Missing/disappearing fish

Hey guys! I have a 29 gallon tank, cycled and all, in my bedroom. It contains the following fish:

1 Male betta
3 male balloon molly
3 albino catfish

But here’s where things get weird and I’d like to know what happened. Firstly, we temporarily housed a plecco in there, due to us upgrading to a 90 gallon tank and needed a temp home. He was perfectly healthy when we put him in. Now, a mere 36 hours after putting him in there, HE IS NOWHERE to be found. And I mean it. Not in the filter, in any decoration, under the substrate. He’s simply vanished.

a few weeks pass, we still have no idea what happened, but we keep pushing on as we have close to100 total fish to care for. Just yesterday, we had 4albino catfish and now HE HAS GONE MISSING. He’s nowhere in the tank, trust me I’ve looked and even run my hand under the substrate covering every square inch. He’s disappeared, just like the Plecco. I searched outside of the tank too. NOWHERE to be found.

so my question is....is there anyway the fish listed above ATE the plecco and catfish? I mean, I have no other thoughts outside of that. I will add this little note, after we noticed the plecco was gone, it seemed as if our Betta got bigger. He was pretty **** thin beforehand, but that could just be my mind putting the two together. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

edit: can’t see any bones ‍♂️

 

A betta could have killed a small pleco. Like a really small one, maybe up to 2 inches. A betta could also kill cory, but... its unlikely that the ballon molly would still be around. The Pleco may be super good a hidding and he might have eaten your catfish. They may have jumped and gone unnoticed. What does the secure top of your tank look like? Keep in mind dried fish look like a crumpled blob of lint, and maybe check the surrounding area again.

 

Hey guys! I have a 29 gallon tank, cycled and all, in my bedroom. It contains the following fish:

1 Male betta
3 male balloon molly
3 albino catfish

But here’s where things get weird and I’d like to know what happened. Firstly, we temporarily housed a plecco in there, due to us upgrading to a 90 gallon tank and needed a temp home. He was perfectly healthy when we put him in. Now, a mere 36 hours after putting him in there, HE IS NOWHERE to be found. And I mean it. Not in the filter, in any decoration, under the substrate. He’s simply vanished.

a few weeks pass, we still have no idea what happened, but we keep pushing on as we have close to100 total fish to care for. Just yesterday, we had 4albino catfish and now HE HAS GONE MISSING. He’s nowhere in the tank, trust me I’ve looked and even run my hand under the substrate covering every square inch. He’s disappeared, just like the Plecco. I searched outside of the tank too. NOWHERE to be found.

so my question is....is there anyway the fish listed above ATE the plecco and catfish? I mean, I have no other thoughts outside of that. I will add this little note, after we noticed the plecco was gone, it seemed as if our Betta got bigger. He was pretty **** thin beforehand, but that could just be my mind putting the two together. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

edit: can’t see any bones ‍♂

There is obviously something wrong with your tank if your fish are disappearing. Normally I would say to feed or do a WC and usually they are hiding, but this doesn't seem to be the case. I think the betta (which is really aggresive and shouldn't be kept with any other fish) killed the pleco and the corydoras and ate their corpse. Corydoras should have a group of at least 5.

 

I’ll move him immediately to our empty 20g. Our lid is secure, no way out. The plecco also disappeared first, so he couldn’t have been the culprit.

I just checked and subsequently changed the water this morning.The water was fine across the board. So I’m guessing it’s just the Betta fish who is going after them. But for whatever reason, he leaves the mollies alone.

Thanks for the replies guys.

 

There is obviously something wrong with your tank if your fish are disappearing. Normally I would say to feed or do a WC and usually they are hiding, but this doesn't seem to be the case. I think the betta (which is really aggresive and shouldn't be kept with any other fish) killed the pleco and the corydoras and ate their corpse. Corydoras should have a group of at least 5.

Bettas can be kept with other fish just fine, I had a betta live a full lifespan of 4 years in a community tank. Its all proper tank and good personality for them.
I do suggest sitting and watching any tank for a full 30 minutes, no matter what fish is kept to watch for aggression and bullies.

 

I’ll move him immediately to our empty 20g. Our lid is secure, no way out. The plecco also disappeared first, so he couldn’t have been the culprit.

I just checked and subsequently changed the water this morning.The water was fine across the board. So I’m guessing it’s just the Betta fish who is going after them. But for whatever reason, he leaves the mollies alone.

Thanks for the replies guys.

Try to get more of those corydoras! They feel more secure in a group of 5+, and they are really active if you do. The betta probably feels threatened by the mollies since there are more and he assumes that it is "their" territory.

 

Bettas can be kept with other fish just fine, I had a betta live a full lifespan of 4 years in a community tank. Its all proper tank and good personality for them.
I do suggest sitting and watching any tank for a full 30 minutes, no matter what fish is kept to watch for aggression and bullies.

Most bettas are usually not peaceful. They will rip fins and flare at other fish to keep their territory. That is, unless you are really lucky, you have a peaceful betta. But after the events in OP's tank, I doubt it.

 

Aquaman1993
What's your tank look like? If your pleco doesn't have a place to hide from you in a 29g tank you have an issue.
I have Gobies that disapear for up to 2 weeks when they nest, so a good tank should have hiding spots.

 

He would have had a few places to hide. There’s quite a bit of decor to hide in/around/under. He was only going to be in there another few hours before our tank was ready to rock and roll.

I’ll definitely pick up a few more corydoras. And it makes sense if he was scared of the mollies. They are bigger than him and stay together a lot.

i really appreciate all the advice guys!

 

You'll know if your Betta is aggressive, they don't hide it or wait for the lights to go out (like some fish). I have 5 Betta and only 1, a female, can be deemed aggressive, but the males are some of the calmest fish I have - they are in with killifish, endlers (even endler fry), shrimp, snails, gertrudes, plecos, panda garras...

If you've never seen your Betta go after the other fish it's unlikely they're the issue. If the other fish flee from them at just the slightest twitch of the Bettas fins, that's a good sign there's something going on.

But the catfish? Are my guess. They'll eat small fish and they will eat dead fish, they are known for being quite the scavengers at that level. If the pleco was ill, or died.. they could certainly have made a good meal of them.

I had a very small pleco in my 45g that went missing, discovered the Cory pack had made quick work of them - all that was left was a tiny skeleton.