Huly May 31, 2013 Share May 31, 2013 As some know Pez and I went of vacation and left out tank with my dad (and Sean & Origami on stand by lol) Well Sunday was the last day my dad saw our blue spot jawfish. He was acting normal and eating. He moves around the tank and he was last spotted towards the back. We came home Monday night and none of us can find him. No body, not in our skimmer etc, not anywhere we can see him. Could he be ok and just be in a hiding spot we can not see him? Do fish disappear without any trace? Nothing except maybe the large Aussie is big enough to eat him. He was one of the largest fish in our tank. Has this happened to anyone else? Any idea why or what might have happened? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MBVette May 31, 2013 Share May 31, 2013 Did you check all around your tank to see if he jumped? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharkey18 May 31, 2013 Share May 31, 2013 It has happened to me in the past. I have had both situations: where the fish disappears, presumed dead, only to pop up again in a few days. I've also had them disappear and presumed dead... and well, they never show up again. I presume they died or were killed and the body "returned to nature" by the others in the tank. Good luck finding him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Huly May 31, 2013 Author Share May 31, 2013 We have looked all around the tank to see if he jumped and nothing. As you can see by the photos there are a lot of hiding spots and you can not really see all of the back. So we hope he is back there somewhere but it is weaird for him to not come out for dinner. Before we left he was hanging out near the large Aussie so maybe he got too close and got stung? It is just really strange! Hopefully he pops up somewhere. We really like him. Also can a filter crab hurt a jawfish? As we do have a large filter feeder but he normally just chills feeding. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Origami May 31, 2013 Share May 31, 2013 It has happened to me in the past. I have had both situations: where the fish disappears, presumed dead, only to pop up again in a few days. I've also had them disappear and presumed dead... and well, they never show up again. I presume they died or were killed and the body "returned to nature" by the others in the tank. +1 to both of these. And, another: If they do jump, they can flop into some corner and be hidden from view until much later when they turn up. Keep watching, though. He could just be hiding. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coral Hind May 31, 2013 Share May 31, 2013 Were cats in the house? If it did jump it could have been a snack. The clean up crew and pods in a tank can break down a fish pretty quickly so if it die it could have been cleaned up already. I have a checkerboard wrasse that I only see once a month and for about a 10 secs at a time. Every month I figure he is dead only to have him pop out of the sand again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sachabballi reef May 31, 2013 Share May 31, 2013 awwww bummer guys....I am sorry....you just got him too...hopefully he is just hiding....someone else in the tank could have spooked or picked on him while he was still settling in....or maybe that crazy big snail got him! lol.... Well it happened to me recently too....I had a YWG that never ever hid...not even to sleep...then the neighbors kid scared the crap out of it when I wasn't in the room and it disappeared...never to be seen since....I checked every centimeter around the tank...i don't think he jumped....and i never saw a body and I don't even have any crabs in that tank so not sure what could have eaten him that fast...but I have to assume that since its been 2 weeks he is indeed gone.....unless of course I decide to add another...then I am sure he will show back up again...murphys law sorry about this and I hope he is just hiding...your tank has so many areas to hid and its not like you can see the back ....so he might have found a new fav cave back there Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Huly May 31, 2013 Author Share May 31, 2013 +1 to both of these. And, another: If they do jump, they can flop into some corner and be hidden from view until much later when they turn up. Keep watching, though. He could just be hiding. Were cats in the house? If it did jump it could have been a snack. The clean up crew and pods in a tank can break down a fish pretty quickly so if it die it could have been cleaned up already. I have a checkerboard wrasse that I only see once a month and for about a 10 secs at a time. Every month I figure he is dead only to have him pop out of the sand again. awwww bummer guys....I am sorry....you just got him too...hopefully he is just hiding....someone else in the tank could have spooked or picked on him while he was still settling in....or maybe that crazy big snail got him! lol.... Well it happened to me recently too....I had a YWG that never ever hid...not even to sleep...then the neighbors kid scared the crap out of it when I wasn't in the room and it disappeared...never to be seen since....I checked every centimeter around the tank...i don't think he jumped....and i never saw a body and I don't even have any crabs in that tank so not sure what could have eaten him that fast...but I have to assume that since its been 2 weeks he is indeed gone.....unless of course I decide to add another...then I am sure he will show back up again...murphys law sorry about this and I hope he is just hiding...your tank has so many areas to hid and its not like you can see the back ....so he might have found a new fav cave back there Yes two cats! The hunter is downstairs only though so she is never bear the tank and Huly well he wouldn't know what to do with it. Plus he is allergic to fish so we would have known if he ate it LOL! Yeah we are keeping a look out! Just never realized something could just disappear! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sachabballi reef May 31, 2013 Share May 31, 2013 Huly is allergic to fish? Its like misfit island over there.....lol..do you have a Charlie in the Box? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanM May 31, 2013 Share May 31, 2013 You guys have bad luck with jaw fish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Huly May 31, 2013 Author Share May 31, 2013 Huly is allergic to fish? Its like misfit island over there.....lol..do you have a Charlie in the Box? Yes he is allergic to almost everything poor guy! LOL You guys have bad luck with jaw fish. Our first ones did great until our tank crashed, then we had bad luck with one pearly, our current pearly (seperate tank) is doing awesome, and this guy just disappeared. I kind of want to know if someone was messing with him as that critter will disappear! I hate not knowing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Origami May 31, 2013 Share May 31, 2013 Just never realized something could just disappear! You will learn that, indeed, things do disappear without a trace in this hobby... just like Jimmy Hoffa. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sachabballi reef May 31, 2013 Share May 31, 2013 yep...you can see it in the tank and hour later its just gone...no explanations ever. I lost an acan colony the other day....seriously. I even took out all the rock and stuck my arms down the engineering goby holes...the works....brought hubby down to do the same in case I was insane....(which i may still be) but yadda yadda yadda bye bye acans. boxes of water are like vegas acts...they entertain but leave you wondering a lot.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kjamaya May 31, 2013 Share May 31, 2013 You will learn that, indeed, things do disappear without a trace in this hobby... just like Jimmy Hoffa.+1, I've had several fish disappear on me and have never found a trace of them. Sorry for your loss.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Integral9 May 31, 2013 Share May 31, 2013 I've had 2 Blue spotted jawfish. First one jumped and didn't tuck-n-roll, poor guy. Second one just disappeared, like what you are describing. That was a while ago. Since then, I have been having a lot of diatoms & nuisance algae of various sorts sprout up in the sand bed where it's burrow was. Now I figure it died in the sand and it's body is somewhere in it decomposing. If you know where it's burrow is / was, you might consider poking around there. It's too late for me to go poking around in there (will just release more toxins), but you might be able to pull any remains out. fwiw: Every single jawfish I have owned (Blue Spotted and Pearly) were exquisite jumpers. Even to the point of finding their way through egg-crate. A tight lid is a must for them. For my next one, I'm going to build a PVC cave out of 1/2" tubing & fittings. They seem to be super picky about where they make their homes and if you sand / substrate isn't just right, they will try to move. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rebekwl May 31, 2013 Share May 31, 2013 Sorry to hear about your BSJF, I really hope he turns up! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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