Snowflake > NomNom > Sixline?

Recently I've been going through an elevated level of nutrients causing some GHA to pop up. So, I've really cut back on feedings drastically and upped water changes. For almost two weeks I've fed only Nori. Snowflakes won't touch the stuff of course. I know I've been skating on the edge with this eel and its tankmates but today it seems the edge is no longer strong. Apparently the snowflake got hungry enough to somehow catch my lightning fast six line. I starred for an hour with no sign of the sixline. The eel's gut has a suspicious large lump and it is very sluggish. The eel is still small but they grow fast. I estimate it to be ~10" x 3/4".

Anyone have experience with this?

 

This is one of the reasons I don't believe in cutting feedings to battle algae issues. Maybe for a day or two, but your fish need to eat to stay alive and healthy, two weeks just seems too long.

I beat GHA while feeding at least a cube per day and running lights for a 10 hr photoperiod.




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sluggish? That doesn't match an eel that just had a tasty meal.

I too don't agree with cutting food to battle algae. Overfeeding is also not recommended, but underfeeding is also not desirable. I feed my tanks HARD and I don't have algae issues.... not even after years of doing it. Exportation is the key.

 

The underlying issue is that my tank is overstocked. And as a result its much more difficult to beat GHA with a skimmer thats the size of a pint glass. Thats why I'm oversizing the crap out of the skimmer for my 93 cube. But if the sixline got eaten its more righteously stocked now so... Funny the way that works.

Anywho, sluggish as in uninterested in anything. "I'm not hungry so I'm not gonna investigate your hand like I always do."

 

Please feed your tank inhabitants in the future. Over stocking with the resulting parameter problems and algae problems is preventable.

 

Cutting back on feeding to help with an algae battle is a very common practice in the hobby, and we all need to remember that what works for one tank most likely won't work for every tank.

I personally wouldn't blame the eel right away. Younger ones are more likely to go after inverts. It is the older ones that most often go after the fish. snowflake eels can go months without food if thy choose, and they regularly go for weeks without in the wild. They are an ambush predator that does not often leave its den, so has adapted to wait for food to come to it.

There are several other possibilities for the fate of your wrasse that seem far more likely to me:

1. Wrasses are very active and therefore need food on a regular bases. It could have starved depending on your feeding schedule. I also doubt this one.
2. Wrasses also like to hide out once in awhile. I wouldn't rule him out yet.
3. If you run open top and haven't checked the floor, this is the most likely outcome. Sizlines are known to go carpet surfing, and IMO this is probably the most common cause of death for them

 

Cutting back the feedings and feeding only nori is a huge difference. Basically you are just starving any livestock that requires proteins by way of meat products. And if you are running an overstocked system to begin with the end result will most likely not be a postive one.

 

Exacto mundo. I've been waiting for him to take out my Skunk or a few snails but instead go for the Ferrari?

Perhaps the idea of this thread started off target. Maybe I should have made the title "Fastest Fish Your Snowflake Has Ensnared?" I find this series of events to be quite comical and interesting rather than a problem that needs to be addressed; hence the NomNom part of the thread title. I was hoping he would take out my stupid Chromis who has the been the bane of this tank since day one. Call it irresponsible tankmanship if you will. I'm well aware of the potential downfalls of an overstocked system. Exactly why I'm building my future system so I can push that "overstocked" limit.

Going on 48 hours no sign of the sixline. But now the eel is back to normal thickness. I wouldn't think it could digest the whole fish in 24 hours. Hmm... I dug around under the tank a bit with no sign of a dried carcass. In order for it to get out it would first have to jump the back wall of the biocube and then out through the opening in the back of the canopy that "I've enlarged a bit. I had a goby make into the rear section once but never anything all the way out. The room to get speed up for that kind of manuver with the skimmer, heater, filter and various media is nill. The mystery remains.

 

while I was feeding my snowflake eel my clownfish went for the food at the same time the snowflake did. Clownfish got the food but the snowflake caught the clownfish and it was not a pretty sight. It was so fast and it went inbetween the rocks with the clownfish. No sign of the clownfish and I know the snowflake could not have swallowed the clown because it was to large. I picked up the rock were it initially went into and thieir was my clownfish lodged in a whole. It was extremely tough to pull it out. sad, sad day so I took snowflake to the LFS to find a new home........