Clownfish Vanished over night!

[animatedjing]

I have a 24 gallon Aquapod with about 15 pounds of LR. I have a few small corals zoos, hammer, xenia, nothing big yet. I had 2 clownfish, 6 sm blue legged hermits, cleaner shrimp, and a chalk bass. Everything has been great for about 2 months. But last night something happened to my clownfish. I remember last seeing my clownfish around 11 - midnight.
This morning, as I was walking out the door at 6 AM I noticed one of the clownfish were missing. I scanned the tank for a body but nothing. I checked the overflow/back filter- nothing. Even though the aquapod has a full cover, I looked under and around the stand- nothing. Later at 3 pm when I got home, I took out each and every piece of the LR. Still nothing. THe clowns were a little small, around 1 in -1.5 in.
I don't think it could be a mantis/pistol shrimp as I have never heard a popping noise. I dont exactly have a great clean crew. Do you think my clownfish could have died and gotten "cleaned up" within a few hours? It was healthy and eating well(captive bred). And I dont have tons of LR either. What could it be?
I really need an explanation~ I've put tons of effort into raising the tiny clowns they were, into what they are now. I didnt know how emotionally attached I was to the little buggers. . .

 

[stykthyn]

if those hermits and shrimp ganged up they could dispose of a body fairly quickly. I'm not saying that the fish did die, it may just be hiding in a crack. give it another day and see if it re-appears, but mysterious vanishings are part of they game, they do happen from time to time.

 

[animatedjing]

I just check agian, clown has not yet reappeared. Does anyone else have any ideas?!

 

[Questin]

Jumped out the back

 

[kamil5000]

Sorry to hear about your clown.

I had the same thing happen to a small anthia. If you don't see it within 48 hours of disapperance - its gone!!

IMO, bristleworms will clear up a dead carcas in no time. I saw them one night clean out a dying snail - it was gone in minutes.

 

[GROSSR]

Nature is cruel. It might have died and the clean up crew is...cleaning up.

I had an anemone eat a damsel, all I was found a perfect skeleton. I lost a cardinal and never saw it again.

If you want to move your rock work and look around, otherwise, sorry for your loss.

rich

 

[animatedjing]

Hum. . . really sucks. The thing is I dont think I even have bristleworms. I've had them before in different tanks but not in this one. Dang it, . . . Now im just worried that maybe I should remove my livestock. . . I wouldnt want another one to disappear.

 

[stykthyn]

I would view this as an isolated incident. I dont think anything else will happen to your fish. the clown most likely wedged itself into a rock and couldnt get out, or found a way to make it through a gap in the canopy.

 

[cuda6872]

did you look in the overflow/filter area? I found my clown goby in there once & just last week found my tiger serpent star in there.

 

[Ryanqk]

I had a 70 dollar powderpuff tang dissapear on me once, you bet your @ss i looked for it but to no avail. about a month later i noticed one of my small gobies was digging sand out from behind a rock and he turned up fish bones of about the right size. thats in only a 30gl tank.... such is life in the reef!

 

[animatedjing]

Wow. . . losing a powderpuff tang would suck. . . .. And yeah, I've already checked the overflow.