DO FISH EAT OTHER FISH ? ONE HAS VANISHED ??

Question

OK SOUNDS WEIRD I KNOW.. I HAVE 3 GOLDFISH IN MY TANK AND A BLACK SUCKERFISH THATS MENT TO KEEP THE TANK CLEAN , A FEW WEEKS AGO MY SON SAID HE COULDNT SEE HIM IN THE TANK , I WASNT TO WORRIED BECAUSE HE ONLY REALLY COMES OUT AT NIGHT AND HIDES IN THE BIG CASTLE IN THE TANK DURING THE DAY... WRONG... TOOK TANK APART THIS EVENING AND HE IS GONE ????

ANYBODY ANY IDEAS WHAT MIGHT HAVE HAPPENED

Answer 1

Goldfish don't normally eat other fish, that's sounds more like the behavior of Red Oscars, which will eat live mice.  However, goldfish are little more than carp that have been domesticated by the Chinese to have prettier colors.  It just depends on size comparison but carp will eat anything, and  even golden retrievers still have a bit of wolf in them.  So it is a possibility, I had a clawed frog and a bullfrog tadpole in the same tank, the tadpole was longer, and about half an inch wider than the frogs mouth but within an hour of introducing the tadpole to the tank it was gone and the frog was about two inches thicker.  A more likely possibility however is that is was sucked up by the filter, so if it doesn't have a cap vent you should get one, or use mesh and a zip tie as a substitute.  Also, sometimes fish will bully other fish, and be aggressive towards them especially if they were introduced after the original inhabitants, or are smaller.  A good way to stop this without buying a bigger tank is to create more visual barriers, like plants, (I recommend swordtail plants) or stones, caves etc.  Keep an eye on them, and by a bigger plecostomus (sucker fish) next time.

Answer 2

Your pleco just jumped out of the tank (they do that quite often) and you have to have a secure lid next time.

Answer 3

I have recently had the same problem... I had 4 White Cloud Minnows. A day later there was only 3. Either he died and decayed fast, he dies and the other fish ate his remains, or he was fighting for his life... And he lost... Sorry for your loss...

Answer 4

Just carefully remove the filter apart, at least that way you can find out what happend to him. Also, check around the tank, plecos can jump. One time one of my friend's parents owned a pleco and it jumped out of the tank and it actually jumped out and stuck to the wall and had stayed there and so they found it and had to scrape him off the wall!!!!

Good Luck!!!

Answer 5

either he died and they ate him or he jumped out of the tank catfish appear to do this if the lid isn't properly set I'm really sorry about your fish but your not indeed not a bad fish owner

Answer 6

Just like people like to eat other people fish like the taste of themselves but don't want to eat themselves.  Therefore they eat other fish.  If your fish has died then it might hae commited fishaside.

Answer 7

Check the floor behind the tank.. the Plecos can jump.

BTW, they aren't good tankmates for goldfish.

Ian

Answer 8

Goldfish is a bad mix with a sucker mouth catfish as they prefer 72-82 water and goldfish are better in 65-68.

Anyway 2 things could've happened.

Goldfish killed said sucker mouth and did indeed eat him.

Sucker mouth died of natural causes and was scavenged.  

Answer 9

He probably died and the goldfish scavanged the remains.  Goldfish are basically carp and do little more than eat whatever food matter they come across, you might notice them picking up gravel while searching for food for example.

Fish do eat other fish, usually whatever they can fit in their mouth is what they'll eat as far as most fish species go.  If you have fish fry in a livebearer tank and dont seperate them from the parents, the parents will even eat their young.