Hide-and-seek guppy?

Question

I've read about people in the same situations online, but no tanks are the same as mine so I want to make sure.

I have a fully cycled 29 gallon fish tank with its inhabitants being: a common pleco, 3 guppies (1m/2f), 6 zebra danios, a handful of giant columbian ramshorn snails (non-invasive), 2 golden mystery snails, and a ghost shrimp (there were more). About a week ago, the male guppy died of unknown causes and got sucked up into the filter (it was ugly so i didn't care) and I got a replacement, which has been interacting with the others and acting completely normal for a week.

I went away for 2 days and when I came back, the male guppy is missing. I did a thorough tank cleaning (filter, gravel, and decor) and didn't find anything as well as searching around the tank with no success. If the guppy were to die, would it be possible for the pleco, snails, and/or ghost shrimp to even eat the bones? Are there any creatures in my tank that are suspect to the killing?

PS: nothing like this has ever happened before.

Answer 1

Most likely your ramshorn snails ate the evidence.

This happens in my tank all the time if a guppy dies. The pleco will also eat dead fish. NO fish in your tank is incompatible. They are all very friendly fish. Your set up sounds really nice. Very similar to one of mine! I just have alot more guppies. lol

They breed like crazy. I suggest just getting another pretty male guppy. That is if you are wanting guppy fry.

Answer 2

I've found that in an established tank fish will often just mysteriously vanish like that.  You certainly have enough bottom feeders and scavengers to do a quick job on a fish corpse.  I have no idea what happens with the bones.  I think a healthy tank must have some bacteria in it that does a really good job of breaking down fish bones into their component parts.    

Danios are known for being fin nippers, which could cause stress, illness and death in a guppy, but I don't know that any of the fish in your tank would be directly responsible for killing a male guppy outright.  Just consider your guppy dead and move on.