# Fish Disappeared???



## jkozolan (Jul 27, 2011)

I have a 90 gallon tank with a mix of different Africans (3 yellow labs, 3 red zebras, 2 bumblebee, 1 female auratus, and 2 blue gray unknowns - all juvenile) . They have been living happily together for about 4 months and are active and hungry all of the time - a pleasure to watch. I had an albino socolofi or zebra (not sure which) who was the biggest at about 2 inches who just happened to disappear completely. I have searched all of the caves and hidey wholes in the tank and have rearranged and looked under rocks etc... but there is no trace of it. No remains of any kind. I`m puzzled


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## jkozolan (Jul 27, 2011)

Also - the tank is mostly covered so I doubt that it jumped out. I have a cat and a dog who would enjoy some fresh fish but I really don`t think that is what happened.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Did you see this fish yesterday when you fed him? Or you just realized you did not see him for a day or even two and decided to look?

Definitely check the floor around the tank and if you have pets you may be too late. Even from a completely covered tank (1/2" space around the intake) the fish manage to jump out fairly often.

If it was not that then he is either hiding in the tank/filter or he has been killed and eaten or rotted away. If it has been long enough you would not find remains.

Now that the fish are approaching two inches (maturiing) you may begin to see more trouble with your mix. For me it was 8 months before all heck broke out. :thumb:


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## jkozolan (Jul 27, 2011)

I'm going to assume he jumped and the cat got him. It has been over a week since I've seen it. Which mix do you think is going to give me trouble? I'll keep an eye on them and seperate if necessary.


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## bernie comeau (Feb 19, 2007)

jkozolan said:


> I'm going to assume he jumped and the cat got him.


Could be. But having seen it with my own 2 eyes, time and time again.....I would bet the fish died or got killed and then was devoured by the whole tank. Young growing cichlids are very inclined to eat dead fish. Mbuna IME, probably have the most enthusiasm of any young cichlid, when it comes to eating dead fish. Cichlids are very competitive fish....all it takes is one to start nibling on it and it can cause a feeding frenzy where the whole tank starts ripping the dead fish apart.

Just for example, over a year and a 1/2 ago, about a month or two after I had purchased my mbuna, I added 15 three to four month old jewel cichlids and 5 three to four month old convicts to my 125 gal. They were significantly smaller then my mbuna at the time.Not long after, I watched probably 4 days in a row as the whole tank ripped apart a dead jewel. The jewels themselves, were avid participants. In short time (about 4-5 weeks) none of these 15 jewels existed. No trace of them in a tank with out any substrate. All completely devoured. All the cons survived, even though they were actually smaller then most of the jewels. I guess I learned that jewels have to be a little older then a convict to have a good chance of survival, despite their size.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Are you trying for all-male or mixed gender groups?

3 yellow labs, 3 red zebras, 2 bumblebee, 1 female auratus, and 2 blue gray unknowns

In addition to these you had the albino something that is gone.

So if you want all-male, one of each species, males only. Get rid of duplicates. And add fish so you end up with about a dozen individuals.

If you want mixed genders, choose 4 species and add fish so you have 1m:4f of the labs and zebras (those will cross-breed, don't save fry). And 1m:7f of the bumblebee and auratus. Lose the unknowns because you would not know what to buy. :thumb:

Note that Malawi are harem breeders. In groups smaller than 1m:4f the males harass the females to extensively for everyone's health.


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## jkozolan (Jul 27, 2011)

Thanks for the advice, I don't know the sex of most of the fish (too young) but I like the idea of a mixed gender tank and will head in that direction.


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