Snails and disappearing dead fish

Lately, I've been allowing ramshorn snails to live in a 10 gallon
planted tank - they seem to do more good than harm. I've also got
Amano shrimp and Malaysian trumpet snails in the tank.

Now a guppy has gone missing. I cleaned the tank and couldn't find a
trace of him. There isn't any smell, no corpse, and the water tests
fine. Fancy guppies with huge tails can't jump and I don't have cats.
Can shrimp and snails completely eat a dead guppy and plants absorb any
water quality problems? Should I keep searching for a corpse?

Now a guppy has gone missing. I cleaned the tank and couldn't find a
trace of him. There isn't any smell, no corpse, and the water tests
fine. Fancy guppies with huge tails can't jump

I lost lots till I dispelled that notion. Found lots of little
dried up corpses.

Can shrimp and snails completely eat a dead guppy

Yeah. In about a day or two. Or less. Nothing hides like
a dead fish.


--
Need Mercedes parts ? - http://parts.mbz.org
Richard Sexton | Mercedes stuff: http://mbz.org
1970 280SE, 72 280SE | Home page: http://rs79.vrx.net
633CSi 250SE/C 300SD | http://aquaria.net http://killi.net

Altum wrote:
Lately, I've been allowing ramshorn snails to live in a 10 gallon
planted tank - they seem to do more good than harm. I've also got
Amano shrimp and Malaysian trumpet snails in the tank.

Now a guppy has gone missing. I cleaned the tank and couldn't find a
trace of him. There isn't any smell, no corpse, and the water tests
fine. Fancy guppies with huge tails can't jump and I don't have cats.
Can shrimp and snails completely eat a dead guppy and plants absorb any
water quality problems? Should I keep searching for a corpse?


I quite often don't find dead fish unless I've noticed immediately after
their demise. I lost a platy in a 5 gall tank (QT) - only companions
where another 2 platys, some Platy fry and around 5 Blue Eyed Getrude
Rainbows (no snails) - there at breakfast and totally gone by lunchtime
with no opportunity for jumping or the cat getting at it...removed all
the decor, plants, filter etc. but no sign....

As long as the water quality remains OK I would stop the search other
than a cursory glance for floaters or anything suspicious in the
substrate...I've sometimes found reducing the water level (through a
change) has exposed the poor demised fish but this is the exception
rather than the rule...

I would guess the snails, shrimp and indeed the other fish have polished
him off - yuk...

Gill

On Fri, 17 Feb 2006 21:09:03 +0000, Gill Passman
wrote:

Altum wrote:
Lately, I've been allowing ramshorn snails to live in a 10 gallon
planted tank - they seem to do more good than harm. I've also got
Amano shrimp and Malaysian trumpet snails in the tank.

Now a guppy has gone missing. I cleaned the tank and couldn't find a
trace of him. There isn't any smell, no corpse, and the water tests
fine. Fancy guppies with huge tails can't jump and I don't have cats.
Can shrimp and snails completely eat a dead guppy and plants absorb any
water quality problems? Should I keep searching for a corpse?


I quite often don't find dead fish unless I've noticed immediately after
their demise. I lost a platy in a 5 gall tank (QT) - only companions
where another 2 platys, some Platy fry and around 5 Blue Eyed Getrude
Rainbows (no snails) - there at breakfast and totally gone by lunchtime
with no opportunity for jumping or the cat getting at it...removed all
the decor, plants, filter etc. but no sign....

As long as the water quality remains OK I would stop the search other
than a cursory glance for floaters or anything suspicious in the
substrate...I've sometimes found reducing the water level (through a
change) has exposed the poor demised fish but this is the exception
rather than the rule...

I would guess the snails, shrimp and indeed the other fish have polished
him off - yuk...

Gill

OK. I give. What is a blue eyed Gertrude? I searched on Google and
came up with
Gertrude, a blue-eyed and buxom girl was the oldest of the three
Beckett daughters. She fell in love with Rizal. Tottie helped him
and
Lawrence the blond-haired, blue-eyed desert warrior representing
good against ... Gertrude Bell stayed on in the East. But their paths
would cross again. ...

and numerous other dead ends. So please tell me, the suspense is
killing me.

-- Mr Gardener

Hi..

What is a blue eyed Gertrude?

Pseudomugil gertrudae what we call "Blauauge" (~ blue eye)?
--
cu
Marco

On Fri, 17 Feb 2006 23:34:48 +0100, Marco Schwarz
wrote:

Pseudomugil gertrudae

Wow. Pretty fish. Thanks. Are these available in the U.S?
http://members.optusnet.com.au/chelmon/Gertrud.htm


-- Mr Gardener

Mr. Gardener wrote:
On Fri, 17 Feb 2006 23:34:48 +0100, Marco Schwarz
wrote:


Pseudomugil gertrudae


Wow. Pretty fish. Thanks. Are these available in the U.S?
http://members.optusnet.com.au/chelmon/Gertrud.htm


-- Mr Gardener

All I know is that there are 50 odd sitting at my LFS on the basis of
the sale success when I bought 30 of the things - lol

In article ,
Mr. Gardener wrote:
On Fri, 17 Feb 2006 23:34:48 +0100, Marco Schwarz
wrote:

Pseudomugil gertrudae

Wow. Pretty fish. Thanks. Are these available in the U.S?

