I hate it when fish disappear...

[jackdp]

You know what I mean, they're there when you go to bed, all healthy, swimming and eating. You get up in the morning and you look into the tank and after a few seconds, you realize something's different. You can look all you want, shine a flashlight into the LR, look on the floor around the tank, peer into the cat's mouth but deep down you know they're just gone. All you can do is sit and wonder where you went wrong, was it something you said, something you did. Eventually you get over the guilt, come to grips with your loss and just hope the little(or big) guy(or gal) went on to a better place....

In Memoriam of "Mr. Clownfish" may he R.I.P. wherever he is...

 

[cj10488]

Check behind the tank on the floor.. they are avid Carpet Surfers.. I am sorry about your loss.. BTW what are your feeding habits.. that clown looks extremely unfed..

James

 

[jamal-188]

Wow, clowns are carpet surfers? I have an open back on my canopy 8O

 

[cj10488]

Wow, clowns are carpet surfers? I have an open back on my canopy

I have lost 2 to them due to Carpet Surfing..

James

 

[dansemacabre]

Try some eggcrate, maybe?

 

[An t-iasg]

Do you have a fuge? Reefrunner posted a few days ago that he found his one fish in the fuge...it was gone for a few months!

 

[jackdp]

Nope, no fuge and I feed frozen about every other day or so. I've looked on the floor but to no avail. I'm wondering if my peppermint shrimp or sallylightfoot didn't decide to take a swing at em overnite.

 

[AndySmithers]

Brad,
Sorry about your loss - if it really is lost...
Twice now I've had two different clowns take a trip through the hang on overflow to my tank.
Both times they have been in the outside box for about a day and both times I've simply tipped them back in the tank and they've been pretty much unscathed.
Last time the clown was in the little compartment where the u-tube drains, when I removed the tube tip tip out the clown he jumped about 6 inches in the air and fell in the other side of the box.
Scares the hell out of you - you are peering closely in the box trying not to hurt the critter and he jumps out and smacks you in the face!!!

Now BTW I've put egg-create in the overflow to stop it happening again....

 

[jackdp]

I have a prizm skimmer with a surface skimming cup on it, I guess its possible that it could have gotten into the cup and I didn't notice. This is the second time a clown has just gone AWOL never to be seen again.
What's the deal with eggcrate? What exactly is it and where do you get it and how do you use it. I'm getting ready to go coverless on the tank with a MH light pendant and don't want any more critters making a run for it (if that's what happend)

 

[dansemacabre]

Eggcrate is grating that is normally used to cover flourescent fixtires in office buildings. lot's of little squares. It is also somewhat reflective, as it is used for lighting fixtures. Anyway, the little squares are about 1/2x1/2, so no fish escape. Go to your local Home Depot or Lowe's or wherever and ask them for eggcrate covers for flourescent lights. I got a full sized sheet for about $10, and I used a hack saw to cut it to size. You can also score it with a utility knife, and it snap pretty easily. However, since it does snap so easily, don't apply a lot of pressure to it, or it will break where you don't want it to. I have 3 of them on each compartment of my tank (they're 18"x24") and I will have 3x250w MH. Hope this helps!

 

[AndySmithers]

Another good thing about egg-crate is that the individual little corners of the stuff, when snapped off, can be glued back on with the PVC plumbers cement stuff (for slip fittings) at 90 degrees to make 'tabs' for supporting the stuff on the edge of the tank or overflow or whatever.
This makes a really neat job!

 

[RandyStacyE]

Another thing that you can do, is if you have reflectors mounted, you can extend them to the back of the tank creating the "no way out" style hood. Just an option.

Stacy