what is eating my fish

[bward9876]

i have a 400 gal. tank newley setup.my fish keep disapearing??

the olny things i can guees are the coral banded shrimp or the emarld crabs ????????????

[killerwhale0217]

I bet you have a Mantis Shrimp in there somewhere. You hear any loud clicking sounds coming from it at night? If you do then thats a sign that it is striking at something.

[bward9876]

no loud noies or clicking sounds. the coral banded shrimp never comes out, then when you see him the next day a fish is gone and no signs of a dead fish at all.the fish is heathley then gone?????????????????

[killerwhale0217]

Like what kind of fish came up missin? I had A CBS and never bothered anything I ever had in there. he came up missing one day.

[bward9876]

clown,blue tang,manderian

[killerwhale0217]

I would think that they would be able to swim away from a CBS. I had a CBS that liked to clean my tangs. Kinda weird thou aint it to have things missing? I really dont think emerald crabs will eat fish unless they are already dead.

[barryhc]

A Banded Coral Shrimp, or Emerals Crab, either one, cannot dispose of that much food in one day. What size were the fish anyway, and how long has your tank been set-up? Has your tank cycled yet? Live rock, caves, brittle star, arrow crab, etc. ?

Keep asking, you'll find out.

> barryhc :)

[bward9876]

400 gal/750 pounds live rock/lots of caves/set up about 4 months now/stocking hermit crabs,snails,4 emarld crabs small,4 skunk cleaner shrimp,1 coral banded shrimp,3 blue+yellow damsels left/it takes about 4 to 5 days between fish disappearing,they are healthy then gone

[killerwhale0217]

they aint disappearing in your overflow are they??

[nikoendo]

are they small fish? check the over flow

[bward9876]

no they are not in the overflows

[mystikdragon7]

Are your damsels disappearing to? If not, there might be a chance that the damsels are killing the other fish.

With 750 pounds of LR, I would be willing to bet the chances that some type of unwanted hitchhiker is in your tank.

[killerwhale0217]

Yeah Damsels are aggressive. I have a 3 stripped one in my tank and it nips at my arms or hands if I got into the tank. If they aint killing each other then you more then likely have a hitchhiker (Mantis) taking them into their holes. Soon as fish hit the bottom then the hermits and emeralds will eat the left overs.. LOL and serpent stars.

[JohnHenry]

They died and then were dragged by current or shrimp out of sight to decompose.

[killerwhale0217]

LOL... you could say that too !!!

[dead beat reef]

Could be jumpers, look behind your tank. Nothing in back. Do you
have a cat?

[killerwhale0217]

Cat would get a salty treat thats for sure...

[barryhc]

Originally posted by bward9876
400 gal/750 pounds live rock/lots of caves/set up about 4 months now/stocking hermit crabs,snails,4 emarld crabs small,4 skunk cleaner shrimp,1 coral banded shrimp,3 blue+yellow damsels left/it takes about 4 to 5 days between fish disappearing,they are healthy then gone

The blue + yellow damsels, are much less agressive than some other damsels like the "Three stripe", or "Domino" types. With that much live rock, and depending where it came from, Mantis shrimp remain a possibility. That's a large tank, and it might muffle the sounds, more than otherwise, and it could occur when you're not in the room as well.

Shrimp traps cost less than dead fish "by a longshot", So . . . .

> barryhc :)

[Putawaywet]

Every 4 or 5 days huh?

With tha much live rock I wouldn't rule out a small rogue octo that hitchhiked in and is picking things off. Silent, yet amazingly efficient predators they are.

However, as cool as that would be......

My vote goes towards natural causes. I'd look carefully for signs if disease on your remaining fish.

Brett

[killerwhale0217]

I still think mantis shrimp maybe it... I hear one in my tank but nothing comes up missing... Not for sure but a possibility I have one. None of my fish have disappeared. A small Octo maybe another one that hitchhiked on your rock. have you dipped in hypersaline to rid of any unwanted creatures before you put that rock in your tank?