Oh sure. Not common but there's a few blueeyes in that genus that
show up from time to time. The Rainbowfish people would be a good
place to ask, that is anybody into rainbows will probably know where
some are.

And in the spring, there's always aquaqbid, they're not uncommon
on there.

Similar looking and acting are the "lampeyes" - killifish of the
genus Aplocheilichtys. There were a lof of them around last year;
they're more common than the gertrudae.

There's a few pics of mine here. I love 'em to death.

http://images.killi.net/n/NOR/

--
Need Mercedes parts ? - http://parts.mbz.org
Richard Sexton | Mercedes stuff: http://mbz.org
1970 280SE, 72 280SE | Home page: http://rs79.vrx.net
633CSi 250SE/C 300SD | http://aquaria.net http://killi.net

"Mr. Gardener" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 17 Feb 2006 23:34:48 +0100, Marco Schwarz
wrote:

Pseudomugil gertrudae

Wow. Pretty fish. Thanks. Are these available in the U.S?
http://members.optusnet.com.au/chelmon/Gertrud.htm


-- Mr Gardener

Gorgeous fish! I can't find any US references,
darn it. And I adore small fish. Just had a
10 gallon go empty with no immediate plans
for its use...

Gail

Mr. Gardener wrote:
On Fri, 17 Feb 2006 21:09:03 +0000, Gill Passman
wrote:


Altum wrote:

Lately, I've been allowing ramshorn snails to live in a 10 gallon
planted tank - they seem to do more good than harm. I've also got
Amano shrimp and Malaysian trumpet snails in the tank.

Now a guppy has gone missing. I cleaned the tank and couldn't find a
trace of him. There isn't any smell, no corpse, and the water tests
fine. Fancy guppies with huge tails can't jump and I don't have cats.
Can shrimp and snails completely eat a dead guppy and plants absorb any
water quality problems? Should I keep searching for a corpse?


I quite often don't find dead fish unless I've noticed immediately after
their demise. I lost a platy in a 5 gall tank (QT) - only companions
where another 2 platys, some Platy fry and around 5 Blue Eyed Getrude
Rainbows (no snails) - there at breakfast and totally gone by lunchtime
with no opportunity for jumping or the cat getting at it...removed all
the decor, plants, filter etc. but no sign....

As long as the water quality remains OK I would stop the search other
than a cursory glance for floaters or anything suspicious in the
substrate...I've sometimes found reducing the water level (through a
change) has exposed the poor demised fish but this is the exception
rather than the rule...

I would guess the snails, shrimp and indeed the other fish have polished
him off - yuk...

Gill


OK. I give. What is a blue eyed Gertrude? I searched on Google and
came up with
Gertrude, a blue-eyed and buxom girl was the oldest of the three
Beckett daughters. She fell in love with Rizal. Tottie helped him
and
Lawrence the blond-haired, blue-eyed desert warrior representing
good against ... Gertrude Bell stayed on in the East. But their paths
would cross again. ...

and numerous other dead ends. So please tell me, the suspense is
killing me.

-- Mr Gardener

They are actually quite cute little fish, full of character and very
little more than 1cm in size. Here is a link - the fish pictured is a
male displaying:-

http://www.tropicalfishfinder.co.uk/...tail.asp?id=16

They are a minature rainbow fish.

Last April I set up a 7.5UK gall Hex tank and bought some Peacock Gobies
to live in it (along with some Panda cories). Before you ask here is a
link:-

http://www.tropicalfishfinder.co.uk/...tail.asp?id=16

Sadly, after a short christmas break I came home to find that they had
been overfed and with it being such a small tank the results were
catastrophic... :-(

They did give me a taste for trying to find small, rarer but interesting
fish...if I could ever find these fish again (the gobies) I would buy
them at a drop of a hat - they were great....

Anyway, I picked myself, dusted myself down, kept the filter medium
bacteria alive, trashed the tank and set it up again and went out looking.

My local LFS had these Blue Eyed Getrude Rainbows...I'd been looking at
them for months - they didn't sell...so here I am in a postition to give
them a home, plus some surplus space in a couple of other tanks. So in a
rash moment I buy all of the stock (around 30 of the things)...I had
around a 30% mortality rate within the first few days but the rest of
them are thriving. They are spread across 3 small tanks. In one tank
they have spawned - low survival rate (I blame the Platys) but at least
a couple of them have survived. The Hex tank gives me great
pleasure...there is a dominant male and even though in minature I would
say that his display and flaring rivals my betta....the tank is planted
with vallis and I'm not sure that this is the most conducive to spawning
so will replant the tank with more suitable plants...there are around 12
of them in there...

Joke is...the LFS couldn't sell them until a nut like me came in and
bought the tank full...someone in marketing/management has now seen this
as a selling range - they now have another 50 - haven't shifted a single
one in a month...I think that they are a fish that requires
specialisation and a particular type of fish keeper to go out and buy
them - someone who likes slightly "off the wall" fish...I have all the
"standard" fish with some noteable exceptions so I love to dabble...

All in all, if you have a small tank and you are looking for something a
little different that has immense character I would recommend these
little fellows....I do, however, think that their charm would be lost
mixed in a larger community tank...

Gill

PS If I ever find the gobies again I would do the same thing and buy as
many as I could fit in