One of two new Angelfish disappeared without a trace

This morning I woke up and one of my new juvenile angels was gone. Completely. I looked everywhere and there is just.no.trace. I can only surmise that she/he was killed and eaten by the others - I have five gouramis that have grown already in the week since I got them and look like quite strong fish but she/he also could have just died and been eaten.

The other angelfish is perfectly fine, but is doing this weird thing from time to time - just sitting under where the water pours out from the hang-on filter, bobbing around, nose up - looks like he's drinking! He doesn't look distressed and is also swimming around the rest of the tank as normal and eating fine. It's kind of funny but I'm new to angelfish so I don't know if there is anything wrong.

The tank is both live-planted along with some some fake floating plants for cover for my school of tetras, two tunnels for hiding (that the gouramis LOVE) and lots of free-swimming space above some driftwood in the centre.

Two days ago I added a long air stone across the back but the bubbles are very gentle and it didn't seem to be bothering anyone. The fish have certainly been more active since I added the bubbles and I only have them on for a portion of the day, not the whole time because the pump is quite loud.

I'm an experienced hobbyist but not with angels or gouramis and so I was hoping someone could advise me as to whether this is normal angel behaviour or something I should look into more.

 

What kind of gourami do you have? I would not keep Angels with goraimi they are both territorial top dwellers.
Could the angel fish have been eaten?, Yes, could it have died of somthing unrelated to the other fish in the tank and then been eaten?, Yes.
The behavior of your fish would bother me as i am paranoid about any odd behavior in my fish tank. I suggest you just keep an eye on it and dont worry until and unless other symptoms arise.

 

This morning I woke up and one of my new juvenile angels was gone. Completely. I looked everywhere and there is just.no.trace. I can only surmise that she/he was killed and eaten by the others - I have five gouramis that have grown already in the week since I got them and look like quite strong fish but she/he also could have just died and been eaten.

The other angelfish is perfectly fine, but is doing this weird thing from time to time - just sitting under where the water pours out from the hang-on filter, bobbing around, nose up - looks like he's drinking! He doesn't look distressed and is also swimming around the rest of the tank as normal and eating fine. It's kind of funny but I'm new to angelfish so I don't know if there is anything wrong.

The tank is both live-planted along with some some fake floating plants for cover for my school of tetras, two tunnels for hiding (that the gouramis LOVE) and lots of free-swimming space above some driftwood in the centre.

Two days ago I added a long air stone across the back but the bubbles are very gentle and it didn't seem to be bothering anyone. The fish have certainly been more active since I added the bubbles and I only have them on for a portion of the day, not the whole time because the pump is quite loud.

I'm an experienced hobbyist but not with angels or gouramis and so I was hoping someone could advise me as to whether this is normal angel behaviour or something I should look into more.

I'm not very experienced but it seems like your fish died/was killed and then eaten. Maybe any parts that weren't consumed were sucked into the filter or 'absorbed' by plants (I've had fish disappear before and suspiciously after my java ferns got larger). I'm not sure why only one of your angelfish went missing but I'm sorry you had to deal with that.

 

I'm not very experienced but it seems like your fish died/was killed and then eaten. Maybe any parts that weren't consumed were sucked into the filter or 'absorbed' by plants (I've had fish disappear before and suspiciously after my java ferns got larger). I'm not sure why only one of your angelfish went missing but I'm sorry you had to deal with that.

Thank you. I'd say the dying/got eaten thing is the most likely scenario as they all seem to keep to themselves pretty much.

The gouramis are big - bigger than the angelfish in terms of body size, although the angelfish is taller obviously. They chase each other a bit (the gourami) but I've not seen any real aggression from them so far.

It's annoying because everything I read said that gourami are peaceful, and then suddenly I find out that they're actually not, really. Agggh.

What kind of gourami do you have? I would not keep Angels with goraimi they are both territorial top dwellers.
Could the angel fish have been eaten?, Yes, could it have died of somthing unrelated to the other fish in the tank and then been eaten?, Yes.
The behavior of your fish would bother me as i am paranoid about any odd behavior in my fish tank. I suggest you just keep an eye on it and dont worry until and unless other symptoms arise.

I have five dwarf gourami - the blue shimmery ones with the stripes. They all seem to be swimming around the whole tank, every column. Same with the angel. The gouramis very much enjoy the wide-mouthed pipes that I put in there for hiding spots - there is always one in one of them. The tetras group quite tightly - more than other tetras I've had - but they are not nervous around the gouramis or the angel.