[sealife]

i would bet a big fire worm

[amcarrig]

Originally posted by killerwhale0217
I still think mantis shrimp maybe it... I hear one in my tank but nothing comes up missing... Not for sure but a possibility I have one. None of my fish have disappeared. A small Octo maybe another one that hitchhiked on your rock. have you dipped in hypersaline to rid of any unwanted creatures before you put that rock in your tank?
Contrary to popular belief, only a spearing type mantis would be able to take down fish. Smashers are not capable of killing and eating fish unless they are extremely lucky or extremely starving. It's also not likely that a smashing mantis would go after fish in a reef tank full of snails, hermits and shrimp.

[allstar.h2o]

Set a Mantis trap

[lovethereefer]

i second the spearer theory....could be a teddy bear crab....have seen the large ones snag fish

[jakano]

I have the exact same problem. fish that seem perfectly healthy suddenly dissapear.ive lost a powder blue tang,a lyretail anthias that was attacked by something for sure cause he survived a day or two before dissapearing, and now my yellow tang who was my favorite fish. my tank is a 110 high with about 100lbs of live rock.thing is i had all this same live rock in a smaller tank before. and i didnt lose stuff like this. well maybe i did lose stuff, i had green chromis that one by one vanished.maybe i have a mantis or just a mean fish that kills the others while they sleep. today i found the yellow tang stuck on the intake to my closed loop pump and it was almost shredded.of course alot of the damage was probably the suction power of the dart but it also looked eaten to me. it had no eyes and the guts were gone but most of the body was intact but cut up. this would make a good slasher movie wouldnt it?

[pro99line]

I was losing fish also. I would put them in and they seemed healty but the next day they were missing. I spoke to a firned of miine that has been in this hobby for 15 years and he stated when you lose a fish in a big aquarium is is a long shot to ever find the,. He said the crabs and shrimp will get rid of the remains before you even notice they are gone alot of times. After he stated this we checked and my alk level is what killed them and then the inverts just disposed of the remains.

[mlb75]

I had a similar problem awhile back in a FOWLR tank and after alot of hunting found I had a little crab that came as a hitchhiker. Not sure what kind he was exactly but he was small and mean as he@#. I ended up finally catching him and put him in his own tank because he was so cool. I would regularly feed him live fish, he was amazing he'd be just sitting around chillin until I dropped a guppy in the water and then he would instantly go into hunting mode until he caught and killed it, he perfered live food btw. I was always told small crabs are OK / good for eating alge etc etc but after him the only crabs I'll ever put in my tank are hermits... Look around and see if you don't have a couple crabs because they will do things like that. I lost several hundred dollars worth of fish before I finally figured it out, don't make the same mistake.

[ediaz]

The same happened to me more than 15 years ago, i had an small octopus that came with the live rock.

Ed

[tunaluver]

i had a problem with fish disapearing to. hasnt happend in a long time now but i was losing anything new i put in. lost a bi-color angel a rust angel in the same night. no signs of them anywhere. my tank isnt that big and you can kinda see in the rockwork. didnt find any trace of them. i havent added any new fish since. all i have is a clown. flame angel. and a fiji coral beauty. anything else dissapears during the night when i put them in after quarantine

[coreygoforth]

my 2 clowns jumped out of the tank

[Chaotic Reefer4u]

wow i have the same problem.

[retin78]

good luck getting brandit shrimp out in that tank. It's so so big

[killerwhale0217]

Sorry havent been resonding in a while

[killerwhale0217]

I just lost some fish but they were still in my tank. Woke up yesterday morning and my rock beauty angel and my spanish hogfish were both dead. My hippo was on its last leg but she came back..... I dont know what happened.

[killerwhale0217]

ediaz, what do you got going on up there in GR? Anything to get rid of? Let me know in PM

[crazzyreefer]

I took a friends LR and diped in a heavy salt solution, placed it on a steel plate and next took my welder and put it on high, stuck an eltrode in it and watched the crab fry! he had attacted many fish,,no longer, no pardon from arnold!.. and the live rock wasnt damaged in the slightest!

