# What is your best "hiding fish" story?



## BryceM (Nov 6, 2005)

I've had fish for over 20 years now and have certainly seen my share of "missing" fish that have made a seemingly miraculous comeback. Most often this is a loach or other bottom dweller that found a hiding spot for a while, but this week another fish really surprised me.

I set up a 8"x8"x8" nano about three months ago. The original inhabitants were 3 pearl celestial danios (galaxy rasboras). I had one male and two females in the tank. I was disappointed at the result since they were painfully shy and wouldn't even come out in the open at feeding time. In stark contrast, four others roam around my 46g tank on a continuous basis.

Eventually two of the fish disappeared, leaving a single female that I saw once in a while. I finally decided to net her out during a big trim and I returned her to the 46g tank with the others. Four new white clouds went in the nano and have been doing marvelously for the past 3 weeks.

Yesterday while feeding the white clouds I counted 5 fish!!! Needless to say, another female galaxy rasbora has made an appearance after 3 weeks in hiding. Galaxy rasboras are small fish, but this is a 2 gallon aquarium!!!!!! Where on earth could it hide? All four sides of the nano are exposed, leaving approximately zero hiding places. I'm starting to wonder if the male is in there somewhere too.


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## rrogan (Nov 7, 2007)

This isn't exactly a fish story, but a crayfish story. I had a 30 gallon with a few fish in it, and I had a 10 gallon next to it with a crayfish I caught in a local stream. I went away for the weekend, gave everyone food but I guess I forgot to cover the crayfish tank. So I got back, and the crayfish was missing. I started looking on the floor and couldn't find it anywhere. I gave up on it, but a few weeks later the water in my 30g started clouding A LOT. I decided to just empty it an clean it. I had these fairly big rocks in the bottom as substrate at the time. When I got down to the substrate there was an awful smell, and sure enough I found the crayfish dead in there. It must have crawled out of it's tank and into the 30 g but then died lol. I found it kind of amazing.


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## slickwillislim (Oct 11, 2005)

Well not exactly the same kind of story...

I took all the rocks out of my 60g tank and had them sitting on aplastic bag. Atleast two hours later after I had drained the tank, removed the substrate, and replaced it with new substrate in the tank, I found one small otto had lodged himself into a hole in the volcanic rock. I had to pull pretty hard to get him out. I dropped him in my 29g tank. He swam away but I haven't seen him since... 

I thought shaking out the rocks was good enough...


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## hoplo (May 14, 2007)

I'd guess everyone would have a Kuhli Loach episode by now.


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## BryceM (Nov 6, 2005)

Yeah. The last time you ever see them is the day you put them in the tank.


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

I had a 65 gal tank. I decided to upgrade and so netted all my fish and gave the tank to my son. In my old tank (65g) I had a white dojo loach which had disappeared months before. I thought he had just died and been consumed by my bottom feeders. My son lives an hour from me. When he got around to setting up the tank he found the white dojo in the corner filter of the tank, healthy as could be. Somehow he had gotten in there! He was at least 1/2 inch wide and 6 inches long. The corner filter was a built-in that had 1/8 inch slits! Still a mystery!


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## gotcheaprice (Sep 4, 2007)

Shrimp in my 55 comunity tank D: Put like 30 feeder shrimps in there. Had most of them survive for a week, and slow gone about a month later. Until I turn off the lights, they go cruising around the tank xD

And plecos.... Hid behind a turtle filter for about a month till I took it out to change filters, and it just jumped off... Sorta scared me xD


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## cs_gardener (Apr 28, 2006)

I decided it was time to thin a clump of java fern "Windelov" I have on a small piece of driftwood. I took it out giving it a few swishes to avoid getting a lot of floaters stuck in it. I had it out of the tank for about 30 seconds and was trimming away when "plop" a kuhli loach falls to the floor. I had a fun time capturing the little guy - boy can they wiggle and twist. I guess I now know at least one of the places they disappear to.


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## DanD5303 (Oct 12, 2004)

I had a large clump of java fern out on a table trying to tie it onto a chunk of wood, when a skunk loach popped out. It does make you jump. 

I think the kuhli loaches are a lot less shy when they are in a group. I've got seven of the black ones in a large, heavily planted tank in my classroom and they're out and about quite a bit. They don't really school, but they're always with at least one other loach, sometimes a group of two or three.


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## fishscale (Jul 25, 2007)

I had an oto in my old betta tank. When it disappeared, I assumed that it died and the snails got him. 5 months later, when the java moss was overgrown, I pull it out, and the oto shot out of the middle of the mass back into the tank.

