Blue Assessor vanished from QT

[christinna77]

I’ve been quarantining three fish: a Purple Firefish, a Starry Blenny and a Blue Assessor. The blenny and assessor arrived yesterday.

Today around 5pm I fed them, they were all active and eating, and I immediately covered the tank. I've been careful never to leave it uncovered. A few hours later I couldn't see the assessor, but I wasn't too worried since it's a very dark blue fish that usually hides and blends in with the black background. Well, I just checked again and it's literally gone. I took apart everything - I double checked all the decorations in the tank, checked the overflow chambers with a flashlight, pulled out the filter sponges and floss, etc., nothing. I looked around and behind the tank for like 15 minutes and there's absolutely no trace of it.

It was about two inches long, and I'm wondering if the egg crate I'm using as a lid could have holes large enough for it to jump out? It's 1x1 cm square. Or did it slip into the overflow and somehow escaped from there? How far can a fish jump? I'm so confused and heartbroken, this is my first reef tank and I've been trying to do everything right, including setting up a proper QT for my first fish, monitoring all the parameters, etc., and somehow already lost one :(

Here's a picture of the tank, it's IM Fusion 15 AIO Cube. (I put a double layer of the egg crate on for now, but originally I only had a single one as my lid, see the second picture)

 

[Waters]

I’ve been quarantining three fish: a Purple Firefish, a Starry Blenny and a Blue Assessor. The blenny and assessor arrived yesterday.

Today around 5pm I fed them, they were all active and eating, and I immediately covered the tank. I've been careful never to leave it uncovered. A few hours later I couldn't see the assessor, but I wasn't too worried since it's a very dark blue fish that usually hides and blends in with the black background. Well, I just checked again and it's literally gone. I took apart everything - I double checked all the decorations in the tank, checked the overflow chambers with a flashlight, pulled out the filter sponges and floss, etc., nothing. I looked around and behind the tank for like 15 minutes and there's absolutely no trace of it.

It was about two inches long, and I'm wondering if the egg crate I'm using as a lid could have holes large enough for it to jump out? It's 1x1 cm square. Or did it slip into the overflow and somehow escaped from there? How far can a fish jump? I'm so confused and heartbroken, this is my first reef tank and I've been trying to do everything right, including setting up a proper QT for my first fish, monitoring all the parameters, etc., and somehow already lost one :(

Here's a picture of the tank, it's IM Fusion 15 AIO Cube. (I put a double layer of the egg crate on for now, but originally I only had a single one as my lid, see the second picture)

Unfortunately any of the above could have happened....if the fish can fit somewhere, it will find a way. Did you double check the whole in the side of the star wars figure? That looks like an ideal place for someone to hide.

 

[EuphyllinOHk]

I had a tailspot blenny and royal gramma in the same QT until recently. There was one day where I just lost the tailspot - I looked all over, couldn't find it, thought it swam into a blackhole and vanished, but it showed up in its usual spot later that day. My RG would also "vanish" from time to time, but really it had just wedged itself flat in the corner where I was unable to see it because optics blahblah. It's a small fish, so, while it's possible it jumped, it's also possible it found a nook or cranny you haven't thought of.

I have no experience with the blue assessor, but if it's like its cousin, it will impulsively hide, maybe even moreso because it has a couple tankmates. Basslets can be periodic chickens. If you can't find it outside the tank or in the overflow, just give it some time. It may show up like nothing happened.

 

[Tamberav]

It can jump out of egg crate

It could very well be inside one of those decorations. Basslets will wedge themselves tightly against the inside of the decorations and taking it out of the water will not reveal their location.

So don’t leave the decorations out and stop searching for fish in the tank. It just adds extra stress and makes them want to hide longer or even stop feeding.

Looking for it inside the tank doesn’t do anything to help other than your nerves but can be harmful to the fish. Check the floor but leave the fish in the tank alone.

 

[hatteras hank]

Hope it turns up. Probably found a sweet hiding spot. I would look into adding finer mesh screen to the top. Egg crate holes are kinda big for little slippery fellas. Good luck.

 

[Borat]

Have you got a cat?

 

[christinna77]

So I have news. During our morning feeding today, the assessor just casually came out to eat like nothing happened... I literally held every single piece of decoration in my hand out of the water yesterday and triple checked everything with a flashlight. Much confused and I agree I just stressed out the fish for no reason, but I legit thought it jumped out. I don't have a proper name for this guy yet, but I might call him David Copperfield from now on.
Thanks everyone for your suggestions! I think I'm gonna replace it with a solid lid. I have a return pump, wavemaker and two airstones in my overflow, so the oxygen should be still plenty enough. And I don't have a cat, just rabbits :-)