[killerwhale0217]

Sounds like a good way to rid 'em

[Finhorn]

I used to get a lot of popping. One day I caught the sucker. It was just a pistol shrimp, with one large claw for popping. I don't think those are fish eaters, since the live side by side with little gobies. I gave it to someone with a bigger tank. So its fate is unknown.

Recently, I've been hearing a new popping. Odd, since I haven't bought anything new. It only pops just after the lights go out.

But as to the fish disappearing in earlier posts, I once had a sally lightfoot that I SAW catch and eat a damsel fish. The damsel must have disagreed with the crab, because it died a few weeks later, much to my relief.

[killerwhale0217]

thats weird that a sally light foot would eat a dmasel... I used to hear some poping in my tank but havent heard it for quite a while and nothing comes up missing and I never see anything. I once did see a mantis in there but all I seen of him was his head.... But crashed the tank and since havent heard him...Thats been several months ago.

[fly2cast]

I had a serpant star that ate three damsels, two shrimp, and three hermit crabs.

[miztic]

a mantis would be much more likely to go after your cleanup crew, if its a smasher, only spearers take down fish, I don't think those are very common..

[Unlikely_Hero]

Seems like a lot of people have this same problem. Including me.

I have a 55 gallon reef and I had 2 firefish, a blue-striped goby, and a royal gramma disappear on me. Plus countless peppermint shrimp. I didn't really worry about it too much, since my mom lets her dog run around untended and I've had a few jumpers before (which I found before the dog). But recently with the mysterious disappearance of my beloved full 5" Blue Tang, my large Skunk Cleaner, and a large emerald crab, I'm getting suspicious. I also had a Coral Beauty that was fine one day and died the next, but unlike the others, I found the body untouched. I'm breaking down my tank this week for an upgrade, and hopefully find out what's behind it all.

Something I'd like to point out, though. All of the fish and inverts that I mentioned had a tendency to sleep hidden away in some crevice and often during the day as well. My tang, skunk cleaner, and crab were on and off behind the rocks, in front of the rocks, which might explain why they haven't been touched until recently. I have a clown that I've had since day one that's always out in the open and is still with me and a medium-sized algae blenny that does the same.

However, I've stayed up late with a red flashlight to see what I could find. I've seen a bristle worm, which I think might account for the shrimp, but for a large blue tang? I also saw some sort of brown worm, but only it's head. It looked pretty much like an earthworm and recoiled really quickly when I hit it with the light. I've read about a huge one taking out lots of coral, but a small one in a 55 taking out full-sized fish?

[Rykna]

What about an anemone? My curly que helped itselt to a sailfin blenny. (burp) One day the blenny was there, next the anemone had a full tummy.
My green brittle star has been know to snitch fish too. What kind of seastars do you have?

[RandyStacyE]

I would imagine, other than an octopus, you should be able to find the culprit by digging through your rocks. Something that big shouldn't go unnoticed I would imagine. Though I'm sure by now you have already done that.

It sounds like whatever it is may be nocturnal. I'd sit up at night and occasionally spot around for it. Maybe try to bait it using some closed weighted container with some holes drilled into it. I'd try some frozen scallops, clam, or something that's cheap.

[Fl_seagull]

I recently found the remains of a fish I lost 4 months ago. It jumped out and landed (flopped) almost under my 44 gal brute trash can I use to store RO/DI water.

My other lost fish stories are overflows and crabs. The three mantis shrimps I had only took out my cleaning crew.

[delafe]

A few posibilities, depending on where your live rock is from:

-Carnivorous "cone snail" Be VERY careful if you see a snail with a cone shaped shell that has a "snout" protruding if it comes from the South Pacific. Some of these things are DEADLY, people die each year from these things in the wild.

-A large crab, lobster or "spearer" mantis shrimp hiding in the rock

-A large serpent starfish that is hungry. (Would need to be VERY large)

-The fish are being stressed to death by more agressive tank mates.

-Predatory worms.

These are the things I have encountered over the years...

