Stuck Fish; Now There All Stuck and Dead!! HELP!

[Coderad]

The first dead fish was 3 days before the next 2 But still no luck finding anything else.

[justinl]

+1 on untamed hypothesis.

A very large mantis would be capable of killing that many fish in that short a time but I highly doubt it was a mantis. Pretty much 100% of the hitching mantids are "smashers" which hit with little club like arms.

the other mantids are "spearers" who work pretty much exactly like a preying mantis. but i doubt that one because ive never heard of a hitching spearer. they live in the sand.

any mantis capable of that kind of damage would be very large and would have made its presence known a long time ago.

[Delphinus]

The disease theory, either with or without an opportunistic something-or-other that pulls the fish into the rock, is entirely plausible... I just thought it was odd the fish were pulled tail first into the rock but that's not saying that it means anything. I've never knowingly had a mantis in a tank so I defer to those who have them (or have had them) to know better than I, what makes sense in that case.

[marie]

Originally Posted by Delphinus

The disease theory, either with or without an opportunistic something-or-other that pulls the fish into the rock, is entirely plausible... I just thought it was odd the fish were pulled tail first into the rock but that's not saying that it means anything. I've never knowingly had a mantis in a tank so I defer to those who have them (or have had them) to know better than I, what makes sense in that case.

^^^^Exactly what he said ^^^^^

not to mention there have been no new livestock added in the last 4 months

[Moogled]

Vote untamed for the world's next best detective.

+1.

[justinl]

maybe you got one of these in there...
http://www.stephenwong.com/divetoto/...it_Worm_01.jpg

bobbit worm (eunice)... check out the jaws on this guy. lol joke though. these guys live in the sand. apparently when the feed, they trap fish and do it so forcefully that they often split the prey in two! ouch.

[kwirky]

or maybe you have one of these:

http://www.loobylu.com/journal/images/uglygirl.jpg

[untamed]

Originally Posted by justinl

maybe you got one of these in there...
http://www.stephenwong.com/divetoto/...it_Worm_01.jpg

bobbit worm (eunice)... check out the jaws on this guy. lol joke though. these guys live in the sand. apparently when the feed, they trap fish and do it so forcefully that they often split the prey in two! ouch.

I keep those in my tank also. My largest is probably 2-3 feet long (Max) ...and that's in my hex that has no side larger than 1.5 ft. Even at that length, Max couldn't ingest anything bigger than a pencil eraser. There are hundreds of species, but Max is mainly vegetarian unless something dies conveniently in reach. They are VERY good at pulling things toward their homes. If it won't fit down the hole, it is dropped at the doorstep.

Here's a shot of Max, grabbing a leafy snack.


Of course there was Steve Weast's famous 7 footer...but even that one wasn't taking fish, it was eating coral polyps.