And the angel doesn't seem to be bothered by the gouramis at all, even though they are all bigger than he is!

 

Thank you. I'd say the dying/got eaten thing is the most likely scenario as they all seem to keep to themselves pretty much.

The gouramis are big - bigger than the angelfish in terms of body size, although the angelfish is taller obviously. They chase each other a bit (the gourami) but I've not seen any real aggression from them so far.

It's annoying because everything I read said that gourami are peaceful, and then suddenly I find out that they're actually not, really. Agggh.

I have five dwarf gourami - the blue shimmery ones with the stripes. They all seem to be swimming around the whole tank, every column. Same with the angel. The gouramis very much enjoy the wide-mouthed pipes that I put in there for hiding spots - there is always one in one of them. The tetras group quite tightly - more than other tetras I've had - but they are not nervous around the gouramis or the angel.

And the angel doesn't seem to be bothered by the gouramis at all, even though they are all bigger than he is!

I have two female dwarf gouramis and they're very friendly towards each other and towards tetras about half their size. Maybe having both male and female causes some aggression, though if your other angelfish is doing well... I think it's unlikely that they killed the angelfish, I think it dies of other causes. I'd say wait and monitor the other angelfish closely and after a while if everything is going well, you should get another angelfish if you still want one. I don't think aggression should be a problem with the fish you have.

 

What other fish do you have?
I keep some gourami with angels, if my angels were smaller the gouramis wouldn't beat them up but they would zoom past them and the zooming around would stress the angels. The angels like to drift about and interact but they aren't fans of other fish dive bombing around them and can get spooked over and over causing stress.

In general, and they don't tell you this at the pet stores, juvenile angelfish are really sensitive. The breeder that raises them has to make adjustments from grow out to market to where they can adjust to average tank temp and water conditions and food that average buyers would have. Anyone breeding angelfish has been told to feed live baby brine shrimp and keep the temp high, and the nitrates really low. Temp and food for growth, low nitrates to try to avoid defects as the form to angels from fry.
If a breeder was in a hurry, and didn't adjust the fish for market (what most buyers would do and have) they can struggle with acclimation or food change and stress and shutdown and die.

It's strange that it's just gone though not something I'd expect from gourami or angels. Something I'd expect with catfish in the tank.

 

Did you check the floor thoroughly all around the tank and under everything nearby? Sometimes a fish being harassed can jump out of the tank attempting to get away.

 

I've never kept dwarf gourami, but in my reading it seems like more than one in a tank leads to mayhem.

 

Could the angel fish have been eaten?

I would say no, I have lost an angelfish twice, sadly, and both times, to my recollection, they were almost whole, because of their larger size with only other smaller fish. (And angels who have small mouths)

 

Angels aren't likely to jump out of a tank either they aren't shaped right to get much past the surface of the water. Even when I've seen them try to jump at something, it's pretty pathetic attempts.

 

How big is your fish and tank? I don't normally have fish the size of even a small angel fish die and then completely disappear before I notice it. The only time that's happened is with very small fish like Tetras, Guppies, and Danios. Some times it truly is a mystery and then a few days later, you move something and boom, there's the remaining parts of the fish.

Sorry to hear about the loss though. On a side note, I'm wondering how big your Dwarf gourami and tank are. DGs as they get older are notorious for now nasty they can be to each other.

 

How big is your fish and tank? I don't normally have fish the size of even a small angel fish die and then completely disappear before I notice it. The only time that's happened is with very small fish like Tetras, Guppies, and Danios. Some times it truly is a mystery and then a few days later, you move something and boom, there's the remaining parts of the fish.

Sorry to hear about the loss though. On a side note, I'm wondering how big your Dwarf gourami and tank are. DGs as they get older are notorious for now nasty they can be to each other.

I did not know this - I thought they were quite peaceful, schooling fish. That's why I bought five! The guy at the LFS didn't say anything to me either, and they're usually REALLY good. So I'm a bit nervous, actually.

As for their size, I have five and they are the same size as the angel at this stage. But the only fish they even seem aware of are each other - not the angel and not the tetras.

This is a bad photo because of reflection, light etc. But here is one of them compared to the angel. They've really grown since I got them and it was only a week ago. It's a 110L tank.

I can put the angel in my bigger, peaceful community tank if need be.