Removed pictus fish still going missing

Okay so I removed my pictus, got 4 gold pristilla tetras and today one is missing! I've about had it with getting new fish and trying to up my tetras into schools. Almost $20 of fish have disappeared! There are angels a sailing pleco, a featherfin catfish, and 2 bumblebee catfish. All other are tetras the same size. And the fish are going missing WHOLE. Not a trace of them. No bones nothing! Someone help figure out wtH is going on!

do you have tops on your tanks?

I would not rule out the other cats. They all will make a meal of something if they really want.

Yeah I do and I checked the floor to see if they jumped. Last time I bought 4 Glowlight tetras and ALL were gone like I had never even out them in the tank. The pictus was fat though so I could tell it was him. And not the first time he had done it. This time I removed him and one still went missing.

DMD123 wrote:I would not rule out the other cats. They all will make a meal of something if they really want.

Even when fed daily and the pristilla are about half the size of the bumblebees but the featherfin mouth seems too small to eat them whole? I never had any issues until this last month trying to introduce new tetras. Existing tetras have been fine for almost 2 years. It's not like they are different kinds of fish. They all look the same. Grr I'm so frustrated with it.

I have the same problem with my glow light tetras as well. Odd thing is the black neon tetra population I have in the same tank stays the same. But the glo lights.... diminished.... I blame my dwarf pikes . The glo lights are just a wee bit smaller than the black neons. Or, the predatory fish are attracted to the red in the glo lights?!

Anyway, I too have a bumble bee cat and almost never see it during feeding time since I've gotten these tetra. I always blamed my dwarf pike but guess I shouldn't rule out the bumble bee since I never see it eat and the pike always come out to eat.

As far as I know all cat fish are predatory. If they can shove it into their mouth they will eat it. By the size of the bumble bees mouth I would say it's possible. Perhaps choose a tetra a bit larger?

Pristellas are higher bodied though than glowlights/black neons. A cat that could barely fit one of those down shouldn't be able to take down the Pristellas without some obvious leftovers I would think. Unless the all the cats just cleaned up all the mess, but one of them would have to be big enough that you'd suspect it immediately to take one whole by itself.   

Yes, all cats are night timers, they are active at night which means they feed at night while the little ones sleep. I wouldnt have any type of large cat in with tetras. Pictus cats, yes, but thats it.

The pictus is without a doubt who has ate my platys and glow lights in the past. I wouldn't have another one due to this fact. My featherfin comes out and feeds on the flake and veggie sticks. My sailfin gets ken's 2 veggie wafers every Monday Wednesday and Friday. It is about 8". The bumblebee cats rarely come out and are very lazy but I see them eat flake too.

I've had small catfish before that would eat tetras..... They'd attack at night and slowly take chunks out of the small fish until they were gone....

Wow. So far knock on wood no more have disappeared.

I learned the hard way that Pleco's when they get large (4" or more) will have the tendency to get the glo-lights and other brighter colored tetras (in my case it was neons and cardinals), I don't know why but they leave black neons alone. In my experience pleco's are rarely known as a threat to tetras but I've learned that they are, so that could be your suspect as well.

I was wondering about that. I even looked at her and said it was you wasn't it. If only fish could talk, I bet she'd lie anyways! Lol

Yep, I love Pleco's but can't keep them with my schooling tetras for that reason. I compromised and got a clown pleco (they don't exceed 2.5" in size). I do miss my 2 foot marble horn though.

I feed her(assuming) 3 times a week 2 wafers each time and she eats flake food too is that not enough to sufficient? Anyone think I may need to feed her more

do you have any barbs in your tank? I have a school of green tiger barbs that will demolish anything that dies and leave no trace. I have small tetras disappear all the time over night, between the pleco my barbs and the angels there is nothing left in the morning.

Nope no barbs. Angelfish, zebra dario, giant dario, bumblebee catfish, featherfin, sailfin pleco, columbian tetras, glowlights, gold pristella, gold and black skirt tetras, and one zebra obliquiden.

Do you feed at night? I always drop in some sinking pellets after the lights go out so that my shy bottom feeders get to eat. Maybe your fish are hungry and just go after the small ones that are available. Then again adding the food may just make it worse and it just encourages them to eat the other fish. No good answer but might not hurt to try night feeding.

I usually feed about an hour or two before I go to bed and then lights out. When I feed veggie stick I do in the dark since the others get to it before the snails but the wafers go in when the flake goes in