Fish disappearance...?

[PhantomCavie]

Hey everyone! I'm a bit new here. I've been keeping my nano reef in an 8 gal for the past 3 months (with a lid). Despite a few hiccups in the beginning I haven't had many issues (knock on wood). However, something peculiar has happened that I'm not really sure how to explain, I'm hoping someone else has experience in this matter as well.

Approximately 3 weeks ago I bought a blue neon goby to add to the tank. The only other livestock in there is a 1" snowflake ocellaris, besides some frags and the odd snail here of there. For the first week everything was going fine, but then inexplicably, the blue neon disappeared! I've read many a time of these buggers going carpet surfing so I scoured the area around my tank, to no avail... I haven't seen him/her, in roughly 2 weeks (not even at feeding time!) and there aren't too many places for it to hide... So did I miss something? Is this little fish an incredible hider?

Let me know what you think!

Thanks!

 

[Betta132]

Have you checked in the filter area?
Could be it died and was eaten. Those guys are teeny!

 

[PhantomCavie]

I have :/ it's just a hang on back filter there is no sign of him. I only have 3 snails in the tank so I wouldn't think they could've cleaned it up in the 7 hours I was asleep the day he went missing...

 

[FinzAquatics]

I think you would be surprised how quickly a couple snails and hermits could eliminate a small fish like a neon goby if it died..

 

[Betta132]

If it's been gone for two weeks, it most likely died. It may have been eaten, or it could be wedged in the back somewhere.

 

[Stevenliu9]

+1 for the demise. neon gobies are extremely active and they don't hide if they are around. I have a pair, and they are constantly swimming around as long as the lights are on- http://thewetandwild.blogspot.com/2014/10/20141012-neon-goby.html. like Betta 132 said, they do get sucked in by overflow/filters a lot though.