my fish keep disappearing...

[eth_ng]

at home i have a fish pond, very well sheltered and we used to have about [at least] 20 neon tetras. now whenever we go to feed them, you only see about 8 or 9? sometimes at night the neighbourhood cat comes in, do you think he eats them???

[Birddude]

YEP!1 a midnight snack he needs!!! try to put a fence or hot wire around the pond to stop the cat!

[emroul]

Do you think maybe the tetra's eat eachother if they get hungry enough?

I don't know anything about tetra's except that I think they are part of the betta family, and betta's eat eachother.

[Squawksx3]

I didnt know you could put tetra's in a pond?. Birds are also guilty of snacking on pond fish :). I have a tetra in my aquarium, used to have a few more but hubby decided he wanted to add a few more fish and they introduced a disease to the tank... could only save one :(. You have to be really careful when buying fish, they are easily diseased when stressed. How long ago did you put them in the pond eth_ng?.

[eth_ng]

i put them in the pond quite a long time ago. my dad also thinks the birds eat the tetras. we are going to move them into an indoor tank soon.

[LeQutis]

Sorry, I just had to intervine. I am a fish keeper myself.


Emroul:
I don't know anything about tetra's except that I think they are part of the betta family, and betta's eat eachother

I'm sorry, but tetras are not of the betta family. For 1, bettas can breath air because they have a basic lung. 2, tetras swim in schools where as betta must be single. 3, tetras are of the Characinidae family. Bettas are of the anabantid family. For more info on fish, go to Aquaria Central (www.aquariacentral.com) . Or FishBase (www.fishbase.org) .

Sorry, I had to clear this up.

As far as tetra disappearance, I would have to agree with the cat being a problem. Tetras can be used as pond fish, just as long as the pond temp stays in the 70 deg. F all the time. They are tropical fish and need tropical temps.

[eth_ng]

ok 70 deg F is how many deg C?

[emroul]

Sorry about the mix up!!! Goes to show how much the aquatic department knows at Petsmart... :( That's who told me that info.

Jennifer

[Amanda]

Welcome to the board, eth_ng! I don't know much about fishes so I can't advise you in that area ... but 70 degrees Fahrenheit is 21 degrees Celsius.

[LeQutis]

A good temp range for these fish are 22 degr. C and 26 degr. C (72 to 79 degr. F). just an FYI, tetra are related to pirahnna's, just don't exhibit the same fish killing tendencies as the pirahnna's.

Ciao!

[eth_ng]

Can the fish die if it's too hot?

[Squawksx3]

Yes, they can die if the water gets to hot. As LeQutis pointed out... the water should stay a stable 22 degr. C and 26 degr. C (72 to 79 degr. F).... give or take a few degrees :)

[LeQutis]

Emroul:

Sorry about the mix up!!! Goes to show how much the aquatic department knows at Petsmart... That's who told me that info.

That's ok, but let me warn you, PetSmart knows nothing about anything. They are just there to make $$$. I have learned this the hardway when it comes to buying anything from them. If you are into fish keeping, your best bet would be to do research via the internet or buy some fish books. Try to seek advice from one the local mom & pop owned fish stores.

[eth_ng]

not all pet shops are like that.

[dethfire]

fish are usually quite sensitive to water. i bet it's that cat though! make a little fence or something

[dethfire]

nooooooooooo, my big goldfish jumped out and committed suicide sometime during the night, we've had her for almost 5 years :(

[krazy4birds]

Ohhhhhhh I'm soo soo sorry! We lost our betta this past summer we left for vacation and he was tended to while we were gone but when we got home he was dead..:( ...We had him about a year and a half.
Bless his lttle heart......had he ever jumped out before?????:(

[eth_ng]

sometimes when it rains the pond floods over and the fish flow out too, but most of the time we're able to get them back in still alive. the worst part was when we bought new tetras to replace the old ones and my father didn't see that he had left one in the plastic bag.

[remspark]

yeah even the "Mom & Pop" owned pet stores need cash, and they run out of space very fast, that's probably why when I bought a hamster at a family owned petstore up the road I've visited since I can remember, it was pregnant. They already had too many in one cage. But I was more than happy to give a home to all the babies :)
This is so completely off topic, but what I said reminded me...Can a convenience store get in trouble for selling chex mix that has been expired for 6 months?

-Jamie:)

[danno]

My turtles munched on my neon tetras till i rescued them. I see them with their heads poking out of the water looking like butter wouldnt melt in their mouths. lol

[eth_ng]

lol man, i've never heard of turtles eating tetras.

[danno]

Oh they love they love tetras, infact any fish small enough to get in their mouths! lol Probably because they are so bright they make an easy target [very noticable], Ive had some drab colorless little gudgeons in with them for a fewmonths that have managed to esc ape becoming dinner, either very smart or unobtrusive fish! :)

[ladyang]

I would have to agree, my mom's friend from church had a problem with the ones sheput in her pond a few years back and she finally decided to put a camcorder in her backyard to see if anything else was getting into thepond, sure enough it was a cat. Put up a fence around it or u can plant marigolds and geraniums around the pond as cats will stay away from those particular plants. I use those plants around my lizard's summertime house i have in the front yard, keeps the cats away and the smell that they leave behind from the pee

[eth_ng]

ok thx for the tip. sorry i haven't been around a lot these few months, guys, but i'm really trying to concentrate on my studies this year. i will definitely be on in the first few weeks of march, the whole of june, first few weeks of september and the whole of december. bye for now.

[catman1]

Forget the cats and birds.If your fish is disappearing it because theres something wrong with the water or there hiding in the habitat if you have any.Water temperature will kill them to.
Lou

[eth_ng]

really...