Rainbow Shark has disappeared into thin air

[Hanzla Khan]

Hey Fishlore! So today I ran into a really weird situation. So, around 10 days ago I bought a rainbow shark and a butterfly pleco from my LFS and I housed them a quarantine tank. Everything was going all well until this morning. Last night I fed both and went to sleep. When I woke up today and went to feed them, the filter was off, which was quite strange. I thought that something happened so I tinkered around with the filter but it didn't turn on. So, I was like well I'll have to cut the quarantine by a few days and add them into my main tank. However, when I looked into my tank, the shark was missing! I moved the decoration, looked around, but couldn't find it. Then it clicked in my head that maybe it jumped into the filter, hence the filter being off. However, that wasn't the case either. I then panicked and started looking around the area for it. Sadly, I looked around the area and half of the house for more than an hour, but had no luck In my many years of fish-keeping, this is the first time a fish has ever went missing. My fish have jumped before, but have never gone missing. It has now been many hours since I haven't seen it so it is most likely KO'd

 

[!poogs!]

Cat?

 

[Hanzla Khan]

Cat?

Nope...I don't have any other pets, just fish.

 

[BusterBot28]

So you checked the filter right? If so did the pleco eat it? It might have died and then the pleco got rid of the evidence. My pleco used to eat my Cory cats so he had to be rehomed.

 

[Hanzla Khan]

So you checked the filter right? If so did the pleco eat it? It might have died and then the pleco got rid of the evidence. My pleco used to eat my Cory cats so he had to be rehomed.

I also thought that maybe the pleco ate it, but the pleco is only ~2", and I'd say that there were probably 6-7 hours between me going to sleep and checking on them in the morning. So I highly doubt that a 2" pleco can devour a 3" shark in 6-7 hours.

 

[RomanNoodles96]

Maybe it got sucked up into the intake of the filter? But then again you said you checked the filter so I have no clue.

 

[Hanzla Khan]

Maybe it got sucked up into the intake of the filter? But then again you said you checked the filter so I have no clue.

Yea I checked the whole filter and even the intake but it was nowhere to be found...and I still haven't found it yet, so I'm completely clueless at this point.

 

[CaptainSupport]

Rainbow sharks are known to jump. When I have my shark in a bucket (for transportation) sometimes he will jump onto the carpet and I have to put him back in. This year I lost a celebes rainbowfish (also jumpers) when I forgot to put on a back-end lid before bed and have no idea where it ended up. No smells or anything, just gone. No idea where the fish go.

 

[Hanzla Khan]

Rainbow sharks are known to jump. When I have my shark in a bucket (for transportation) sometimes he will jump onto the carpet and I have to put him back in. This year I lost a celebes rainbowfish (also jumpers) when I forgot to put on a back-end lid before bed and have no idea where it ended up. No smells or anything, just gone. No idea where the fish go.

I am in the exact same situation. The Shark most likely jumped from the empty filter space and flopped away to a place where I haven't been able to find it. It's been a week now, but still no smell, trace, or hints of the fish.

 

[veggieshark]

The filter stopping is too much of a coincidence. Must have something to do with it.

 

[Hanzla Khan]

The filter stopping is too much of a coincidence. Must have something to do with it.

Agreed. That was also the first thing that clicked in my head. I thought "hmm the fish is missing and the filter is off, so something must've happened between the fish and the filter". But the fish was neither in the filter space or the intake, and I highly doubt that a filter could shred a fish out of existence.

 

[MapleNeil]

Have you seen Sharknado? It might be something like that