Help!!! Harlequin Rasbora has disappeared!!!

[Whitney]

Hi,

I have a little harlequin rasbora that I can't seem to find in my tank. I have a school of 6 rasboras....along with diamond tetras, blue rams, a pleco, gobies, and bamboo shrimp. I now only see 5 rasboras....

What do I do? Leave it be.....take my whole tank apart to look for him?

My tank's a 30 gallon bowfront. If I don't find him...what does THAT mean?

This has never happened to me before. I'm really upset about it.

[Lady Hobbs]

It's possible he died. It's one of the downside of fish keeping.

[jeffs99dime]

could he be hiding? is there anywhere in the tank that he could be where you can't see him? could he be sick. fish, will commonly "go off" on their own when they're sick. did you check your filter/filters strainer? how long ago did you notice him missing? is he a juvenile? it's possible he could have been attacked or even died. happens to all of us. if it hasn't been a long time that he's been missing i would wait a little while before tearing anything apart to try an find him

[Glasstapper]

make sure and check thoroughly throughout your plants and don't forget your filter. Sometimes people have found fish in their filter. Also check around on the floor on the off chance it jumped out. If it still isn't anywhere to be found, there are only one thing left that could have happened: it got eaten. Fish can be weird sometimes and eat things they normally aren't supposed to.

[cocoa_pleco]

MAYBE, he died. IF they school, then hes sick or something since hes not with his buds. Dont rip your whole tank apart, maybe he'll show up, but just do a little look. What are your tank parameters so I can tell if he may be sick, like ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, water temp.

[Glasstapper]

wow, how's that for quick response, huh? LOL

[jeffs99dime]

6 minutes! lol

[cocoa_pleco]

NEEEEEEEE[Only Registered Users Can See Links.] reccccccccccccccccccoooooooorrrrrrrrrrdddddddddd! lol

[Whitney]

I don't know...it's a pretty peaceful aquarium.....I don't know what could have eaten him....I dont' think anything I have has big enough mouths....

he has a tendency to explore a little bit by himself, rather than hanging tight with rest of the rasboras, but never strays far, and always goes back to school with them.....

I looked around my filter, though I haven't taken it out of the tank yet, it's a fluval plus (a sponge filter) he really can't fit inside of it...

I don't see a body around the tank, I looked with a flashlight.....

If he wanted to hide...he'd have places to hide....but it's not really like him to do so...and I've pretty much checked the popular caves in the tank already with my flashlight.....

Should I let it be? Is it safe for the rest of the tank, or do I need to take it apart to make sure he's not in there?

[Whitney]

My water parameters are perfect....always are....ammonia, nitrite, nitrates all at 0

My temp has been a bit of a problem lately (I moved the tank to NY from Chicago two weeks ago...and one end of the tank is always at 79-80 degrees while the other is at 76-77. I got another heater for the "unheated" side of the tank to correct the problem.....and I put it in just before noticing him missing.

[jeffs99dime]

the pleco definitely has the ability, as does the ram, to kill and injure other fish at any time

[cocoa_pleco]

yuppers:4:

[Glasstapper]

I say give it a few days for him to show up before you start tearing up your tank. Unless, of course, it's just bothering you that much.

I do a head count every morning and every night and freak out and when I can't find a fish. I did that once when I couldn't find one of my cories at dinnertime. I started at one end of the tank and pulled up every decoration in there until I saw him come flying out of one of my bushes. LOL I'm sure I scared the crap out of him, but he scared me too! I count them often, though, due to the aggressive cichlid in there.

[Whitney]

Plec's a little albino bristlenose.....and he's shy

if the rams did it...where's the body?....they're pretty slow eaters.....I dont' know.....it's not that I don't know that fish sometimes get killed by other fish the tank...this just seems unlikely to me.....if nothing else...he's much faster than the rams...and my rams have never shown any signs of aggression towards their tank-mates

[Whitney]

AH!!! HE APPEARED!!!!

I don't know from where...but he's there....and looking kinda pale...but at least he's alive.....

THANKS SO MUCH EVERYONE....sorry for the freak out...I was having visions of rotting fish in my tank.....I also happen to like this little guy....he's got the a lot of personality for a little fish.

[cocoa_pleco]

I do a head count every morning and every night and freak out and when I can't find a fish.



ditto. Same here. nada

[Lady Hobbs]

He probably is a bit stressed if he's the only one you have. They all like their own species to hang with. I have a bunch of the Red Tail rasbora's. Love the little guys and they sure are hardy.

[jeffs99dime]

glad to see he came back! very cool

[cocoa_pleco]

he was havin a campout:1: