Have you ever lost a fish in a tank?

[emmaie892000]

I would assume this is the right place to post this thread.
My question is..have you ever lost a fish (or multiple fish) inside your tank, and were unable to find them? Did they show up, and did you ever figure out where they were hiding?

Although I haven't kept fish for very long, my neon tetras manage to completely hide themselves for me, no matter where I check. Last night they seemed a bit stressed, so this morning when I could only find two, I was worried I lost a couple overnight. I did a water check to see what was up, everything was fine. I bring my mom up to look at the fish, and lo and behold, all 4 swimming around together, healthy as can be.
Now, I have a 20G tank with lots of plastic and silk plants, two live plants, and one decoration they could possibly hide in. I checked all the plants and shone a light in the decoration, and could not find the fish. I still have no idea where they could possibly have eluded me.
Looking forward to seeing if anyone else has lost (and found) fish in their tanks, and how they hid.

(also I know my tetra numbers are small but I need to let them settle in a bit before I add any to the school, or I'm worried the levels will spike too high for my cycle to handle, I promise I'm not a horrible person)

 

[SpaceFish42]

That has happened to me. In fact, just the other day I found three baby guppies that I didn't even know existed!

 

[Mcgolg76]

I once had a peacock gudgeom disappear. Didn't see it for months. At one point I changed my substrate from gravel to sand. Completely emptied tank. Took out all the stuff and water. Assumed it died and got eaten. One day out of nowhere the fish was in tank happily swimming around.


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[ImACoolguy]

My Raphael cat disappeared for weeks. Finally pulled up a rock one day(this is a big rock) and he was hiding under it. this is about a 3 inch Raphael. Not easy to just hide one of those.


Caleb

 

[fishywishywowoo]

I've lost an adf. Moved everything and still can't find it. Looked under sofas too as, I kid you not, I found one hopping through my kitchen 2 days after my pwc ? This tank has a secure lid too. So just bear in mind to check surroundings too ?

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[azmodan]

Fish will sometimes disappear and never be found. Most recently I had a fully grown ram disappear in my tank and I never found a body so I did a big water change to be safe. Sometimes fish will die inexplicably for whatever reason and they'll just end becoming food for your other fish, snails, shrimp, scuds and whatever else lives in your tank.

 

[erla]

I once had a peacock gudgeom disappear. Didn't see it for months. At one point I changed my substrate from gravel to sand. Completely emptied tank. Took out all the stuff and water. Assumed it died and got eaten. One day out of nowhere the fish was in tank happily swimming around.


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Interesting! I lost a female peacock gudgeon not too long ago... Disappeared without a trace. I figured she jumped and got eaten by one of my cats (the tank is covered enough that the cats can't get in, but there's a gap). She jumped out once before, and one of my cats found her, but did not eat her, and I put her back in the water and she survived.

I also worry I may have siphoned her up, but I would think I would have noticed that. I have a male peacock gudgeon who hangs out in a cave with a narrow opening... sometimes I wonder if she is hiding in there, and he is guarding her, but again, that seems unlikely, especially since I have shook out the cave to see if there is anything else in there.

I still find myself looking for her sometimes, and your story makes me think it is possible she is still alive, although I am not getting my hopes up!

 

[enrgizerbunny]

I lose my pleco all the time. Always find him in one of his hiding places. You know they're in the tank, just gotta find that hiding spot.

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[sinibotia]

A pair of kuhli loaches in my old 150 gallon tank. When they got added the tank was full of big fish- not aggressive, but absolutely big enough to easily slurp down a kuhli loach. My mom added them without saying a word to me and I just discovered them in the tank one day, much to my chagrin.

They would disappear for months at a time and I would always assume one of the geophagus or the massive pictus catfish had eaten them. But then they would turn up spontaneously. One time I even tore down and re-setup the whole tank and could only find one kuhli loach- but sure enough, a few months later there they both were. Poor little kuhli must have ended up in a gravel bucket

 

[Trainer_Ruby_]

My bumblebee goby likes to hide in a tiny hole in a peace of wood I have in my 55g


Keep calm and drum on

 

[mikem691]

Only dither's but I think I know where they went.

 

[PNWaquarist]

I had a Cardinal Tetra disappear in quarantine. The tank was on a desk and accessible to my cats, so I had the room's door shut during the day and the tank covered with a towel at night. And because of this, I wasn't paying much attention to the tank outside of feeding time. One day, I noticed that there were only two fish swimming around, but there was no body. While doing my weekly water change later in the week, I found the skeleton. I didn't realize that a fish could decompose that quickly.

 

[Delapool]

Heaps even in a 5 gallon I've lost them and then found them.

 

[rjrossi88]

My kuhli's disappear all the time. Every once in a while I'll see them darting across tank wall. They're still alive in there somewhere, just some fish feel safer hiding most of the time.

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[PleaseHelp]

I've had a peacock eel for, I kid you not, 6 months. What.

 

[enrgizerbunny]

I had a Cardinal Tetra disappear in quarantine. The tank was on a desk and accessible to my cats, so I had the room's door shut during the day and the tank covered with a towel at night. And because of this, I wasn't paying much attention to the tank outside of feeding time. One day, I noticed that there were only two fish swimming around, but there was no body. While doing my weekly water change later in the week, I found the skeleton. I didn't realize that a fish could decompose that quickly.

It didn't. It was eaten by the other two.

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[emmaie892000]

Fish will sometimes disappear and never be found. Most recently I had a fully grown ram disappear in my tank and I never found a body so I did a big water change to be safe. Sometimes fish will die inexplicably for whatever reason and they'll just end becoming food for your other fish, snails, shrimp, scuds and whatever else lives in your tank.

That's the reason I assumed my neons were dead, they're so fragile that I could possibly never find their bodies!

All these stories are great, the ones including full water/substrate changes amaze me!

 

[Shana0310]

Yep, had an albino Cory disappear. I loved him. Entertaining swimmer. Then one day I noticed he was gone. I moved plants and
Decor, nothing. I think I sucked him up doing a water change. Poor guy.


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[emmaie892000]

Yep, had an albino Cory disappear. I loved him. Entertaining swimmer. Then one day I noticed he was gone. I moved plants and
Decor, nothing. I think I sucked him up doing a water change. Poor guy.


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That's rough.
Every time I do a water change with the vacuum I'm worried my ADF is going to dart in front of the tube and get sucked up. I'd be able to get him out, but I'm worried he'd hurt his legs or something. They're so fragile looking.

 

[PNWaquarist]

It didn't. It was eaten by the other two.

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Ah, that would make sense. Didn't think that tetras were that opportunistic.


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