Missing fishes

[Peter99]

Between yesterday and today I noticed that 2 of my small fishes have disappeared. No remains at all have been left and I can't find anything on the carpet. Unless my pictus cats are swallowing these fishes whole, I have no idea where they have gone. I have an oto that's about 1.5 inches and a zebra danio that's about 2 inches that has disappeared. The pictus cats, the largest is about 4 inches and the other 2 are about 2.5 inches. They are very well fed, so I don't think the pictus went out hunting when the lights when off. The water parameters are good, no amonia, no nitrites and only traces of nitrate. The tank is 55 gallons and the residents are 3 pictus, 7 tiger barbs, 1 pl*co, 2 (well 1 now) oto, and 7 (now 6) zebra danios.

[Kabong]

Barbs can be agresive and once a fish is dead with that many other's in a tank the body whouldnt be around very long.

[Milky]

I once had a missing CAE fish he was gone for about 6 months and I couldnt figure out what ever happend to him well low and behold I had taken out
one of my decorations and noticed that it was making a weird noise ??/ I looke underneath it and there was a hole at the bottom of it like there are in most decorations,, well it was my catfish that was missing for like 6 months and he had grown so big that he was stuck in side of the decoration I couldnt get him out so i ended up taking a hammer and breaking the top of the ornament it was like a med size castle thing and got the CAE out that way... I could never figure out why decorations have these holes on the bottom of them dont they know if theres a place in the tank for the fish to go they will go there... well kinda funny story but check the bottom of your decorations for holes and if you have any seal them up ... :D :soda: :p

[OrionGirl]

Pictus cats are predatory and will eat any fish that fits in their rather large mouths. If the missing fish are small, they certainly could have been eaten.

[legbamel]

I could never figure out why decorations have these holes on the bottom of them dont they know if theres a place in the tank for the fish to go they will go there.
We had a fish get stuck and die in one of those things! But now my hubby has loaches and eels and they LOVE the decorations. They thread about between the holes and dig in the gravel underneath. It keeps them safe from the meaner guys in the tank and when you life one of the decorations up the loaches look like a pile up puppies all snuggled up together. Except the eels - the tire track and the peacock have their own little fiefdoms with a few loaches and a botia apiece. :cool:

[Brain]

Otos are reallly good at hiding. I have found O. Niger in my tank months after I assumed them dead. You really have to get in there and move everything around to be sure.

As for the other guy (and maybe the oto), I vote for catfish food :( .

I once had a kuhli loach get under the UG plate (dunno how). He was under there for weeks until i looked up under the stand and saw him :eek: . Tore virtually the entire tank down to free him. 3 days later he was back down there... Finally sealed up some small gaps in the perimeter of the plate, but I think he liked it down there!

[Gingercat]

Don't know about your danio, but chances are your oto is alive and well. I have five in my planted tank, and I was sure they had all died. Couldn't find them at all, not for at least a couple of months. Then I had to move a piece of driftwood, and suddenly they all appeared. Now I can only find two, but I'm pretty certain the others are still there.