# Disappeared into thin air



## Bikeridinguckgirl14

Sigfried did. Now I'm kind of at the end of my rope with high-quality bettas. The bed was my first betta and he got sick and passed. Arcnologia's death was a complete fluke, he didn't like travelling and I understand a 5-hour car trip in December is a lot. Mesmer was chronically sick, I don't even know how much money I put into keeping him alive and well. Now he is old and chronically lethargic, always on the verge of death one day and living the next.
Now two weeks after moving Sigfried has disappeared into thin air. He isn't in the tank, in the filter or light, in the furniture, on the furniture, on the floor, I mean that room is still pretty barren, so unless he was kidnapped... I'm not even angry or sad is the worst part, just kind of like "well that happened... Dammit" because I'm so used to losing healthy fish out of the blue, whereas my sickly fish is immortal. I may or may not get another to replace him, I'm not sure. I'll probably just give Mesmer the whole tank. _sigh_


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## KeshiaB

Oh, how awful!

Did you empty out the whole tank and check everything? Or maybe look under furniture too - I've found a couple of my RC shrimp underneath furniture before :-/

Tanks always need covers!


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## Greenapp1es

When my girl disappeared a month ago, I checked the filter. I checked it again, and again, and again. After freaking out for a day and giving a frantic clean of my room, I found her....in the filter. The first few times I looked she was in a part of it that the light didn't hit easily and I didn't see her until she surfaced.

Good luck in finding your buddy. Any loss is hard, but when you're finding yourself wondering if alien abduction is actually possible, it's especially hard.


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## BettaSplendid

*HOW* do they get into the filter?! I keep reading about this happening- frightening!


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## Lilypad

I lost an angel fish that way once years ago. To this day, I have no idea what happened to that fish.


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## Bikeridinguckgirl14

My tank had an acrylic lid! It has a 2" feeding hole and a 1" hole for the heater wire and filter tubes. 
It's a sponge filter, and I didn't break down the whole tank because it's a divided tank but we did take out the filter and most of the plants/gravel looking for him. Went under the furniture, nothing.
Every non-betta-obsessed friend's first response was "did the other fish eat him?" And I gotta be like no, my small sickly purple fish didn't eat my dark blue half moon who was almost twice his size. 
It's unnerving wondering where the body is, but my mom supposedly lost an albino dwarf frog in her first apartment, same thing, never found it. So thanks for passing down the tradition mom. *sigh*


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## Bikeridinguckgirl14

And here is the tank


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## kittenfish

Do you have cats or dogs?

That would be quite a jump though.


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## Bikeridinguckgirl14

I have guinea pigs in the other room, that's it. You can see the hole he would have had to go through, but either he jumped and disappeared or someone broke into my apt. And stole him... There were water droplets on the dresser they're on, but no "trail"


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## Watermelons

Sounds like hes jumped out then. Which is a lot easier for them then we actually think. Once their out of water they are incredibly hard to find, all fins and everything kind of stuck on themselves giving them the illusion that their no bigger then a French fry (the size of a clamped up fish with no fins), and they will be dark, likely blending in with furniture they you've likely passed over. It can be very easy to pass by a fish that's jumped from the tank with out noticing. 
Grab some super bright flash lights and keep looking.
But this was last night so he has likely passed away by now if he did jump. You may still yet find a body.


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## Bikeridinguckgirl14

It was the night before last. We were using our led Comcast flashlight (thanks Comcast) but unless he burrowed into the shallow carpet... We did a pretty intensive 2 hour 3 person search.  (well 2.5, I wasn't doing so well mentally at the time)

We're gonna move stuff around in that room sometime this week, maybe we'll find him then


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## BettaSplendid

I am so sorry.  That is amazing he was able to jump out...you wouldn't think so with the low water level and cover.

 (((hugs)))


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## savagebeautymnl

Sorry to hear about your bad luck, and that Sigfried's gone. :s Hope you solve the mystery, at least.


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## aquahome44

I lost my girl Addison from a sorority about a month ago. Ripped the entire tank apart and spent 10 hours sifting the gravel. Inspected every plant on a towel. The room only has a wood floor and the buffet cabinet which holds the tank (changing furniture around and the room was empty). I used a trouble light (the kind of flashlight on a long cord with a steel cage around it, like a plumber would use), and searched the entire room for a month now. Unless the other girls ate her she simply evaporated into thin air. When she vanished I had seen her an hour before. I can't believe in that one hour they would have killed her and eaten every remnant including her bones? Betta girl mouths are so small. I am still stupefied. None of the other fish looked bloated or acted like they'd just committed a murder. I am so sorry to hear of your loss. You aren't alone.


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## KeshiaB

Such a mystery... Sorry for your loss :-(


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## SplashyBetta

Do you have a shag carpet by any chance? Once when Java jumped out of his tank I was looking and looking and finally (just in time) found him clamped and shriveled tucked in the shag carpet. I actually had to lay on the floor to see him there!


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## Isabella15

I'm really sorry about your fish. That really sucks. I can't believe he managed to jump that high. my fish can barely make it 2 centimeters.


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## Bikeridinguckgirl14

No, it is a carpet but not shag, and yes it might be aliens


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## indjo

Sorry for your loss.

