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I've lost some fish!

Started by Guest_jacksmelt_* , Jul 31 2013 10:19 AM

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12 replies to this topic

#1 Guest_jacksmelt_*

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Posted 31 July 2013 - 10:19 AM

hello everyone! I've got a mystery to solve and i hope someone can shed light on this. i have a 4in. male central longear, a 3in male dollar, a 2in. orange throat darter and a 2in. sailfin shiner, in my 55gal. these fish always got along and have been tank mates for over a year. sometimes the sunnies being what they are would assert their dominance but never took a bite. 2 days ago my darter turned up missing. no carcass or anything. i got up this morning and my sailfin was gone too! my tank is planted with lots of snails. no one is raising alarms about a water problem. i checked anyway to be safe. is it possible the sunnies ate them? their mouths are so small i don't know if they could even fit part of one in there. they never showed any interest in them during the day and they don't feed at night. plus they both are very well fed with big bellies. so where did these fish go? my tank is well covered also.

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#2 Guest_keepnatives_*

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Posted 31 July 2013 - 10:35 AM

hello everyone! I've got a mystery to solve and i hope someone can shed light on this. i have a 4in. male central longear, a 3in male dollar, a 2in. orange throat darter and a 2in. sailfin shiner, in my 55gal. these fish always got along and have been tank mates for over a year. sometimes the sunnies being what they are would assert their dominance but never took a bite. 2 days ago my darter turned up missing. no carcass or anything. i got up this morning and my sailfin was gone too! my tank is planted with lots of snails. no one is raising alarms about a water problem. i checked anyway to be safe. is it possible the sunnies ate them? their mouths are so small i don't know if they could even fit part of one in there. they never showed any interest in them during the day and they don't feed at night. plus they both are very well fed with big bellies. so where did these fish go? my tank is well covered also.

Only mystery here is why it took a year! Well fed or not the temptation of a live meal to a 4 inch long ear or 3 inch dollar would be too much. Both would have little problem swallowing either missing fish.

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#3 Guest_jacksmelt_*

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Posted 31 July 2013 - 10:43 AM

my longear has a hard time swallowing a 2in. red worm. both my shiner and darter are really fat. i don't have much experience with sunnies as I've only had em' for a year but you really think he ate them? I'm not doubting you. just i can't imagine him swallowing them whole!

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#4 Guest_keepnatives_*

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Posted 31 July 2013 - 11:02 AM

my longear has a hard time swallowing a 2in. red worm. both my shiner and darter are really fat. i don't have much experience with sunnies as I've only had em' for a year but you really think he ate them? I'm not doubting you. just i can't imagine him swallowing them whole!

Feel free to doubt me. But when I say have no problem swallowing them I didn't mean one gulp, they could fit them in width wise and gradually work the length in. All it would take is for one sunny to decide the sail fin looked good enough to eat and I could well imagine with half sticking out the other might be encouraged to get his share. From that point the darter's time is short.

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#5 Michael Wolfe

Board of Directors

North Georgia, Oconee River Drainage

Posted 31 July 2013 - 12:50 PM

Dollars are tough on other fish... could have easily done way with a 2 inch fish! and even if it was not one bit, woudl have got him in teh evening an finished him off before morning.

Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing. - Benjamin Franklin

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#6 Guest_jacksmelt_*

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Posted 31 July 2013 - 01:17 PM

i guess i better find a bigger tank mate for them. i was thinking of flag fish to help my algae problem but i think a sucker would be better. i knew they were aggressive but didn't think they were that piggish! thanks for the info. guys!

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#7 Guest_jacksmelt_*

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Posted 31 July 2013 - 01:18 PM

probably where my snails have been disappearing too also!

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#8 Guest_Subrosa_*

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Posted 31 July 2013 - 02:29 PM

It's extremely likely the Sunfish did in the missing fish. It's a dead bang certainty that the did in the snails.

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#9 Guest_John4ds_*

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Posted 31 July 2013 - 02:44 PM

Flag fish wouldn't last long with sunfish. I would have to agree that the sunfish most likely ate the other fish as well.

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#10 Guest_jacksmelt_*

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Posted 31 July 2013 - 10:07 PM

any ideas on a bottom feeder that won't get too big yet is big enough the sunnies would leave it alone? has to be snail friendly too. i know its a long stretch.