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View Full Version : Stuff is disappearing!!!!!



Kristy
Wed, 14th Nov 2007, 10:35 PM
Okay guys,
We have livestock disappearing! About 6-8 weeks ago a couple of neon cleaner gobies went missing, but we were having an outbreak of ich, so we assumed they died and just got lost in the reef / cleanup crew. I have not seen the small pistol shrimp I put in a while ago, but he could still just be hiding or he could be gone. But now in the past week we are missing a small 3 -4 inch black sand sifting cucumber, a good size cleaner shrimp, and a good size peppermint shrimp.

We have been monitoring the water quality and have not had any issues with anything, so we don't think things have just died and are decomposing in the tank. We have looked everywhere and they are just AWOL. There was a little evidence of shrimp extremities lying about that we had interpreted as moulting, but now...

Most of our fish are not aggressive, with the possible exception of 2 small hawks (a long-nose and a flame). Neither hawk is very big, neither has been aggressive at all over the past 3 months and most of the missing critters were the same size as them. Am I wrong about the hawks, are they the likely culprits? Other inhabitants are: coral beauty angel, yellow tang, lawnmower blenny, yellow watchman goby, 2 maroon clowns, 2 yellowtail damsels and a green mandarin.

The tank is 100G, has been up for about 4 months, and we have about 100 lbs of liverock, so I am worried we may have picked up a hitchhiker (mantis shrimp?) or some other beastie. All the missing livestock have been with us for over three months except the cucumber, which is a pretty recent addition. We've not added any live rock since we set up the tank, but recently added a couple of corals from other MAAST-ards that were attached to pretty good sized rocks.

Any thoughts on what could be going on? We are giving up hope on them just all hiding somewhere together as a big joke on us.

Any help, thoughts, suggestions would be appreciated.

lhoy
Wed, 14th Nov 2007, 11:08 PM
Long-nose and the Flame will be your culprits to be sure. Any shrimp is a goner and a small fish is a goner!!

Lee

Bill S
Wed, 14th Nov 2007, 11:22 PM
Flames can be known to be shrimp eaters. Ours has left our cleaner and harlequins alone, so far. And yes, if it will fit in it's mouth, it is apt to eat it (small fish).

Kristy
Thu, 15th Nov 2007, 12:43 AM
Oh no, I was worried you would say that. The flame hawk is my favorite (he perches on my hand when I feed the corals!) and guess what my husband's favorites are? Inverts, of course. We had read that flame hawks could bother shrimp, but I thought we were fine because he had not even noticed them for all these months and the shrimps were almost as big as he is.

Does that mean he is probably also responsible for the cucumber and now that I think about it, also the small brittle star we haven't seen in a while?

This could end in his and her aquariums... thanks for the quick responses!

(sorry if photo is huge, could not figure out how to resize)

http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff316/mekdean/Flamehawkonhand.jpg

edawgm
Thu, 15th Nov 2007, 02:56 AM
This could end in his and her aquariums...


That isn't really a bad thing....LOL the more the merrier
:innocent2:

TexasTodd
Thu, 15th Nov 2007, 11:42 AM
I agree, probably the hawks.

But, you might also have a mantis shrimp in your system. Just a guess.

Todd