The pains of starting out

[Mombo]

Well! Everyone told me this was a painful and expensive hobby to get into. Got my Biocube 29 about 1 1/2 months ago and started the process. Got a couple clown fish 2 weeks ago once my ammonia and nitrites were staying at 0 and my nitrates were under control. Lost 1 of them about a week after because I didnt know what to look for at the store to pick a healthy fish. One of them was active and ate really well the other one was unhealthy from the beginning and never ate and slowly passed.

After that I found a store that breeds clowns and had tons of active good eaters so I picked up a new one for the pair. Those two were awesome. Very active and awesome personalities. Fed them some Reef Frenzy last night and they ate like pigs haha.

Woke up this morning. Both are gone.

We have nassarius snails so I can only assume they disposed of them but its crazy to me that they were swimming and eating 12 hours ago and now they are just gone. Checked all my back chambers and around my rocks and cant find them anywhere.

Here is my sad fishless tank haha.

 

[brett_schn]

Take apart the rocks off possible. 12hours is way to short for a snail to get rid of 2 fish also look in the sand bed

 

[Wunderboiy]

Check behind the tank and the floor as well

 

[Labridaedicted]

+1 to above, nassarius wouldn't completely eat a fish overnight

 

[Mombo]

I have the stock lid on the tank so there is no way out for them. If they did get out somehow then I imagine there would be no sign of them as we have cats that would enjoy the snack which is why we have the stock lid on it haha. I did check all the back chambers though as well as the return pump as I have read sometimes they can get back there.

We have around 6-7 nassarius snails. I pulled some of the rock out so I could look through it and I moved the sand around a bit and didnt see them.

Checked my ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, and salinity and they all were in check. 0, 0, 5, 1.024

 

[brett_schn]

Nothing changes yet so that could mean that they jumped

 

[Mombo]

Haha well that is impressive! I would be amazed to see one fish jump out of the tank with the lid on it let alone both of them. Must have had a suicide pact!

There are two holes where the wires come out of the lid that I guess if they jumped into the back chamber and then jumped through the holes at the top of the lid they could have made it out of the tank

 

[Cyricdark]

You'd be surprised how well they can escape, I have a canopy with a screen covering the back that's cut out with notches for cords, auto feeder, etc. There's maybe a 1/2" gap in one place and I lost a 3" clown fish, and a 6" Niger trigger through it before I taped it up

 

[Mombo]

Can coral grow just fine without fish in the tank or do I need to ghost feed the tank for them to get nutrients? Ive been dosing reef roids twice a week if that would be enough for them.

 

[Katrina71]

Just like Romeo and Juliet.

 

[Idoc]

Maybe a hitchhiker hiding in those rocks?

 

[Mombo]

It was all dry rock for me this time.

 

[Katrina71]

I'm really sorry.

 

[GatorScott]

Ever find them?

 

[Mombo]

Nope no signs of them anywhere. The snails either destroyed them or I guess they jumped out even though that seems crazy to me still haha. Its incredible though. They were happy and eating just fine. They would swim up to the front when I walked up. And bam gone overnight.

 

[Butitor]

they were over feed dude! look under your rock coz clowns dont jump.

 

[Mombo]

Only fed them once per day with some reef frenzy. But I guess anything is possible!

 

[brett_schn]

they were over feed dude! look under your rock coz clowns dont jump.

Clowns do jump. My friends won’t get a clown unless they have a tight screen top

 

[Tahoe61]

I have had 3 clowns jump this year but I was there each time and the lid was off, all fish jump and clowns are one of the more likely jumpers ime.

 

[Uwharrie]

are you sure they are not in the back chamber?
It is really hard to see in the back ( at least in my biocube)