Can fish slide and get stuck between rocks/surfaces/etc

[seavashr]

While ago my Green Chromis disappeared! and just few days ago my Clown fish dispersal (He was there 3 hour later missing).
Tank is covered. I checked inside my return box, inside the sump, inside my socket filter, no trace of dead leftover and the rest fishes are small and few so the could not possibly eat them!

I have made an foam/Epoxy background for my tank. The photo is example of someone's else background but the concept is the same. As you can see the structure is made and placed in back of the tank. However there will be still some gaps between two layers!



Is is possible for the fish to swim and get stuck! maybe between glass and the decor. So they die there and I don't see the body?

[Brhino]

fish can frequently get in places you don't expect. I'd say its entirely possible. I've had fish squeeze into filter boxes where there was only a small crack to do so, and get out of tanks that were 99% covered.

[Fishkeeper]

Generally, if a fish can possibly get into somewhere, it will, sooner or later.

[labnjab]

I've had fish go missing for 6 months or longer in our reef, and suddenly reappear like they were never gone. I've also had them die, but never find the bodies because the CUC eats it so quickly

[seavashr]

Mystery solved!

As I said I had 4 fishes (ie clown, damsel, fire gobby) disappear.
I was suspecting they somehow slide between my custom made background decor and the glass, get stuck there!
Just like photo, my decor is made of 3 parts. One of the parts slightly was tilted and a small gap was exposed between two parts.

Today I lifted the decor and found a decomposed leftover of indistinguishable fish :(


-----
SO I added a layer of plastic at the back to fill the gap and an additional layer between decor and glass. Hopefully this would stop fish from getting there.
I am just wondering if the plastic acts as incubator for (deleterious/unwanted) bacterial growth!

[smaug]

I lost my jawfish without a trace. It happens quite a bit,unfortunatly with the general nature of a sw tank with LR it is unavoidable. And yes,any void you put in any type tank will serve to collect and trap detritus,in a reef tank it could be a real issue later down the road.

[rageybug]

We went away for a weekend and when we returned we found our copper banded butterfly stuck between the glass and LR. He was very dead... I was very sad...!