Biota mandarin fish and overflows?

[afboundguy]

I purchased a pair of mandarin fish from Biota last week and the first few days I had them in an acclimation box and wanted to keep them in a few days longer but the male got out so I released them both.

They had been eating in the acclimation box and I saw them eating frozen, pellet, freshly hatched BBS and white worms.

The past two days I haven't seen the female but I have seen the male. The female was super tiny and I am wondering if she went down the overflow? She basically was staying in the corner by the BBS disk I have set up which made spot feeding pellet and frozen food!

I do have several RBTAs but they are up near the top of the rockwork so that could be a possibility but I have never lost one to an anemone before. I am hoping she is just in the crevices of the rockwork since there are tons of pods but my rockwork isn't that bulky as I went minimalistic.

I am planning on trying to take the rocks out of the return section of the sump the next few days but I have been checking with a flashlight but it's not very easy to check as it's a tight space...

 

[Slocke]

I have had a few fish sucked down to the sump and be fine and one that got stuck in a filter sock and died

 

[PotatoPig]

Mine got sucked into the overflow and somehow survived in the drain compartment for ~4 days before I found it.

Put it back in the tank and 30 mins later it’s acting like nothing ever happened.

 

[Harpo]

Mine was in my overflow box for a month or more

 

[afboundguy]

I checked the overflow box the past few days and haven't seen it but I will focus on searching the return section tomorrow after work thanks!

Luckily I don't have any filter socks and haven't set up my filter socks setup!

 

[Janet Belanger]

I checked the overflow box the past few days and haven't seen it but I will focus on searching the return section tomorrow after work thanks!

Luckily I don't have any filter socks and haven't set up my filter socks setup!

Wondering if you found her? My first pair came in tiny, and also got out of the acclimation box. My orange stripe goby use to eat anything that would fit in its mouth, including a candy cane shrimp I purchased for him to pair with. So... the second pair of mandarins were put into a 6 gallon that I have set up for rock flower nem breeding until they outsized the goby mouth.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

FWIW, Biota does say that some folks see them disappear into the rocks for long periods when so small, emerging later and larger.