Yes it happens. A couple of decades ago, I had my share of vanishing bettas (not at once). Their tanks and jars were totally covered. 2 of which were already dead - I thought I would clean it after work. But I couldn't find the bodies when I returned. The others were healthy and very much alive. . . I still can't explain what (probably) happened. . . . so, yeah, aliens might have taken them.


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## KeshiaB

I know it sounds awful but if the betta was dead or had jumped out of the tank, it's possible some kind of rodent got hold of the body. A rat or mouse can fit anywhere that their head can fit and they live in all types of homes (doesn't matter if it's a house, apartment, super clean and supposedly sealed, they can find ways).


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## Bikeridinguckgirl14

He was underneath the sponge filter. Alive. I'm kinda in shock. The sponge filter is a triangular plastic housing filled with lava rock and java moss. It weighs about a pound. And he was under it. There's no hole leading under it or anything. He would have had to dig under the gravel to get under there. Plus it's surrounded by big chunks of lava rock and mesh and the divider. I have no clue how he could have gotten under it, but I was stacking books on a shelf and the shelf fell and pulled the air supply cords to the filter with it, and the filters came up, and he swam to the top for food. Now I BURIED the filters in gravel when I put the tank together. And I know he wasn't just behind the filter because you can see in through the back of the tank. And he is a little beat up and he marbled on me... I'm so confused...


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## Watermelons

Poor dude! but hurrohhH!!!
Keep the water clean and his life stress free for a bit and he should bounce back.


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## Bikeridinguckgirl14

This is the sponge filter, I to got moved away from the corner when the cord was pulled


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## KeshiaB

Oh wow that's insane! Poor guy looks like he's come out of some sort of bender!! 

So glad he's alive and I hope he recovers!


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## Tree

oh god what a relief. I was watching this thread and was crossing my fingers for him. It worked! How did he get his air?! =O


It was Aliens.... gotta be the aliens. They took him away for a long time for him to change Marble. LOL Just kidding. XD


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## kittenfish

I guess the aliens were done probing him...


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## Tree

kittenfish said:


> I guess the aliens were done probing him...



haha! Well Maybe he is that special betta that they want to breed Fish aliens and sell them on alienbid. LOL


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## wanderer7

The sponge filter, ironically, probably saved his life. Without the air running through it there might not have been enough oxygen in the water for him to survive on gill breathing alone all the time he was stuck under there.


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## Tree

Thank you sweet Filter!


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## BettaSplendid

Bikeridinguckgirl14 said:


> He was underneath the sponge filter. Alive. I'm kinda in shock. The sponge filter is a triangular plastic housing filled with lava rock and java moss. It weighs about a pound. And he was under it. There's no hole leading under it or anything. He would have had to dig under the gravel to get under there. Plus it's surrounded by big chunks of lava rock and mesh and the divider. I have no clue how he could have gotten under it, but I was stacking books on a shelf and the shelf fell and pulled the air supply cords to the filter with it, and the filters came up, and he swam to the top for food. Now I BURIED the filters in gravel when I put the tank together. And I know he wasn't just behind the filter because you can see in through the back of the tank. And he is a little beat up and he marbled on me... I'm so confused...



Oh my goodness! What are the chances of the shelf falling and releasing a trapped betta!? I am so happy that this thread has a happy ending. Poor baby. Was he "abducted" for 5 days? And then "they" just stuff him under the filter when they're done testing and sampling? Some kinda weird alien SOP.


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## SplashyBetta

That is amazing! He does look a little scraggly, but I'm just glad you found him.


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## Bikeridinguckgirl14

Lol maybe, but it's definitely a million to one chance that he's alive and well. He didn't have access to food or air under the filter, plus it was vibrating so he has some little scratches on his face and body. He was kind enough to show me how he got there, by swimming vertically down the back corner of the tank. And wriggling under it. I'm leaving it pulled away from the wall so he won't get caught again. Thank you everyone for the support


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## BettaSplendid

He went back there again with you watching?! Lil' twerp!  at least now you know...


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## Innerbeauty

BettaSplendid said:


> He went back there again with you watching?! Lil' twerp!  at least now you know...


Lil twerp, indeed! 
"A heart attack you almost gave me!" - Sid, Ice Age 3 (I think it was 3...:roll:.)


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## wanderer7

If you know he enjoys wriggling back there, you could get a couple of airline suction cup clips and use them to hold the filter at mid-tank level, above the gravel.


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## Bikeridinguckgirl14

I might, I was just thinking of making it a base so he can go under it as he pleases. Brat fish.


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## wanderer7

Lol watch him completely lose interest now that he no longer has to dig and wriggle his way down there.


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## scarfsquirrel

I had a beautiful healthy elephant ear Betta yesterday and today she was completely gone. I checked every corner in my room and every corner in my tank and nothing, I took apart the filter and cleaned the decor and there was no trace, I don't even have snails. The only possibility is she slithered up a plant to escape the tank through a tiny hole and dried up in my potted plants appearing like the soil. It is a 3 gallon tank, she was very happy and healthy. Life goes on, sometimes you just have to deal with this when owning betta fish. They can be finicky little fish, very prone to fin rot, velvet, etc, even the ones in a 10 gallon tank all to themselves. I will never stop trying to keep betta fish. I love them too much.


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## 316610

Bikeridinguckgirl14 said:


> No, it is a carpet but not shag, and yes it might be aliens


Trust me it is ailens.


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## Rainbo

Closed per Betta Fish rules.

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