Missing??????

HI all,

I seem to be having a problem with dissapering fish! I have had my tank up & running for a year and 6 months now but in that time i have had 3 of my fish vanish without a single trace! 2 of them were small shy fish but my last one was my large flame angle who went i checked my tank lastnight was happy swimming about............woke up this morning & he has totally vanished! not remains, nothing.

Im totally gutted but really wanna figure out where the hell they are vanishing to! Me and the kids have spent over 3 hours today just hunting the tank to see if we can find anything.

I did wander if maybe i had a mantis shrimp as i have from day one hear loud clicking when i turn the lights out but i figured its more likely to be a pistol shrimp as i have found a burrow under my live rock & have seem somethin moving the stones around. I also though it would be unlikely to be a mantis shrimp as shorly it would have killed more then 3 fish my now?

But then again me & the hubby have found a weird looking either crab or shrimp thing that has fan like hands come out of its mouth & it looks like it scoops water into its mouth. It just sits in the rocks looking out at everything. My hubby saw it tonight & he said it looked like it had a scorpian tail??? so i guess it cant be a crab? If it was a shrimp then its only about a inch or two long so i guess that couldnt really take out a flame angel.

I do have a lobster which you can see in my album but he is scared of my flame angel as the flame always chases him so i really wouldnt have though he would have gotten hold of him.............................Its so sad

Oh yeh and i had a star fish that somethin kept eating chunks out of his legs till he only had a few legs left............

The more i think about it the more i think maybe there is something eating my stock............just wish i new what it was!


K x

 

hace you searched outside the tank? some fish jump out..
do you have overflows?

 

the thing with fans scooping into its mouth, is most likely a porcelain crab. harmless fellows. the clicking could be a mantis or pistol shrimp possibly. have you noticed any burrows anywhere? mantis and pistols will make them. to find out if you do have one, guess you will just have to keep a closer eye out for it.

 

wow have any pictures of these things?

 

I've got a pic of one of those crabs in my 20 mantis thread if you want to compare

 

your right about it being a porcelain crab. i just managed to get a look at it from a different angle & its grey with big claws, kinda cute looking!
But i do have a burrow under my live rock & have spent many weeks watching what ever lives in it move my coral sand around but have never manged to see whats building the burrow. Just infrount of the burrow i have lots off smaller rocks about the size of a small womens fist & they get moved around alot but i have never seen what moves them but i though it could have been my lobster............i wouldnt have though he was big enough to move them thou!

If i do have a mantis then its very clever cause i have never see it! & i have even had a torch on it late at night...................and the burrow is quite small so i cant imagin a 'killer' mantis hiding in it lol
In my album i have a poor pistal shrimp i caught & booted out of my tank as i though it was a mantis................wish i had nown what he was as i would have kept him.