MIA Clownfish

[stevil]

Wednesday my wife called and said she couldn't find one of new clownfish I had transferred from quarrantine over the weekend. This was a pair of false percula (one black, one orange). I got home from work and located the orange one in my overflow, but no sign at all of the black one - no carcass, no dried up fish on the floor, not in the sump, checked the skimmer for body parts, nothing. She said she saw the black one in the afternoon, before she called me.

 

In the tank have 2 serpent stars and one large green starfish (not sure if its a serpent, but is most likely it is 9-12" across from tip of leg to leg), 4 hermit crabs and an emerald crab. The only other fish besides the one remaining orange clownfish are two firefish.

 

I guess one question I have - is there anything in my tank that could be considered hostile or would find Nemo to be a good snack? The only thing I can really see that would be able to get one would be the green starfish...

[Jon Lazar]

Stevil,

 

It's pretty common for fish to vanish in a reef. They die for whatever reason, and the other fish, crabs, starfish, etc. quickly eat the dead fish. The tiny bits of cartilige left over get lost in the sand.

 

How big was your clown? Big starfish have a reputation for eating small fish. Whether they got that reputation by killing and eating live fish, or by eating already dead fish, is not well demonstrated. I've seen green brittle stars spend a lot of time with their central disk raised up above the substrate on its legs, presumably to drop down and snare any small fish that ventures under it. I don't know if that's really what it's doing or not though.

 

Anyway, I think that most of the time when we see something eating a dead fish, it's scavenging. The brittle stars however might be one of the few critters that prey on larger fish in our reefs.

[Caribbean Jake]

he probably jumped out of the tank. have you checked around the floor, or furniture?

[discordja]

Or inside your cat

 

he probably jumped out of the tank. have you checked around the floor, or furniture?

[Guest Ominojacu]

Wednesday my wife called and said she couldn't find one of new clownfish I had transferred from quarrantine over the weekend. This was a pair of false percula (one black, one orange). I got home from work and located the orange one in my overflow, but no sign at all of the black one - no carcass, no dried up fish on the floor, not in the sump, checked the skimmer for body parts, nothing. She said she saw the black one in the afternoon, before she called me.

 

In the tank have 2 serpent stars and one large green starfish (not sure if its a serpent, but is most likely it is 9-12" across from tip of leg to leg), 4 hermit crabs and an emerald crab. The only other fish besides the one remaining orange clownfish are two firefish.

 

I guess one question I have - is there anything in my tank that could be considered hostile or would find Nemo to be a good snack? The only thing I can really see that would be able to get one would be the green starfish...

 

Sorry to hear the news, I was pulling for the gimpy one. Put up some posters in the neighborhood maybe somebody has spotted him.