How did I miss this 3" fish?

[Gauge]

We recently (yesterday) added a few things to our tank. We added some snails of various sorts, hermit crabs, emerald crabs, three sand-sifting cucumbers, and a peppermint shrimp. It was just your every-day cleanup crew.

Tonight, I looked at the tank and saw a fish that was approximately 2.5-3.0" in size swimming in the tank. I swear there is no way I missed putting this fish in. You don't accidentally add a fish to your tank, do you? Anyway, I did my best to get some pictures of this thing. It seems to have a long fin running along its bottom side. It has two very small fins near its head. The head and front fins kind of look like a curious wormfish to me. It swims in place almost verticle looking down at the sand.

Can anyone identify this and tell me how in the heck it may have gotten in my tank??? I have some more pictures if they would help, but these are a couple of the best.

[Billsgate]

Sorry I can't help you with ID, but that is one neat find! If it turns out not to be harmfull or grows too big I would keep it!

[Gauge]

Another thing I forgot to mention is that it came out at night. The timer for my lights accidentally got messed up and after the lights had been out for 30 minutes or so last night, they came back on. I went in to turn them back off and saw this little guy.

If he's nocturnal, I doubt I'm going to be able to keep him fed. I have serious doubts about his chances of survival in this case. I'm still really curious what in the world he could be, though!

[TheRealFF]

Wow that's some strange, awesome looking fish. Wish i could help u but i can't

Originally Posted by Gauge

three sand-sifting cucumbers

It came out of one of these. Looks to be a (onestripe or lancetail?) wormfish of some type.

Cheers
Steve

[Gauge]

How does a fish come out of a cucumber?? Will this fish be a menace of some sort, or is it just another wormfish? If it's a wormfish, I don't give it a good chance of survival because I doubt it's going to eat much with the tomato clown in the tank.

[JDogg]

Originally Posted by Gauge

How does a fish come out of a cucumber?? Will this fish be a menace of some sort, or is it just another wormfish? If it's a wormfish, I don't give it a good chance of survival because I doubt it's going to eat much with the tomato clown in the tank.

I think they live in the cucumber's bum!

[zenn]

not going to lie...that thing is kind of creepy looking.

Originally Posted by JDogg

I think they live in the cucumber's bum!

Pretty much correct!

Will this fish be a menace of some sort, or is it just another wormfish? If it's a wormfish, I don't give it a good chance of survival because I doubt it's going to eat much with the tomato clown in the tank.

It won't be a menace to the tank at all. It will however be a challenge to feed if being harassed by tank mates.

I also think I may have miss ID'd this, might be closer to if not actually a Pearlfish (Carapus bermudensis)

Cheers
Steve

[Blue H2O]

This may be a day late and a buck short, but I caught one of those at a marina in NC 2 weeks ago. Same deal, transparent with big eyes. I was reaching for a shrimp when it swam out of the algae. I'm pretty sure what I caught was a juvenile eel of some sort (American Eels are common here).

Either you have an eel or I caught something I should have kept (wormfish), because they are identical.

[Serpentman]

It looks very much like an American Eel elver.