I think the best story I've ever heard is the one about a guy who bought a bunch of cories and was missing one when he dumped them in the tank. 2 weeks later, he was cleaning the filter and found the bag the fish came in that he had left in the tank cabinet - with about an inch of water and that last cory. Would you believe that the cory was still alive, and was fine when he was put in the tank? Amazing.


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## SimplyOrange (Oct 5, 2007)

a yoyo loach hid in a hole just big enough for it to get it's entire body in and the hole was under the tree stump like drift wood. i took out the driftwoods and placed it on a plastic rubbermaid cover and siphoned the tank water out. next thing i know the yoyo was next to the stump in a small pool of water and it has been minutes.


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## Dryn (Sep 6, 2007)

I don't know but bumblebee catfish are the worse (sorry I don't know the sci. name). I bought one little 1/2" bee cat and put him in a sparsely planted ten gallon tank. I never saw him again. I figured he was a night fish, but never could find him at night. Several times I completely drained the tank and refurbished it. Four years later, I broke down the tank and low-and-behold a 5" bee cat came out of a small piece of driftwood. Aparently there was a crevase underneath the driftwood. He hid there during the times I had the tank broken down. (I put the wood in with the fish in a five gallon bucket).


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## BryceM (Nov 6, 2005)

A 5" fish hid in a 10g tank for four years? That beats my story.


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## Amazon_Replica (Nov 24, 2007)

He He I can't beat the bee either. I HAD Hornwort in my 125 as I have alot of shrimp in there, and they love to forage in it. But it was driving me insane, grows like psycho. So i grabbed the big bad clump out of there, approx 2-3 lbs. and roughly 20"x20". I checked it thoroughly for shrimp, and tossed it into my 55gal. Which only has a 14" Pleco in there. 

Long story short, about a week later I went to look at the pleco, and he was on his back, upside down under a rock, not moving. Not that they move alot in light, but he wasn't moving his mouth, in fact his mouth wasn't suctioned to the rock. I was like oh no, the hornwort killed my pleco, and I was on my knees staring at the pleco, and a skirt tetra swims past and im like wtf, i had skirt tetras in the 125 like a year ago and thought they had all died, ( i got suckered into buying a bichir, yea they're friendly).

The pleco isn't dead just lazy and now has a little friend. I will have to get a few more skirts now for his company but i thought that was cool.


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## Adragontattoo (Jun 3, 2007)

At Aquafest2007 I picked up a pair of Montezuma Swordtails among some other fish.

Both went into the 55 holding tank until I decide where they shall live permanently. 2 weeks ago on a Sunday I decided the 55 had been uprooted enough by the angry syno. and culled a bunch of the various Val I had in the tank.

All of that went into a fishbag which I had laying on the floor.

Flash forward 5 days, I laid down to watch the 55 for a bit while I was waiting for to something to happen (forgotten what by now). As I am watching the tank I am mentally ticking off the various fish in the 55 and their conditions.

Both salmon reds check
Single Male Boesmani check
3 no 4 of the baby ancistrus check
paradise fish looking mad check
both flagfish check
female montezuma check
large syno making a pit underneath all the val, *grumble* check
30 mins later hmm no male montezuma....
1 hr later hmm STILL no male montezuma...
start shifting val around to try to spook the male into the open, 30 mins go by STILL no male shows up.

OH CRAP, did I scoop him when I pruned and is he in the bag o plants on the floor?????

Dump bag in 55 assuming I will pull his corpse out of the bag and out comes a slowly swimming, skinny montezuma..

WTF! As of last night the Male is still alive and makes sure to show up when I am around but has become very skittish otherwise.

OR

When I first started keeping fish about 20 years ago I had a 10 gallon tank and for awhile I paid very close attention to everything I could about the tank (I changed the water, I turned the light on and off, I fed the fish etc).

After a few weeks I got off on another "hobby" and forgot about the fish. A few weeks later I remember "OH CRAP THE FISH!" and proceed to run downstairs to be sure I will be cleaning out a foul smelling tank of dead fish.

Lo and behold, the fish had not only lived but had also bred like crazy (danios, and a raphael)..
WOW I bred fish somehow! A water change later, the tank was back to being full and the front glass didnt look like a green mat anymore (yeah I left the desk lamp on for like a month straight).

1 week later the heater failed and put the tank at 100F for a day, cooking everything but the raphael.

Flash forward about 10 years, same raphael in a 55. I pulled out the plastic hollow rock thing to rearrange the tank and do a thorough water change. After carefully inspecting the hollow rock thing(this hollow rock thing was awesome, it was plastic, with little fake plastic plants, and the entire thing was shaped like a cross between a castle, a log and a pile of poo) to ensure that nothing was taking a snooze inside it I pulled it totally out of the tank and proceeded to do a thorough cleaning of the entire tank. 

