cats are scavengers by nature, livebearers are constantly hungry and willing to nibble on anything that's remotely edible, and serpae tetras always tend to be on the nippy side and could easily have found a corpse to be tasty.

20 gallon tanks aren't too hard to thoroughly search, especially if you don't have live plants. It sounds like you've searched pretty well already, so I'd second the guess that he passed and was gobbled up

 

[raydowning]

I hope you find it I 2 Cory Cats in my 20g and I love them even though my Albino likes to play dead on me gets me worried some times. . If you do not find it i'm sorry for your loss as well.

 

[Dgameman1]

Unfortunately every single one of the fish you listed on your stock list (other than maybe the neon tetras) could happily have snacked on their fallen tankmate... Cory cats are scavengers by nature, livebearers are constantly hungry and willing to nibble on anything that's remotely edible, and serpae tetras always tend to be on the nippy side and could easily have found a corpse to be tasty.

20 gallon tanks aren't too hard to thoroughly search, especially if you don't have live plants. It sounds like you've searched pretty well already, so I'd second the guess that he passed and was gobbled up

Whaa, I thought my fish were all peaceful community fish??

 

[Luananeko]

Whaa, I thought my fish were all peaceful community fish??

They are peaceful, but fish don't care what something used to be once it's dead. None of them would have killed the cory cat, but once it was already dead they would have happily munched on the remains. Fish have no hang-ups about being cannibals