Candy cane ate my fish, is this normal?

[markus902]

Hi everyone,

I got myself a fire goby yesterday. Tonight I’m doing my check before bedtime with a flesh light and was shocked to find my candy cane devouring my new buddy. what the heck? Is that normal? I have a yellow tail damsel for about half a year and he is pretty happy. Was he just unlucky to get fought in the tentacles? Please discuss. Thank you.

 

[i_am_mclovin]

I hope you mean flash light cuz the other is probably really awkward to use while checking your tank.

That said the fish was likely unhealthy or even dead for it to get eaten by a candy cane coral.

 

[markus902]

‍Typing on my phone, but it was indeed the thing that illuminates stuff. Anyway, it he was alive and active 2 Hours ago. So I don’t think he just tumbled into the coral. I’m just so upset. is it possible that he got chased by the damsel and got caught?

 

[Zoa_Fanatic]

‍Typing on my phone, but it was indeed the thing that illuminates stuff. Anyway, it he was alive and active 2 Hours ago. So I don’t think he just tumbled into the coral. I’m just so upset. is it possible that he got chased by the damsel and got caught?

No. What kind of damsel do you have? Most of them are satan. My candy canes couldn’t catch a dying fish if they wanted to. Let alone a healthy one chased into them. And they’re WAY bigger than yours. Actually damsels in the wild will live inside the branches of them for cover, so I doubt they’re much in the way of fish killers. Candy canes for the most part also don’t pack a bad sting (although one guy on here has some with wicked sweepers, no idea what that’s about). That firefish was dead when it blew into them. You really can’t keep something chill like a firefish with a damsel. Dad had a blue damsel with black lines on it (not sure of name) and it was so mean his 5” maroon clown gave it a wide berth. Remove the damsel before you get anything else. They’re bad news. I have a totally separate 16G biocube just for my damsel because I couldn’t stand to get rid of the little turd biscuit.

 

[jfoahs04]

They don’t catch and kill healthy fish. Your fish may have been sick before you brought it home and the stress of transport and the new environment (particularly the aggressive tank mate) caused it to decline quickly. It’s almost a certainty that your fish was dead or dying when it was caught. It happened to me a few months ago - my clown had an injury and slowly declined to the point of barely moving and the following morning I woke up to this:

 

[JumboShrimp]

I have to agree with @Zoa_Fanatic and @jfoahs04 .. you don’t have a killer Candy Cane. As for the Yellow Tail Damsel, it is one of my all time favorite fish. I have one in a 20-gallon with 3 other fish— but it went in last; if it had gone in first, it would have set up shop like it owned the tank.

 

[Zoa_Fanatic]

I have to agree with @Zoa_Fanatic ... you don’t have a killer Candy Cane. As for the Yellow Tail Damsel, it is one of my all time favorite fish. I have one in a 20-gallon with 3 other fish— but it went in last; if it had gone in first, it would have set up shop like it owned the tank.

My 4 stripe did for a bit. He was so mean until he messed with my engineer goby. Dude was like a foot and half long when he died. David and Goliath moment, it was so funny. He was docile after that show down

 

[JumboShrimp]

… not to say there aren’t fish-eating killer corals. This one I had ate Clowns and Damsels like midnight snacks…

 

[JGT]

What coral is that? Looks like it could float away.

 

[JumboShrimp]

(Some beastly type of Carpet Anemone. I believe they paralyze their prey first— but don’t quote me on that.)

 

[JGT]

Ah, not a coral but a nem. Makes sense.

 

[Zoa_Fanatic]

(Some beastly type of Carpet Anemone. I believe they paralyze their prey first— but don’t quote me on that.)

Carpet nems are real bad for being fish eaters