Where are my shrimps?

[conjurer]

hi. i am new to this and this is also my first post. i started my small planted tank 6 months ago and recently added yamato shrimps because they are cute (and i assume helps with the algae ). all looked fine and happily swimming here and there. the very next morning, all 5 yamatos disappeared. not a sign, not a skeleton. my wife told me while she was sweeping the floor, she saw 2 "cooked" mini prawns on the floor near my aquarium. i have a cover on my rekord 60 juwel tank so i am not sure how they jumped out and why they appear orange cooked. i also dont know what happened to the other 3 yamatos. i have a mini puffer that looks like a good boy, 10 tetra cardinals, 2 pencil fishes and 2 red rose plattys. i have searched the forum for answers but cant find a conclusive answer. help me with an answer or show me where i can find out more. thanks!!

[unicorn]

How big is the puffer compare to the shrimps. If the ratio is a tat of a difference, your puffer could be the ones chasing them around. Another point is that, if your O2 is low, which yamatos are sensitive to, they would consider taking a hike out of your tank. Anyway, adult yamatos is able to crawl under dry condition for a short distance..

Cheers

[conjurer]

hi, thanks for your reply. the puffer is really tiny, slightly more than 1cm and so were the shrimps. the puffer has not attacked any of the other fishes but i think i will go ahead to isolate this little fella b4 putting anymore shrimps.

[conjurer]

i think i found my culprit, recently i found a clean skeleton cardinal tetra in my tank and another half eaten cardinal tetra and next to it my pencil fish enjoying its meal, gnawing away at the remains of the tetra. upset, i have removed both pencil fish that have grown rather big compared to the other fauna and also the cause of the constant uprooting of some of my newly planted grass....

[budak]

Most fish will happily scavenge on their dead tankmates but I really cannot believe that your pencil fish is killing other fish or digging plants...... unless it's not really pencilfish...... try browsing the AQ fauna album to ID your fish exactly.

How do you know your puffer is a "good boy" when you are away or at night?

[hwchoy]

[quote:62bce91b="conjurer"]i think i found my culprit, recently i found a clean skeleton cardinal tetra in my tank and another half eaten cardinal tetra and next to it my pencil fish enjoying its meal, gnawing away at the remains of the tetra. upset, i have removed both pencil fish that have grown rather big compared to the other fauna and also the cause of the constant uprooting of some of my newly planted grass....[/quote:62bce91b]

got the wrong fish, or they are not pencilfish. what do you mean by BIG, most pencilfish are not big in the general sense.

[conjurer]

hi thanks for the replies. my guess based on the database here (abit hard to tell, they are so similar), is that the 2 pencil fishes i have is the Golden Pencilfish or the 2 striped Pencilfish. When i bought it 2 months ago, they were 1.5-2cm, now they are 4cm long. the rest of the fish are growing rather slow compared to these 2 fellas for supposedly algae eaters. they are rather "agressive" when they are "playing" near the gravel, hence the uprooting of newly planted grass. i have removed the puffer and as pointed out probably its naughty when the lights are out. thanks! by the way, now that i separated the puffer, what can i feed it?

[superman]

You may want to catch some snails from ur tank, if u dont have, i have a few in my tank. You want it?
Forzen bloodworm is also a choice u can consider.