Hide-and-go-swim: How long was your fish "missing" before it reappeared in your tank?

[AlyciaMarie]

Fish are good at disappearing, but how good are they at reappearing? When our fish go missing, we can only hope they are just having fun fiddling with our emotions...

How long was your fish "missing" before it reappeared in your tank?

Side note: This thread was inspired by my current predicament. It's day two with no sight of my favorite little fish, Franklin the Firefish.

 

[PizzaIan339]

Luckily my clowns are always out!

 

[X-37B]

I had a chalk bass in my 18" nano cube that went missing. I thought it jumped out and one of my cat's ate it. However, about a week later, I found it in my 45 frag system. It had jumped from one tank to the other, lol.
The way the tanks are against the wall and corner made it even
more amazing.
I have covers on all my systems now.

 

[Bruttall]

Firehead Goby, was gone so long I was sure it was dead and the crabs ate it.

 

[shakacuz]

there was this very small fish(silver/grey cardinalfish look alike) that somehow came in an order of chaeto from algea barn. it went into hiding then came out a week later. eventually disappeared/died.

until this day i have no idea what it was.

 

[Reefer Matt]

I’ve had many small fish mysteriously disappear when I had a large coral banded shrimp in my sps display. After I removed the shrimp, no more fish vanished.

 

[Jasonak]

Gone until I broke down the tank and was getting out the last of the rocks.

 

[BryanM]

Ive read a few, hilarious, stories here with fish missing 6-18 months. Someone found one of them in the overflow... Another only spotted the fish in a picture. Crazy stories!

 

[bswicicki]

I have about 10 tangs that are “hiding in the rocks” as far as my wife and children know

 

[MindlessToxin]

I know it's common but my melanurus stayed hidden for about 4 days when I first put him in. I'm still waiting and hoping that a watchman goby I put in my tank a month or so ago will show himself. I don't think he made it...

 

[Kooma]

Ive had more vanish and never return than anything. Never found my 6 line, no predators in the tank and no pets at home to eat if it jumped.

 

[TX_REEF]

how about a follow up - how long has your fish been "missing" before you found it in fish jerky form under your stand?

 

[56longroof]

My Ornate leopard wrasse hid for about a month. I was sure it had died. The Choati i just put in is working on a week gone.

 

[kdx7214]

Had a three stripe damsel that went missing for about 2 years. Assume it was eaten by the anemone. Turns out it somehow went down the overflow into the wet dry filter. When I went to change out the sump one day I found it, still alive, having to swim on it's side due to the small size. No clue how it made it through the drip plate.

 

[ds1000]

My yellow watchman goby has ended up in my red sea reef mat.. twice now. Survived a week in there. Still got him!

 

[PotatoPig]

My mandarin went missing for a few days and in a last ditch effort I looked in the overflow and it was caught between the noise suppressor and the drain… alive. I put it back in the tank and a minute later it acted like nothing had happened.

My Royal Gramma… very active, always ate, no disputes, then one day I noticed I hadn’t seen it for a little while and haven’t seen it since…

A neon goby went missing also, but it was two years old, so no great mystery there.

 

[aquariumworks]

Fish are good at disappearing, but how good are they at reappearing? When our fish go missing, we can only hope they are just having fun fiddling with our emotions...

How long was your fish "missing" before it reappeared in your tank?

Side note: This thread was inspired by my current predicament. It's day two with no sight of my favorite little fish, Franklin the Firefish.

A Golden Angel (Centropyge aurantia), is only seen every 3-6 months in a 340 gallon with lots of live rock!
It’s been around since 2018!
I believe these fish are reclusive like the deeper water Pygmy angels? I imagine they stay under the shade of plating Acropora sp., as they are typically found in shallow waters, but divers rarely encounter them, making the price a little on the high side…

 

[scardall]

I put 2 lyre tail anthias in and in 3 days. gone a week latter I added 3 more. after 8 days they were gone. 3 weeks after and non to be seen. very angry

 

[Barncat]

My yellow watchman goby Clyde went missing for a good two or three months this past summer; I finally found her in my sump compartment, alive and well lol. She's back in the main tank now, sprinkling sand all over my long suffering green star polyps - which will be moved as as far away as possible from wherever she decides to den in the 125g upgrade tank haha.

 

[ZoaSue]

I couldn't find our diamond watchman goby, Batman, this morning. I looked in the tank with a flashlight, sprinkled food, nothing. I was walking away from the tank when I saw a fin sticking out of the carpet anemone. He must have gotten too close and she got him.