What's the longest a fish has gone missing?

jasonrusso · Mar 21, 2022

I introduced 2 purple firefish to my 34 gallon reef last week. My clowns went thunder dome on them for days beating them up pretty bad. After 3 days, one was missing and the other was living above a powerhead.

I removed the clowns and one of the firefish started acting normal. I assumed that the clowns killed the other firefish, I never did find it.

Yesterday, 10 days after he went missing, I have 2 firefish again!! I have no idea where he was. It's a tiny tank. Today he was eating and acting normal. Do they bury themselves?

Super weird to me!!

blaxsun · Mar 21, 2022

I still have fish on the missing list. The overflow is a popular place for fish to end up (I've even found ones living there for weeks).

jasonrusso · Mar 21, 2022

blaxsun said:
I still have fish on the missing list. The overflow is a popular place for fish to end up (I've even found ones living there for weeks).

I had older firefish jump into my rear sump (it's an AIO), it was the first place I checked.

ReeferLou · Mar 21, 2022

I had a yellow blenny go into my built in overflow for a few days. Sucked him up with a siphon hose to get him out. No way to get my hand in there. He was fine.

Sharkbait19 · Mar 21, 2022

Firefish are known to be hiders - it was likely in the rocks for a while.
Personally the longest reef fish for me that went missing was a week before I found it in the filter, that was a royal gramma.
I’ve also had a peacock eel (freshwater) disappear for a few months before finding it and I can go weeks without seeing my sun loaches (freshwater).

bnord · Mar 21, 2022

Have a green clown goby in a 180 with a fair amount of several different types of Staghorn. I’m lucky if I see it once a month. But I did see this afternoon

Dakota_reef · Apr 1, 2022

I've had a fish go missing for a week or two here and there, but I've had a tiger pistol shrimp go missing for over 8 months. I thought him and his goby were dead. Bought a new pair like 8 months later, and out comes a tiger pistol with the new wheeler goby. The other pistol is MIA. But I was feeding the tank to keep the nutrients up to feed the corals so homeboy was just livin' it up under the rocks. Maybe even using his old pal as a buffet.

rmorris_14 · Apr 1, 2022

This is the longest I have heard of, so far.

Zombie clownfish

Two months ago my original clown from tank set up 2 years ago mysteriously disappeared. After several days I assume He died and cuc did their job. Two months later, almost to the day, I come in from outside and there he is swimming around with my other original clown like he never left. Any...

www.reef2reef.com

Mr_Knightley · Apr 1, 2022

I've had a twelve-line wrasse and a darwin clown both get stuck down an overflow for a week or two each, and right now I'm still looking for a group of 4 anthias that disappeared about a week ago. I'm pretty worried about them at this point, but I see no signs of dead fish so I'm still holding out hope. Not on the ground, in the overflow, or in the sump!

i cant think · Apr 1, 2022

jasonrusso said:
I introduced 2 purple firefish to my 34 gallon reef last week. My clowns went thunder dome on them for days beating them up pretty bad. After 3 days, one was missing and the other was living above a powerhead.

I removed the clowns and one of the firefish started acting normal. I assumed that the clowns killed the other firefish, I never did find it.

Yesterday, 10 days after he went missing, I have 2 firefish again!! I have no idea where he was. It's a tiny tank. Today he was eating and acting normal. Do they bury themselves?

Super weird to me!!

Gobies will not burry themselves as say a wrasse would, but they can go missing for days just to emerge like nothing happened. Usually hiding in a burrow in the sand.

Doctorgori · Apr 1, 2022

fire fish will do this for weeks, flame cardinals are even worse

HudsonReefer2.0 · Apr 1, 2022

I think I still have a yasha goby. Been months and reappeared now mia again.

Collinslice · Apr 1, 2022

Had 6 normal firefish I dropped into my 90 gallon. Never saw a single one until I broke the tank down 9 months later, where I found 6 of them

jasonrusso · Apr 1, 2022

i cant think said:
Gobies will not burry themselves as say a wrasse would, but they can go missing for days just to emerge like nothing happened. Usually hiding in a burrow in the sand.

I think he was under a mushroom.

jasonrusso · Apr 1, 2022

Collinslice said:
Had 6 normal firefish I dropped into my 90 gallon. Never saw a single one until I broke the tank down 9 months later, where I found 6 of them

Dead?

reef6111 · Apr 1, 2022

Purchased a pair of girdled wrasse a few years ago, female went missing about a week after introducing them in my 150 gallon. I found her a month later in the refugium, happy as could be among all the copepods and amphipods.

Collinslice · Apr 2, 2022

jasonrusso said:
Dead?

Oh no, very much alive. Wasn't prepped for any live animals during that time either lol. Had to rush them to a buddies house to live in the fuge

Cell · Apr 2, 2022

If your firefish is hiding that long, there's a decent chance it's getting harassed at times and is staying in hiding as a result.

i cant think · Apr 2, 2022

Cell said:
If your firefish is hiding that long, there's a decent chance it's getting harassed at times and is staying in hiding as a result.

+1 to this, if a fish goes into hiding for a while there is a high chance of aggression. Usually at night or when you aren’t watching the tank.

jasonrusso · Apr 2, 2022

Cell said:
If your firefish is hiding that long, there's a decent chance it's getting harassed at times and is staying in hiding as a result.

i cant think said:
+1 to this, if a fish goes into hiding for a while there is a high chance of aggression. Usually at night or when you aren’t watching the tank.

You must have missed the part where I said that once the clowns were removed, that's when the fish came out.