Will Endlers eat a dead endler?

HI all, I woke this morning to a bit of a disaster in my aquarium. So far, only 5 very happy Endlers are accounted for, with a female missing and one dead shrimp on the aquarium floor, which was being munched on by another. Now, my aquarium is occupied by two male, two female and a female-turned-male young Endler, and about eight Blue Cherry Shrimp. I've tried gently moving the (artificial) plants, nothing, not even a dead fish floating up. The Endlers seemed very pleased to see me and were right there with their normal "we want more food" behaviour, but they're being cut back as the shrimp very clearly aren't coping with their twice a day feeds. I saw something orange and noodly float across the tank which I suspect may have been an intestine, but I find it hard to believe they would have abolished the remains of one Endler between five fish and eight shrimp in the space of about 6 hours. The nitrates are also a little bit high at 20ppm, so I'm going to resolve that as soon as I've finished my rather late lunch.

Any thoughts?

Thanks all,

Helen

 

My biggest guest is the shrimps ate the dead endler. Usually, fish will pick at the dead body but won't entirely devour it.

 

AlsCritters is 6 hours? It must have been overnight if they did. I know they're scavengers but they must have indulged to clean up that fast!

 

My biggest guest is the shrimps ate the dead endler. Usually, fish will pick at the dead body but won't entirely devour it.

Yup, they may have not eaten it entirely. Some may have made its way into the filter and some may be in substrate. It’s not uncommon for fish to disappear

 

Sounds like a water issue to me. Did you acclimate the shrimp and endlers? What are your water parameters? pH? Ammonia? Nitrites?

 

Sprinkle yes they've all been fine for 2-3 weeks now. Checked all parameters all okay, pH 7, Ammonia 0, nitrates 20. nitrites 0.

 

Sprinkle yes they've all been fine for 2-3 weeks now. Checked all parameters all okay, pH 7, Ammonia 0, nitrates 20. nitrites 0.

Okay, then I think they have been so stressed, I suppose.

 

It´s quite normal that fish will pick a bit at dead fish. That goes for endlers as well.

 

It's very possible for it to have been eaten so quickly. Also, a small fish, such as an endler, can decompose surprisingly fast.

 

Thanks all. I think it was the smallest of the three females as the other two seem quite porky. They're definitely all only getting one feed per day now though, possibly even less.

I did just see a BCS poop and a female Endler eat it without any hesitation while I was doing a water change on the tank. Ahh yes, nature is beautiful sometimes

 

AlsCritters is 6 hours? It must have been overnight if they did. I know they're scavengers but they must have indulged to clean up that fast!

Endlers are pretty small if it was like a guppy probably not. But also did you check your filter?

 

AlsCritters yes nothing there, completely vanished