Who Is Eating My Fish??

[cornfedfishies]

I have a 29gal tank set up with a male betta, 2 lyre tail mollies, a pictus cat, and a upside down catfish (or dwarf pleco). I purchased 2 neon tetras and 3 sunburst platys. Overnight the neons and one of the platys were gone. I have since moved the platys to another tank but I need to figure out who the culprit was because I plan on getting more platys and neons and I don't want this to happen again.

There were no remains found. The fish were there when I went to bed and gone when I woke up. They did not jump out and nothing got in from the outside. I was fairly certain that there wasn't any compatibility issues but I guess I was wrong.

 

[rich311k]

I would bet on the pictus. They will eat what will fit in thier mouths. How big is it?

 

[ringfinger]

It is most likely that they both died in the night and were sucked up in the filter, or just drifted somewhere that you can't see them. I can't imagine anyone in the tank eating them until nothing remained although I have never owned either of those cats...I guess it's possilbe. A Neon dying is nothing out of the ordinary. They would probably have a much better chance of survival in a school of 6-8 where they could feel more secure.

 

[tropicfishman]

I agree with rich311k, a pictus will eat anything that it can swallow, I would take him back to the LFS or put him in another tank of fish that he couldn't eat

 

[caribou]

I would suspect the pictus cat. When I was 13, I had a pictus cat that just about cleaned out my tank. It ate neons and zebra danios with gusto. Afterwards he always a very rotund tummy. I'm having a bit a trouble myself with two syn. angelicus LOL.

 

[toddnbecka]

The key to S. angelicus is to keep 1, or keep 6 (IF you have a large enough tank, and the spare cash for 4 more.) Beautiful cats, and one of the most aggressive Syno's there are.

 

[cornfedfishies]

The pictus was my guess too. I checked the filter and didn't find anything that could have been remains. The pictus is approximately 4.5" and they could have fit in it's mouth. I have another tank which I will be keeping the smaller fish in from now on.

 

[Zagz]

Pictus cat. I had one once and it ate 10 neon tetras in 2 days!

 

[rollin_22]

i have the same problem with my columbian sharks and mollies, i have lost two mollies, but the other mollies had babies, so now i am even again....lol

 

[SerLunchbox]

i am with the concensus .. the pictus catfish will try to eat anything it sees as potential food ... and they are TOUGH ... tough enough to survive in a mbuna cichlid tank.