[titan97]

My wife and I lost track of our SAE about 3 months ago. We used to see him daily, but then he disappeared. We haven't seen him since. Personally, I think he died and was eaten by the other fish in the tank. My wife thinks that he died or was killed by one of our goldfish and then eaten. You see, one of our goldfish is much larger than the other, and my wife attributes that to him having eaten the SAE.
Who knows what really happened to him? My wife just asked me to present this question to the forums and see what everybody else thinks. Look at the photo and you can see the larger goldfish in the lower left side and the smaller guy in the upper right. Take into consideration the distortion of the hexagonal tank. On a more humorous note, she is slightly affraid that one day she will be working in the office and the now-monsterous-size SAE will jump out of the tank and bite her. She thinks is looked kinda like a shark. :toimonst:

 

[Raul-7]

That tank looks extremely small, no SAE can survive in such a small tank. How big is it? It doesn't look like the SAE is hiding since there's nowhere it can hide away, and 3 months is a pretty long time. It probably died and the other fish just made the best of it.

 

[vancat]

is the tank heated? the definitive article below says "Suitable temperature is 24-26 C (75-79F)"

SAEs need lots of swimming space, and they do jump...and goldfish + tropicals is just not a good practice.

http://www.thekrib.com/Fish/Algae-Eaters/

 

[titan97]

The tank is a 35 gallon hexagon with heat. I bought the tank after we moved into our new house. My old 20 gallon glass tank cracked in the moved and the 35 gal hex was the only thing in my immediate price range (it was on clearance). The SAE got along great in the 20, along with my pleco, oto, 3 amano shrimp, and several mollies. The average temperature is 76 to 78F. I'm not really concerned with where my SAE went. My wife was just confused as to how a 3"-4" fish could "disappear". You can't see it in the photo, but the fake driftwood in the back is hollow and the SAE liked to camp out inside there. The large rocks are plastic as well and I broke one open for an additional hiding place.

 

[vancat]

sure, blame it on the wife.
i think, usually when a fish "disappears" it has died and gets eaten by the others...and i believe a pleco will take care of a dead body....

 

[JanS]

Yup, it most likely got eaten. When a fish dies and other fish eat it, they don't necessarily eat in one gulp, but peck away at it til it's gone.
The only other possibility is that it managed to jump out of a crack and is plastered to the floor behind the tank somewhere.
I had one do a suicide dive into one of the hubby's brand new hiking boots, and I didn't find it for a couple of days. :shock: Oops....

 

[trenac]

Jan... At least you found it before he stuck his foot into the boot, what a surprise that would have been :lol:

I agree with the others most likely died and was consumed by the other fish. Just in case double check his hiding places and the floor behind and under the tank. Do you have dogs or cats?...If you do they may have eaten the fish if it did jump out.