missing male beta

[kukerdan]

I returned my royal knife fish, it was eating
everything in the tank, the LFS gave me credit
so i bought new fish. I bought
2 platinum gouromies, 2 black teras,
1 albino buenos ares tetra for myother BA tetra,
a clown loach, and a beautiful male beta,
After i let all the fish into the tank, the male beta
was behaving typical and floating near the surface of the tank,
i left for about an hour, and came back, and he is missing,
he is nowhere near the smallest fish in the tank, but he is missing
and the knife fish isnt there to eat anything,
the only fish that could have possibly eaten him whole is the
albino catfish.... but he doesnt even bother the small cory
or the sucker, and he only comes to the surface when i feed the fish.
Do these fish hide? there is ALOT of hiding places in my tank... but i cant find
a trace of him! where could it be?

 

[Menagerie]

You have lots of fish that may be culprits.
First, check all the decor, the filter and the floor around your tank.

 

[kukerdan]

checked the floor, and theres no way it could get into the filter

 

[Endgame319]

Maybe the fish died from anothe reason and the other fish gobbled him up real quick

 

[An t-iasg]

Is the tank you're talking about the 90 gallon tank in your sig? I don't keep bettas in community tanks. My bettas are each in their own 5.5 gallon tanks. But sometimes, even in this small tank, I can't find them right away -- I look for a few minutes before I can see them. Maybe it does take a lot of looking for them in a big tank! I wouldn't say a betta hides a lot, but compared to some of your other fish, they are not as active -- they don't swim fast and they do like to find a resting spot. Since you don't see convincing evidence that he's gone for good, I bet he found a good spot somewhere to call his own. Good luck and I hope you see him soon!

 

[krap101]

yeah. the gouramies mighta done it.

 

[kukerdan]

the betta was about the same size as my gouramies, the blue one is slightly larger.. but the other three are the same, and ive never seen them attack anything.. The only three possible culprits in my eyes (for eating a whole fish), are the Two tinfoil barbs, and the albino catfish, But there are plenty of smaller fish in there that have never been harrassed. I have a regular buenos ares tetra that is fine, i put an albino in there today, and i had to take the guy out because they chewed all his fins off! i dont know who did it, i suspect the tinfoil/rosy barbs... maybe the gouramies? but my rosy barbs and gouramis have very long fins.. and those are fine.... My albino cat is 4.5 - 5.5 inches, and the barbs are slightly shorter, but much taller, all three are hogs, and that cats mouth is huge, but i cant see him eating a fully grown betta.... and arent those 'fighter fish' wouldnt it defend its self? I thought the knife fish was eating everything.... but hes gone, im missing a betta, and a buenos ares got nipped up.......?????

 

[grimlock3000]

There is no way a Betta was going to last long in that tank, especially with four Gouramis. To be blunt, your tank is truly a mess of fish. You have many types of fish that like to be in schools floating around solo or in small groups. This type of situation leads many fish to being aggressive or get stressed out and get sick. I am not sure what you plan is, but buying one or two of every fish that you think looks cool is a terrible idea.

 

[William]

I'd bet on the Albino Catfish.


I've seen Albino Catfish eat fullgrown Angelfish in a single bite, with no troubles at all.


So, a betta is just a little pittance snack.

 

[kukerdan]

As far as having small groups of schooling fish.......

I used to have a school of 8 neons and 4 glowlight tetras, they all lasted quite a while, then i guess the catfish got hungry.

The tetras are in a school of three (there would be five if i didnt loose 2) and they arent aggressive, the two danios where cycle fish and have made it through, and are happy as pigs in mud.

There are 4 gouramies and they dont school in the slightest

They keep eating all but 1 buenos ares tetra, and the albino is in QT right now.

The tinfoil barbs... at that size they would destroy everyone in the tank if i had any more, and they only just started swimming near each other.

 

[bunebop]

barbs + bettas = byebye betta 8O

 

[frshwaterfinatc]

Not true, IME, I have three barbs in with one betta and they are fine.

My friend has tanks of barbs, glass catfish, and albino cats... and rams...
he's got a tank of just about any setup you can imagine. Every one of them
has a betta in it just to prove everyone wrong. I was shocked when i saw them,
but it works! 8O

I had a betta in one tank with a lyretail molly, and three dalmation mollies,
and he disappeared. I couldn't find him for days. No one had been bugging him-
I watched the tank to make sure. About a month later I broke down the entire setup and cleaned everything. the betta was a mass of jelly underneath one of my shells near the bottom of the filter.

Also at one point I kept a red clawed crab in a one gallon with a betta. All was fine for three month at which point the crab molted and died.

So I still don't know for sure what happened to my betta that disappeared. Fpr the longest time I decided he must have somehow jumped the tank. But if you find a mass of jelly somehwere in or beneath your decor, it's most likely him.

 

[kukerdan]

wow, maybe thats what happened