Where'd He Go?

We have a 43 gallon freshwater aquarium, with all the necessary filters,
pumps, etc. Our tank has been set up for over 12 months, and we have had 4
fish in the tank for just about the entire period. The water quality has
consistently checked out, I do partial water changes (30 to 40 percent) at
least every 5 to 6 weeks. Our water is, and has always been, pristine in
appearance too. We have one nice black moor, and three orandas, 1 redtop, 1
bluetop, and the other was supposed to be a blue also; however, he changed
to a golden color.

We noticed the past week or so the latter oranda would disappear someplace
behind a commercial rock in the aquarium throughout the day, but at feeding
time in the morning and evening, he was on the scene, and eating as normal.
This morning he did not show up for feeding, and I removed the commercial
rock, looked at it thoroughly, and we cannot find him anyplace. I checked
behind the various pieces of equipment in the tank, and still no site of the
missing dude. I intend to do a partial water change later today, but in the
interim, I thought I would ask if anyone else has experienced anything such
as this.

Your input, and advice, would be appreciated.
Ed

In article ,
says...
...I checked
behind the various pieces of equipment in the tank, and still no site of the
missing dude. I intend to do a partial water change later today, but in the
interim, I thought I would ask if anyone else has experienced anything such
as this.

I've had brief scares like that, but they always turned up from behing
or within something. Is it possible that it got sucked up a filter
intake tube? Could it have jumped out of the tank? Any children
around who might be playing a practical "joke" on you?
Good luck

sometimes if they die, the other fish will eat them to clean up the tank.
wendy

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ºoº Just back from Walt Disney World
(planning to go again!)
"Gunther" wrote in message
.net...
In article ,
says...
...I checked
behind the various pieces of equipment in the tank, and still no site of
the
missing dude. I intend to do a partial water change later today, but in
the
interim, I thought I would ask if anyone else has experienced anything
such
as this.

I've had brief scares like that, but they always turned up from behing
or within something. Is it possible that it got sucked up a filter
intake tube? Could it have jumped out of the tank? Any children
around who might be playing a practical "joke" on you?
Good luck

On Sun, 23 Jan 2005 11:03:05 +1100, wendy wrote:

sometimes if they die, the other fish will eat them to clean up the tank.
wendy


There should be bones left...

Ed Schwing wrote:

We have a 43 gallon freshwater aquarium, with all the necessary filters,
pumps, etc. Our tank has been set up for over 12 months, and we have had 4
fish in the tank for just about the entire period. The water quality has
consistently checked out, I do partial water changes (30 to 40 percent) at
least every 5 to 6 weeks. Our water is, and has always been, pristine in
appearance too. We have one nice black moor, and three orandas, 1 redtop, 1
bluetop, and the other was supposed to be a blue also; however, he changed
to a golden color.

Just as a pointer - 30-40% every 4 or 5 weeks is probably to infrequent.
You should most likely be doing 30% every week. Get a nitrate test kit to
ensure you're levels are low

depends on how big his fish are and if his tank is planted. It takes
me 2 weeks to get any nitrates showing up at all because I have lots of
plants and only a few small fish.

Kellbot wrote:

depends on how big his fish are and if his tank is planted. It takes
me 2 weeks to get any nitrates showing up at all because I have lots of
plants and only a few small fish.

True, but he did not state he was testing. Water changes are not just to
remove nitrates, but any other nasties that may accumulate in the water.