How long does it take for one to consider a missing fish dead

[recess62]

I bought a yellow Corris Wrasee 4 weeks ago. Seemed to handle acclimation well. After put into display never saw again. Well that was until today 4 weeks later. Fish looks healthy and fat. Go figure

 

[Crabs McJones]

I choose greater than 4 weeks, only because I had a firefish that I couldn't find for over a month. And one day, about a month and a half after not seeing her, I saw her poke her head out from under a rock to grab some food. Only way to be 100% sure is to tear the tank apart. Or if you have a controller and noticed an ammonia spike on your monitor, that could be an indication as well.

 

[Greybeard]

Found a purple pseudochromis hiding in the macro algae in my refugeum, probably 6 months after he'd disappeared from my tank. Fat and happy.

 

[raccioppi83]

Wrasse especially can hide for longer than comfortable periods of time.

 

[Gareth elliott]

Not salt water but i have a freshwater cat fish in my planted that i see 2 or 3 times a year. This has been going on for the 7 years since i bought him.

 

[Jl330]

I has pleco I bought when i had a freshwater tank. Introduced him and the next morning I couldn't find him.

2 years later he showed up 3x the size.

 

[andrewkw]

I had a yasha goby disappear for 6 months+ after that he was visible everyday for about 2 years. For a wrasse that burries it may take him a while to get adjusted to your lighting schedule. Have you looked at the tank in the middle of the night? You might find him out then.

For a regular fish if they don't come out to eat after 2 feedings I declare them dead and will look around for the body. If they are found alive after that it's a bonus.

 

[ZoWhat]

I had a wrasse I thought was long gone. A year later I saw him for about 15secs.

Wrasses are great hiders. If they choose to go into hiding you may only see him 2x a year.

 

[declanisadog]

As stated previously it really depends on the fish. Some I start looking for a day after not seeing them, others I just assume that one day down the road they will show back up. I had a royal gramma go missing for two months, and I had a yasha goby go missing for close to seven months. I found the goby when I was breaking down the tank.

 

[Pntbll687]

Depends on the fish. I hadn't seen my yellow watchman goby in about 3 months. Then the sand got stirred up when my power head feel of the mount. Now I've seen him every day since.

 

[JRAD]

Had a beautiful coris wrasse that would disappear occasionally for up to a week. Had that fish for 7 years! The last time he went missing for a week there were strange bubbles coming from my substrate in just one spot. Dug and found my wrasse dead and decomposing ! When a wrasse is buried it’s best to just leave them alone – just watch out for bubbles!

 

[DarthSimon]

Wrasses are also great jumpers... can't tell you over the years how many prized wrasses I found behind my tanks perished

 

[JRAD]

They are beatiful but crazy!

 

[ncaldwell]

Yeah big difference in a goby disappearing for a month and an Achilles tang disappearing longer than 5 seconds

 

[Clueless Reefer]

I think you're forgetting a major factor here - tank size & rock work. When you have a larger tank with more rock work, you leave a lot of opportunity for the critters to camp out in areas you can't see. In my case of a 75 gallon with a fair amount of rock work, there are only a couple spots a fish can hide without being seen...and even then I just have to look hard. For example, I have a Blood Shrimp that lives 90% of his time in a cave and I only see him if I go looking for him or he comes out for a snack at night.

Another factor can be what animals you keep in there - if you have things like a zebra serpent star fish like I do... he'll take advantage of any fish he can get his hands on in a corner

In my case I would vote for having an option of < 1 week since I know if a fish is gone in a couple days...they're gone!

 

[BestMomEver]

Like others, I have a Watchman Goby that peeks out about once a month, maybe longer. I thought he was dead because I used to see him all the time just perching on a rock outside his shrimp’s cave. Then one day, he just appeared from no where. It’s been a month or more since I saw him last but I’m not worried. I worry more about the free swimming fish. Like the green chromis that vanished yesterday. Two days ago, there were four. Yesterday morning there were only three. Who knows...

 

[vetteguy53081]

Lately- seems to be Sea Hares ?????

 

[Crashjack]

I thought my Yellow Watchman Goby was long dead and then one night I was looking in the refugium section of my sump, and there he was... white as a ghost but doing fine. Some time after adding him back to the display, my other YWG turned white as well. They are both now very active and will even try to grab food from in front of my kole tang and melanurus wrasse. They also appear to be spawning.

 

[Crashjack]

I thought my Yellow Watchman Goby was long dead and then one night I was looking in the refugium section of my sump, and there he was... white as a ghost but doing fine. Some time after adding him back to the display, my other YWG turned white as well. They are both now very active and will even try to grab food from in front of my kole tang and melanurus wrasse. They also appear to be spawning.

 

[Ralph]

I have a clown fish that went missing (at night he would go limp and kinda float at the surface). 6 months later he was found in the inside corner overflow area. Next challenge was catching him as a net or your hand don’t fit in this area...

 

[mayanreefer71]

Wrasse especially can hide for longer than comfortable periods of time.

Yep....I bought a Checkerboard wrasse over a month ago! Twice the size of my almost 1" little baby sixline wrasse....the second he saw the Checkboard, he lightning'd his way to attack the bigger wrasse in a way I've never seen him behave. Completely dominated the bigger wrasse and I've never seen him since! A few months back, I bought a yellow tang. Disappeared in a weekend! I have ALOT of crabs in my reef and 3 Olive snails....if a fish dies, I don't expect to find remains in my tank! But yes, I've had fish do Houdini's in my tank! A few weeks is what I give it.