Missing fishes

[apuppet]

Please excuse my ignorance, i am new to the hobby, and have only gotten my first tank about 2.5 months ago. its fully cycled, after alot of reading from this board.  I've even built my 90Gallon stand using instructions from this forum.  this place is a excellent resource.

my tank consist of fancy guppies and 4 female betta, 2 neon tetra, 3 caged males betta, 7 ottacats and 8 zebra danio (cycling fish), a clown loach.  as of late my fish have been disappearing.  i am uncertain where they disappear to, the wooden lid is tight (built using this forum), checked 404 filter, nothign there.   i'm down to 2 zebra's, and 3 ottacats, yestersday, my only male guppy had his fancy tail fins completely missing, today, a female guppy was dead and floating, with centre part of her tail fin missing.     the Only "New" addition was the clown loach, which is VERY lazy and does not seem to be eating the snail which i've purchased him for.

i dont know whats happening to my fishy, problem seems to happen in the middle of the night, and Since yesterday, i've finally see bodies otherwise. its completely missing.   there was fish scales while i was cleaning my tank. but whom would be eating my fishes? 

thanks in advance,

[darkdep]

First of all, welcome to the forum!  And don't apologize, this forum exists for everyone to learn and share experiences...there are no egos here.

I suspect as you do that something is eating your fish.  Have you tested your water recently to see if there is an environmental problem?  Many fish will eat others that are freshly dead if the opportunity arises.

[RoxyDog]

I'll put my money on one of the 4 female bettas...

[darkdep]

I thought female bettas were peaceful?

[mseguin]

I've seen females be more aggressive than males
And sometimes in bettas too :-P

[babblefish1960]

I've seen females be more aggressive than males
And sometimes in bettas too :-P

what he said.

[apuppet]

Wow, that might be true, my female betta a small but are very aggressive towards each other.  exspecailly the small blue butterfly type betta.  she is always busy chasing the baby guppy fries (?) as their being born.  always hiding and pouncing on them.   I just seems so unlikely that she would attack/kill/eat other fishes that are the similar sized as her. 

i do about 20-33% water change every week, and my water tests is zero,ph~7.5, and my nitrate around 2.5,  its prob low due to plants i purchased from ArtW, it never been higher then 2.5 nitrate.

I was hoping that it might be my crown loach from superpet being the killer,since its the largest fish i've in my tank.   , if betta are my problem, what should i need to do?

thanks!

[Quatro]

Welcome to the forum.  I don't know what is more fun...watching the fish tanks or watching the forum.   

You said that you have 3 caged male bettas in the tank.  This may make the females more aggressive as they try to claim breeding territory.  Usually, female bettas have horizontal lines across their bodies, these change to vertical lines when in breeding condition.  Are your females displaying their breeding stripes? 

Mike S

[squeeker]

Welcome to OVAS, apuppet!

I, too, would put money on the female bettas.  Bettas are aggressive, especially toward anything with long, colourful fins, like guppies.  As Quatro said, the presence of the males may also make them more aggressive.

Usually, female bettas have horizontal lines across their bodies,

Horizontal stripes are not normal female betta coloring.  When they are displaying their horizontal stripes, that means that they are stressed, either because of environment (food, temperature, water quality, etc.) or the presence of a dominant female or unwanted male attention.  Vertical stripes are signs of a willingness to breed, as you said.

[Laura]

I'm also voting for the betta.
You may want to check out loaches.com for info on your clown. They really do better with company and get big.
Welcome to the forum!

[Quatro]

Horizontal stripes are not normal female betta coloring.

Thanks Squeeker.  Good to know.  I always see them in the stores like that and thought it was normal. 

[Sarah Bella]

Thanks Squeeker.  Good to know.  I always see them in the stores like that and thought it was normal. 

When i see stripey females in the stores, more often than not, i attribute the stripes to the bright lights and clear water.  Their colour is more structural than from pigment so  the darker the environment is the better the light refracts off of the iridphores (reflectors) in their skin and the more vibrant they become.

light bodied (opaque, pastel, cambodian) females don't display horizontal or vertical stripes at all at any time.

[apuppet]

Thanks all for your input,

i've started caging the dominate female, whom does have a vertical strips.  hopefully the disappearances will stop.  all the other females betta are much smaller, hopefully i wouldnt have to cage them too. . ...

once again, Thanks!