Fish are missing...Ideas?

[Aquaholic]

well I have a slight problem, and i think I know what it is but I would like to get some opinions.

So far in the last month and a half two months I "lost" some tank members the list of the poor souls are:

2 small tank raised perc clowns
2 medium maderins
1 medium gold stripe maroon clown
2 large emerald crabs

The current tank mates are:

1 gold stripe marron clown
2 larger 3 spot damsels
1 blue yellow tail damsel
1 medium long tenticaled anenome (gold stripe is hosting)
1 large 12+ inches across carpet anenome (3 spots are hosting)
some corals, mushrooms, zoos, sps, lps, chilli sponge ect.
2 cleaner shrimp
Pistol shrip and watchman gobie (living in bliss)

the tank itself is a 50 gal cube with about a 15 gal sump. All chemicals levels are in check, and everything that is alive is very healthy.

when these things go missing there are no bodies (except the emerald his shell was still around). I'm wanting to blame my large carpet anenome since there are no bodies but would the small clowns not have been able to get off of it? The time they last in the tank varies from 1-2 days to 1-2 weeks.

Thanks

[OCDP]

Originally Posted by Aquaholic

well I have a slight problem, and i think I know what it is but I would like to get some opinions.

So far in the last month and a half two months I "lost" some tank members the list of the poor souls are:

2 small tank raised perc clowns
2 medium maderins
1 medium gold stripe maroon clown
2 large emerald crabs

The current tank mates are:

1 gold stripe marron clown
2 larger 3 spot damsels
1 blue yellow tail damsel
1 medium long tenticaled anenome (gold stripe is hosting)
1 large 12+ inches across carpet anenome (3 spots are hosting)
some corals, mushrooms, zoos, sps, lps, chilli sponge ect.
2 cleaner shrimp
Pistol shrip and watchman gobie (living in bliss)

the tank itself is a 50 gal cube with about a 15 gal sump. All chemicals levels are in check, and everything that is alive is very healthy.

when these things go missing there are no bodies (except the emerald his shell was still around). I'm wanting to blame my large carpet anenome since there are no bodies but would the small clowns not have been able to get off of it? The time they last in the tank varies from 1-2 days to 1-2 weeks.

Thanks

Wow

I am shocked you haven't had more problems than you currently have. Two different species of anemones is a no no. Your bound to run into problems soon. Google it up! It's not good to keep two different species.. at least this is my understanding.

I can say that I am almost certain your carpet anemone is the culprit (AKA = Fish eaters) I am going to say it's your carpet.

Secondly, not to hound on you, but how did you manage to keep two mandarins in a 50g? Unless you have some crazy population of pods being produced, they would have died from starvation anyways. Unless of course they were on prepared foods.

Your clowns won't get eaten by the carpet (ok, there IS a chance) But anemones host clownfish.. and other damsels. This is why your clowns wont be eaten... because there is a symbiosis between the anemone and clownfish

[Aquaholic]

The madarines were a confirmed male female pair. They were both eating fine aswell. As far as the two anenomes they are on different sides of the tank and as far as i know the only problem with two in a tank is that one will eat the other (not a problem I've had so far).

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

Yup, carpet anemones are notorious fish eaters.

[OCDP]

I think the problem with two anemones in one tank is some kind of chemical warfare. I don't know first hand as I won't try it out, but good luck to you. Sorry to hear about all your losses.

In your experience, is the carpet worth keeping rather than having the fish? I am going to be getting one soon, and my tank size is too small to keep any desirable fish anyhow... so I figure I'll be good to go with a couple clowns and a sweet anemone.

[Aquaholic]

Is it worth it... well over the last month here i would say no, but from the start till then i would definatly say yes. Although it has made my 3 spots quite aggressive.

[OCDP]

Good, I think it will be worth it as well.

Is the only reason you say it's not worth it up until now because of the amount of fish it has eaten on you??

[reeferaddict]

Have you found any bodies? I would be wary of having so many damselfish in such a small area, (clowns are damsels as well), I know my Maroon clown wouldn't tolerate any other kind of clown in my 72g. As for the Mandarins - no matter what anyone says about them eating "prepared" foods... they only get their proper diet from copeopods, and to provide them with enough pods you need 50lbs or more of live rock PER Mandarin to have any hope at all of keeping them healthy... I was at a LFS recently and while the guy was fishing around in a tank a chromis spooked and swam too close to a carpet anemone... WOW! It was SO quick... that fish was toast almost instantly... no second chance at all - kinda like skydidving!

[OCDP]

Originally Posted by reeferaddict

I was at a LFS recently and while the guy was fishing around in a tank a chromis spooked and swam too close to a carpet anemone... WOW! It was SO quick... that fish was toast almost instantly... no second chance at all - kinda like skydidving!

Ahaha.. kind of a creepy analogy.

[danny zubot]

Your clowns won't get eaten by the carpet (ok, there IS a chance) But anemones host clownfish.. and other damsels. This is why your clowns wont be eaten... because there is a symbiosis between the anemone and clownfish

The acception would be if the clowns are new to the environment. Even though clowns have a natural symbiosis with anemones, it does take time for them to adapt to the "sting", especially if you are dealing with carpet anemones. The Carpet probably didn't recognize the clowns as partners yet, so it ate them. Just my theory.