Where did my clown killies go?

[alex76]

hihi,

I have bought at least 5 badge of clown killies, each badge ard 2-4 fishes.
but each badge it's either they jump out of tank or disappear mysteriously.
Those jump out of tank can be accountable when I see the dried carcass on the floor....
I am just very curious where does those disappear mysteriously gone?

I kept them together with 8 small platies, 3 silver tetra, 3 green tetra, 3 blue tetra, 1 oto, 2 cory, 1 common plecos, 1 new addition of Chinese algae eating fish, 1 SAE, few YAMATOS, few Tiger shrimp, few cherry shrimp in the attached tank.



At first I thought that during the night, where the the is lack of oxygen and all the fishes surfaces and might cause the killies to jump out. Then I added bubble stone for night time and cover the tank totally with a mesh, but yesterday morning, out of 5 killies, only left 2 killies.
I have almost overturn the entire tank but couldn't find them or any carcasses

where r they???

Once I saw a YAmato hugging and nibbing an Oto who is fighting for its life under the DW.

[wasabi8888]

that's your answer.... once it dies, the rest will eat it up esp the yamatos

[Quixotic]

They are prone to jumping due to several reasons:

1. Unsuitable water conditions
2. Harassment from other fishes
3. Spooked by sudden change in environment, e.g. total darkness caused by sudden turning off of lights, or someone approaching the tank suddenly

Having some floating plants will help to minimise the harassment, if any, and make them feel less spooky of changes.

If you do not find their carcass outside the tank, they may have died in your tank and "cleaned up" by other fishes/shrimps. In my experience, they need proper acclimitisation in order to do well.

[Jungle-mania]

Your water might not be aged enough or have a low enough ph, I had the same problem too before. Given the rest of the fauna in your tank, all of them are hardier than clown killies. Use peat moss extract to lower the ph and your clown killies should be more at home.

[Happy Camper]

Killies in general ( and especially clown Killies) should be kept in a species only tank (IMHO), they do not enjoy boisterous tankmates and as you are aware, they jump in such conditions. Rather keep them in a tank all by themselves with plenty of floating plants like hornwort or Najas. Minimal current in the tank and they prefer cooler temps and also a ph lower than 7. A ratio of 2 males to 6 or 7 females will be fine. Add a couple of spawning mops if you plan to breed them.

This is not a community tank fish at all.

[Tetra Lover]

Hi Alex76

You are not the only one...I recently bought 4 clown killies (1 of them was sucked out from the tank when I did my weekly partial water change )and now I cannot find a single one. I think they must have died of hunger because they did not eat the flakes and micro pellets and their corpses eaten by other fishes. I read in books that they eat only live food which I only feed my fishes once every week or fortnightly. That way I stop buying them.....

[Happy Camper]

Hey David, when are you popping in to apsa again

While it is true that Killies prefer live food it is possible to condition them onto dried flakes, but at the very least you should try and feed them BBS several times a week. They also enjoy Mosquito larvae very much. Most of my Killies seem to enjoy 'Tetra Pro' flakes, but you'll need to squash them in your fingers as the fish don't seem to like the larger chips.

HTH.

[alex76]

Actually my clownies enjoy eating Tetra flakes which I squashed till powder with other fishes..... I bought another 4 clown killies, and now It's been a week.... let's see how... I covered the whole tank tightly with plastic mesh during night time. they swim happily to fight for food when I feed them.