How fast will a dead fish be consumed?

[nikelodeon79]

I brought home a pair of Electric Blue Acara last night, along with some Serpae tetra and Giant danio. There were already Serpae tetra in the tank.

This morning my male Acara is just... gone. He was already fairly big, definitely past the fry stage, so I'm at a loss as to where he could have gone. I looked all around the tank in case he somehow jumped out and did not find a body. No evidence of a body in the tank, either.

Is it possible that he died and has already been eaten? He was in the tank and doing fine last night at 11:00pm, and i just checked at 10:00am this morning and cannot find him.

Total stock in the tank is/was:

2 Electric Blue Acara
22 Serpae tetra
10 Giant danio
1 Bristlenose pleco

[Brhino]

in my community tank a dead fish can get stripped to a skeleton overnight. I have a couple hundred assassin snails that are the biggest contributors to that. Nobody's going to eat the bones, though, so if the acara was big enough that you think the bones would be visible I'd keep an eye out for those.

a couple other thoughts:

Since you just added him to the tank, he could be shy and hiding somewhere. Are you absolutely sure there's no hiding spots you haven't found?

Do you have any dogs or cats? If so, the fish could have jumped out, and the mammal could have come along and eaten it.

[nikelodeon79]

I am not finding any bones. There are places they could possibly be stuck and it's possible he may be alive in hiding... but I'm not holding out a lot of hope. :( It's crazy how upset I am about this. I've been wanting these fish since I first saw them about a year ago in the LFS. I finally got them and lost one in less than 24 hours. :(

I'm going to do a water change later on that tank so maybe he'll turn up then... one way or another. I have two days to bring the body back to the store to get a new fish. I'm not sure what they'd do if I turn up with nothing and say he simply disappeared.

[SeaLady]

gosh thats tuff! I would be tearing the room apart, thinking he'd flopped his way away from tank after jumping out. Or tearing up the landscape. So sorry. I hope you find him hiding, scrunched in a corner, but alive...

[mermaidwannabe]

If there are places he could be stuck, I would check those places immediately. A fish that gets stuck in a decoration or other object and can't get out will die from starvation, stress or injury. Tankmates could attack a stuck and helpless fish.

Whenever I find a fish missing, I always wait a day or two to see if it shows up. Fish often hide and will come out at feeding time or just whenever they feel like it. If it never shows up, it's a fair bet it has died and been eaten. I've had times when I can't even find the skeletons of really small fish such as danios and minnows.

I've got dojos in my large tank, and they'll eat anything at any time. I never find tiny fish that die in that tank -- their remains are gone before I can discover them.

You've just gotten those new fish, and it may take awhile before they settle in enough to swim out in the open. Even long established residents will stake out a territory and hide there.

If I see a body, I remove it at once. Decomposition can foul a tank pretty quickly.

I assume you acclimated the new fish to the tank water before putting them in there?

Hope you find him alive and well. Chances are he's just shy and wishes to remain invisible for the time being.

[nikelodeon79]

Yes, I acclimated them using the drip method and everyone else seems to be just fine.

I'm going to go do a water change and partial teardown to see if I can find him.

[RiversGirl]

Best wishes that you find him healthy, just well-hidden.

[nikelodeon79]

Found him. He jumped.

WHY wasn't it one of the $2 fish?!

[RiversGirl]

I am sorry for your loss.

[Slaphppy7]

Sorry for the loss.

I know your pain, lost 3 marbled hatchets that way....through a tiny opening in the lid

How big was he?...how'd he jump out, through an HOB opening or something?

[nikelodeon79]

He was about 2.5-3". There is one pane of glass missing because I stepped on it and broke it and have not been able to find a replacement. I'm going out of town Thursday and hoping to find one then. I have a temporary solution until I find one and also plan on getting some floating plants.

[Slaphppy7]

Oh, I think I read about the broken lid in another thread...double bummer

[mermaidwannabe]

A piece of plexiglass or stiff plastic can be cut to size as a temporary fix.

Sorry to learn he jumped. Bummer!

[Jaster]

I've had my bristlenoses tear up fish that have died in a matter of hours. If something goes missing and they're not in the decor I can pretty much guess where they went.

[Laura_in_FL]

I am sorry to hear about your blue acara. :scry: But at least the mystery is solved and you can move forward now.

[cajunqn81]

Sorry for your loss...