What's the longest one of your fish has been MIA only to reappear

[gray808]

In my first batch of fish, I got a Yellow Watchman Goby. During Quarantine, I moved all the fish to a bucket, to do a 100% water change and clean on the QT tank, once I was done with copper. I saw the goby go in the bucket. Comes time for the fish to go back into the QT tank, I'll be danged, but I can't find the goby. I looked everywhere, scanned the floor and carpet, no Watchman.

Fast forward a couple of weeks, and POOF, there is the gob, hiding over behind the air bubbler, as if nothing had happened.
My only theory is that it had hidden in a Tupperware of sand with a small flat rock, and eventually came out.

So, when it went into the tank, it was given the name Houdini (fish don't get a name until they get to the DT and are eating well). It promptly dashed inside the rock, and I've never seen it again. It's been nearly 3 months now, and I've never even seen it poke its head out once. There is a significant amount of rock, with sand, and lots of hiding places, all on the backside, so I can't really look there. I've not seen a giant spike in ammonia, everything seems to going well.

What do you think, does Houdini have a chance of doing it again, and just showing back up one day, when he gets bored of the back of the tank?

I also have 2 emerald crabs, which are tiny. For the first couple of weeks, I saw them often. But now, I see one of them maybe every 2 weeks. I assume they just love being in the nooks and crannies and only rarely does their prowling lead them to the outer part of the stocks.

Have you had any DB Cooper fish?

--Gray

 

[EcoFriendlyMouth]

I got a red banded goby in my 15 gal nano a week ago. Saw him the next day, and havent seen him since. Cant find him anywhere whatsoever, eveen ripped apart my filtration today. No ammonia spikes or anything but still worried he got sucked up like spaghetti by my clown, as he was very small

 

[josephxsxn]

Not a fish but I have a Red Strawberry Crab which at this point is my reefing mascot in my tanks. Hes lived through 2 tank transfers and once I was sure he was a goner on the second tank after not seeing him for 1 year. But when I broke it back down for the latest transfer to a larger 167gal he was still alive. Seeming him all the time now in my new tank.

 

[LostInTheDark]

I placed an engineer goby into the tank and watched for a week until then he disappeared. 4 months later I noticed some sand moving around under the rocks and it was a full grown 5 inch long goby. I had forgotten all about him.
As for the watchman, I wouldn't hold out much hope. Even if he's shy you should see him at feeding time. At a minimum you should know he's there by the sand movement from his feeding or burrowing. But, you never know.

 

[uhgster1]

I had a yellow watchman I named Lazarus because I thought he was dead. He was living in the overflow of my Nuvo 10 for a year. I found him when I upgraded to a bigger tank and was emptying the Nuvo.

 

[j.falk]

Question: What's the longest one of your fish has been MIA only to reappear


For me: Exactly 23 seconds...I was worried!

 

[jeffrey750750]

My yellow watchman goby disappears for weeks on end. Must be a good hiding spot, not even at night with a flashlight can I find him

 

[gray808]

watchman I named Lazarus because I thought he was dead. He was living in the overflow of my Nuvo 10 for a year. I found him when I upgraded to a bigger tank and was emptying the Nuvo.

Haha!
My partner has suggested the name Lazarus for the (currently) only unnamed fish in the tank. I ordered a bonded pair of Bangaii cardinalfish. On of them arrive DOA. I thought the other was dead, but under close inspection, I saw a fin twitch, so I quickly got it into some fresh saltwater. It revived wonderfully, and is now eating well and hanging out with the other fish buddies.

Hmmm. I don't think it's possible the goby made it into the overflow... the weir spacing is way too small for it, even though it was small. Unless it somehow jumped up and over the 1" or so from the water line and into the overflow, which I suppose it possible. If so, I'll never see it until I break the tank down if and when we buy a house and move.

--Gray

 

[Silly clownfish]

Longest disappearance to reappear for a fish was about 5-6 weeks for a Randall’s gobie. I was looking for it a lot with a flashlight at first. I had pretty much given up and was deciding what to replace it with, then one day I walked past the tank and did a double take. It was sitting front and center and fat.

crabs and brittle star (large, probably over a foot in diameter when stretched out) I have gone months Without a siting. Some of these critters don’t come out much when the lights are on.

 

[argiBK]

My Randall's Assessor. He disappeared spring/summer 2019 and at some point I accepted he'd probably been eaten by an anemone or my coral banded shrimp.

I was observing feeding time just last week and saw him dart out to grab a couple pellets!

 

[Texas Rick]

It’s been 4 months and I still haven’t seen my blue hippo tang! Maybe it’s only nocturnal now!

 

[xxkenny90xx]

When i got my yellow watchman goby it disappeared for 3 months. Then one day it stuck its head out of a burrow and it's been there ever since!

 

[KWT]

Not a fish but my tiger pistol shrimp, disappears a lot, longest was three weeks. Lately it disappears for a couple weeks at a time, however I found where he hides out so I target feed some music shrimp, and I can see him snatch it back inside his hole

 

[Jib]

It’s been 4 months and I still haven’t seen my blue hippo tang! Maybe it’s only nocturnal now!

Wait...what? They are pretty big and flashy. You messing with us or being serious?

 

[gray808]

I target feed some music shrimp, and I can see him snatch it back inside his hole

Are "music shrimp" a thing? or autocorrect for mysis?

heh.

--Gray

 

[Texas Rick]

Wait...what? They are pretty big and flashy. You messing with us or being serious?

No, being serious. Haven’t seen it.

 

[xxkenny90xx]

No, being serious. Haven’t seen it.

That ones a gonner....

 

[Larry L]

In my very first saltwater tank (29 gallon), I made a box out of black eggcrate to put against the bottom back of the tank to stack rock on (because I was cheap and didn't want to pay for more rock). The box was about 5 inches tall and 5 inches deep and ran the width of the tank. I had a juvenile engineer goby that just disappeared at some point. About five years later he scared the crap out of me when I was breaking the tank down and found him - he was huge! I think he was hanging out inside the box, and eventually got too big to squeeze back out through the eggcrate. Obviously he was getting plenty of food down there.

 

[Texas Rick]

That ones a gonner....

Yep, I think so

 

[Daniel@R2R]

About a year for me in my 180 with one of my more cryptic fish. In my current tank, my swalesi basslet went dark for about 7 months and then popped up again...waaaayyyy fatter than when last I had seen him. Happy to say he's fat and active now.