-Alfred

[sgolden]

well i imagine with a fairly new tank that the chemistry swings are causing much stress on the fish, and perhaps the fish arent well established either, IMO i have never heard my mantis "snap" only actually smashing somethings shell...sometimes snapping sounds are often snails getting rattled on the glass by a powerhead blast, or hermit crabs moving rubble against the glass..i have had a few fish dissapear on me too...not in the mantis tank either...some jump out . some get sucked into powerheads or find their way to the sump and get pureed by the mag 24 like my mantis did...just about everything will eat another dead or dying fish, they get blown around till the get stuck, usually where we cannot see, then nature takes over...i would definitely check on the tank at night, and take a small 1/2 liter water bottlecut the top off at an inch down the side, then invert the top and stick it into the bottom, it should stay, you might need glue....put a piece of raw seafood in there with a few cottonballs(sometimes the shrimp and bristleworms get tangled it them)...submerge it in the tank(remove all air) and nestle it in a corner or cave...please pm me if you catch anything...and if you have an octo, how much do you want for it?

[smy168]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6026989#post6026989 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ediaz
The same happened to me more than 15 years ago, i had an small octopus that came with the live rock.

Ed

What type of octopus? do you still have it?

[theplatypus]

I don't think octopi(sp?) live anywhere near that long.

[Glopez1]

they live for about 3 yrs

[tangreef68]

i have heard of a mantis shrimp attack a copperband butterflyfish.

[packer]

While looking in all the little places on my LR in a 3 week old tank I found a cone snail about 1/2 inch long. I got tweezers and grabbed him. Glad he didnt get bigger or that I didnt get stung while working in tank moving LR around! I hope they dont travel in pairs!! Dont know if one this size could hurt a human, but did not want to take a chance.

[delafe]

Yes, a tiny cone snail can kill a grown man, some of the most toxic "venom" in the world is produced by them. You are very fortunate.

-Alfred

[Matt Sable]

Cone snail!!! Careful with those, some are really dangerous. I've never heard of a serpent star eating fish, but there is one brittle star- I think its a brittle- that specializes in killing fish by making it's body look like a cave. When a fish goes to sleep underneath it, BAM!! There is also a urchin- I think it is called a Pencil Urchin- that is extremely good at eliminating fish. Well, good luck catching and disposing of 'yalls fish and invert nappers!

[LauraCline]

Wow, very lucky you found the cone snail! Would a freshwater dip or hyposalinity get rid of all the unwanted hitchhikers? Also I think some heavy duty gloves might be in order for working in the tank.

Glad my husband didn't see this thread, he doesn't even want me to get a Lionfish. He said he was afraid he'd come home and find me dead in front of the tank.

[Psyire]

Reading this thread made me glad I went with mostly Baserock for my tank, lol.

[mikedenton49]

I'm with the fire worm idea, I have had them catch a sick flame angle and consume it in one sitting. Nothing left but the bones. Lil bastards.

[ruiny]

Anybody have a picture of these cone snails?

[TOYMAN357]

If you have a power head too low it could be pinning a fish in a tight spot in that mountain of live rock. It only takes a couple of hours in the reef to be eaten up. Check the flow but I would say you have a predator of some kind set a trap to be sure.

[Sk8r]

Watch out for certain mushrooms. We had a one snare a lawnmower blenny bigger than it was---bagged him up like a pig in a sack and expanded while he walloped the daylights out of it. By the time we could get it to cough him up, he was a goner. But it explained the disappearance of a dragonette, a mandarin, and certain other perching or low-riding fishes.

[Hawaii06]

I think your problem is probably a large bristle star they are nocturnal and in large tanks during the day are almost impossible to spot. I've heard so many bristle worms gone wild stories. I don't think it is a cone shell you would one small fish every three days and they are also hard to spot because they burrow during the day. It's not an octopus because you really should have seen them during the day once. Just do a stakeout at night. And if it is a cone shell becareful but I'd keep it.

[Hawaii06]

Also I did a little research that found that there are some cone shells that feed exclusively on fire worms!!!!!