my condy ate my sailfin?! how? why?

bv_reefer · #1 12-27-2007, 07:49 PM

i wake up this morning to see all my fish, including my sailfin tang, all gracefully swimming around, then an hour later at noon i go to turn one of my halides on, when i see this dark thing hanging out of my condy anemone.....my first thought he's dying and all his insides are slowly falling out, but considering his color is same as always and tentacles fully extended that though was quickly ruled out, then i though he's eating my snail, as thats exactly what the dark shape looked like, then i saw the snail; on the other side of the tank. Looked around the tank and on the floor to see if he jumped out, nope, surely enough, my glutton of an amemone made a meal of a once spectacular tang! how? why? what would make him suddenly eat a tang? I even fed him a few days ago!

Psyire · #2 12-27-2007, 10:06 PM

Sorry to hear, that sucks.

Do you have any pictures of this Condy? How big was the Sailfin?

Anenomes can definately eat fish but Carpet's are usually the culprits.

bv_reefer · #3 12-28-2007, 12:38 AM

no don't have any pics of either of them, the sailfin was about 2.5'' long, and the anemone stretched out is about 5''. it's ashamed but what can you do

fkshiu · #4 12-28-2007, 04:52 AM

Sometimes even healthy fish can accidentally blunder into anemones if they're not careful - those tentacles are filled with stingers for a reason. I remember a thread on RC where some guy's condy ate his foxface when he was busy transferring stuff between tanks. He even had pictures. Pretty cool but chilling at the same time to see "survival of the fittest" at work before your eyes.

EmilyB · #5 12-28-2007, 05:10 AM

Well, when I first entered into the hobby, I was told condy's ate fish. Has that changed?

Murminator · #6 12-28-2007, 07:34 PM

My condy ate my dispar anthias last week

SeaHorse_Fanatic · #7 12-28-2007, 08:38 PM

Condy's and carpets are notorious fish-eaters.

i have crabs · #8 12-29-2007, 12:13 AM

i have a large condi and ive only had 2 or mabey 3 fish dissapear over a few years but i have no idea if it was the condi, i do know it ate a 10" tall colt coral 2 years ago

bv_reefer · #9 12-29-2007, 05:39 AM

o well i already replaced the sailfin with an even larger one, but i always thought that one of my chromis would definitely be eaten, but never a tang, stuns me how it can eat a foxface though, there spines are all full of venom, or for that matter a colt coral?!

bv_reefer · #10 12-29-2007, 05:45 AM

quite off topic, but what are the chances of a juvenile sailfin tang & a juvenile naso tang fighting?