Fish is M.I.A.

[Oddness87]

So one of my swordtails Is missing. I had 2 fatalities this morning of other swordtails from unknown cause which I'm currently investigating. My main concern right now is I am missing one of my fish.

It definitely did not jump out of the tank as I have searched the floor. I also checked in and under all of my decor while completing a Pwc earlier. I have also checked the filter just in case but I do not see him. Could he have buried himself in the send before dying?

Any thoughts?

Tank is 45gallon
All parameters are normal and steady.
Recently finished a fish less cycle last week and this is my first batch of fish.

 

[absolutangel04]

Fish will eat dead fish pretty readily. What all is in your tank?

 

[JacksonJigsaw]

+1 on the fish eating eachother. once dead he is just free game. the only part you will find is a TINY back bone, but most of the time it gets burried or sucked into the filter. sorry buddy.

 

[Luananeko]

Fish will eat dead fish pretty readily. What all is in your tank?

If the fish has vanished without a trace and you've checked all the places it could be, he likely got eaten. The only exception is when the missing fish is a suckermouth fish of some sort, as they tend to latch on and not let go even when decorations get moved. But with a swordtail their hiding options are far fewer...

If you had a HOB filter I'd suggest checking under the lip of the filter outflow, but if you checked during a PWC that should have dropped the water enough that whatever might have been there would have come loose and become visible.

 

[Oddness87]

Thanks for the advice,

This is what I thought happened but I just found it interesting the other two dead fish were untouched. Probably because the other fish were full.

My tank only consists of 7 other swordtails. I don't feel too bad about the 3 losses, The LFS talked me into getting more swordtails than I should have for my tank. I think I might get some tetras to go fill the gap, they are smaller and have less bioload than the swordtails.