About 2 hours later as I am watching TV I hear a faint croaking noise coming from the fish tank area. After being confused for a few minutes, I went over to inspect the area and notice that I forgot to toss the rock thing back in the tank. After staring at the now croaking plastic rock thing, I decided to toss it back in the tank since some of the fish loved to hide in/around it. Almost as soon as it hit the water, out swims a very angry and slightly irritated Raphael.. That fish would probably still be alive if it wasnt for the 3lbs of pellets that got poured into the tank by my ex fiancees parents when they thought the fish looked HUNGRY.


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## rs79 (Dec 7, 2004)

Killies are sometimes the ultimate hiders. You take the out of a tank, leave it empty for a while then a few weks later fish appear. Huh?


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## toxic69 (Nov 7, 2007)

i had a 6 inch clown loach squeeze itself into a tiny hole in a peace of fake drift wood i thort it had jumped out the tank or died or something it wasnt untill i decided to move stuff around one water change that i saw its tail sticking out the hole i managed to get it out thinking it would probably be dead as it had bin missing for a few weeks but it was fine just a bit thinner than befor lol


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## Prodigal Son (Nov 30, 2007)

I was moving from one apartment to another and upgraded from a 55 to my 100. I was keeping african cichlids back then, and took all the lace rock out to transfer it. I piled it all in the sink while I was netting out fish to transport them to thier new home. A few hours later I had all the fish moved, the 55 cleaned, and I started moving the lace rock. At the very end, I looked in the drain and saw a 3" marble pleco, which was apparently suctioned onto the rock. I figured it was surely dead after so many hours, so I went to pick it up. I nearly jumped out of my skin when it chirped and started thrashing! The story repeated when I sold the cichlids and most of the lace rock. Turns out the cichlids' new owner has that pleco now because he repeated his hitch hiking habbit.

Then there's catfish, I never know if my bumblebee cat is still around. I haven't seen him in months. There's a baby ripsaw cat in the tank too that finally made his fisrt appearance today after two weeks. I had heard they were voracious eaters, so I was a little concerned at having not seen him. Then of course there's the nano reef. I haven't seen the baby hermit in months, and the neon goby makes a weekly appearance.


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## apistaeasy (Jul 16, 2004)

I have around 40 fish in a 13" cube. Any time you approach the tank all 40 of them hide so well that you can't see any of them! I've been asked on more than one occasion "Why don't you have fish in the tank?"


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## OldMan (Sep 22, 2007)

My best missing fish story comes from when my children were quite young. I came home from work one day to find one of my guppies missing. When I questioned the kids they finally told me a story about finding a dead guppy in the tank. They had staged a funeral and buried the guppy in a jar in the garden. It was late fall so I was sure that even if the fish had started alive, it had to be dead by then. I didn't want to be digging in the garden next spring and break the glass jar so I had them show me where it was buried. I dug it up from about a 4 inch deep hole that barely covered the jar and looked inside the jar to see a very alive guppy that had been outdoors at less than 50 degrees for most of the day. It was swimming around in the inch or so of water they had put in the jar. I returned him to the aquarium and my miracle guppy, back from the dead, lived on for at least another year.


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## copperleaf (Oct 1, 2006)

Ok so I didn't see this myself but my brother and my friend were sittin around watchin tv and my 90 gl tank was right beside it. I had to go away for the weekend so when I got back they forgot to tell me what happened.
It wasn't until our thursday night poker night with the guys they remembered the loach story. I can't remember what kind of loach it was but it was long and skinny enough to slip between the ehiem intake grill. They told a funny story of a 'worm' checkin out the intake and 'slurp' up it went.
So I figured the poor thing was gone to davey jones' locker as it were. The next weekend I decided to clean out the canister and my little loach friend was as happy as a clam livin at the bottom of the canister. I put him back in the tank and never seen him since.


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## Homer_Simpson (Apr 2, 2007)

When my 20 gallon tank leaked, I was forced to set up a planted 10 gallon tank and transfer all the fish in the 10 gallon and the tank was severely overstocked. One of the fish was a Bristlenose Pleco. To avoid water quality problems I was feeding the fish very minimally and for almost 1 month after the transfer, the Bristlenose Pleco went missing. I didn't even notice him at night when the lights were off. Well, given that the tank was overstocked and there was minimal food and no algae to sustain the Bristlenose Pleco, I thought it was dead for sure. I started scouring the tank searching for his dead carcass and low and behold he shoots out from underneath some driftwood. He still hides a lot and quite honestly I don't know how he manages to survive. None of my plants show pleco induced damage, so I know he is not feeding off those. Anyway, after that scare, I make sure to place a piece of zucchini in the tank every other day to make sure he does not starve.


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