# Missing Betta



## kimt (Mar 5, 2013)

I went to feed the bettas this morning and my giant betta is missing. I have searched all around his tank and no sign of him. I'm guessing my cat got him. She was a rescue from a night market in Thailand and she is much scrappier than your average cat. I had caught her numerous times on top of the tank but he would always swim to the bottom where she couldn't get to him. I'm sad, I was quite fond of him. He was a gift from my husband and son for Mother's day. He was an unusual color for a giant. Pale pink with red fins and blue eyes.


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## tigerhappy26 (Jul 14, 2013)

I'm sorry to hear that.Do you have a lid on your tank?If not it could have maybe jumped out.


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## kimt (Mar 5, 2013)

I do have a lid. There is a small exposed area in the back for the filter. He may have jumped out. If he did, she got him because he is nowhere to be found. I have even moved out the hutch to look behind it. I am in the process of moving another betta into that tank since it is a 10 gallon and I will tear down the 3 gallon one he is in now. I will switch hoods with my other 10 gallon. It was a 10 gallon kit from petco and it had a flat hood. My other 10 gallon is on the counter and there isn't enough room for my cat to get on top of it now. While she can still get on top of it with the other hood, there is no exposed area she can get to now on the other hood.


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## Briz (Mar 22, 2013)

Have you checked inside the filter?

I have found my most crafty boy inside a Whisper 10i filter twice! After that, moved him to a compartment in my divided tank without a filter. -_-


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## Moonshine357 (Jul 18, 2013)

I'm so sorry for your loss.


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## Riverotter (May 15, 2013)

Definitely look inside the filter, and also inside all decorations.
I have had many cats, and many fish, for many years, and only had _one_ incident of a cat swiping a fish out of a tank. It was actually a bowl and he could reach in from everywhere on the top and see all around the top and went a bit nuts. 
Even so, that was when he was a kitten. he's 7 now and that was it.

It really is almost never the cat. Keep looking, I've found some fish in weird places. I once had a betta jump out and flop an amazing distance. When I found him he was dry and I sorrowfully went to flush him when his whole body convulsed and I realized he was still alive! I got him in water and gave him lots of TLC. All his fins sloughed off and he was a sorry sight, but he lived for several more months after that.


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## shannonpwns (Jul 15, 2013)

Omg! I hope he is just hiding reaaaallllllly well in the tank! Please update on his status!  

Maybe look in the cats mouth...maybe there's some kind of sign that she did in fact get the fish, and you can have some peace of mind knowing what happened. :question: Probably not, but you never know...


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## PetMania (Mar 28, 2013)

Definetly look EVERYWHERE in the tank. I was looking for my female, Snowflake, and I was searching forever. She had gone into a silk plant and attached herself to one of the leaves. 
Bettas are excellent at hide and seek.


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## trilobite (May 18, 2011)

I had one get stuck under a rock and drown...definitely take everything out and have a big hunt


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## PetMania (Mar 28, 2013)

trilobite said:


> I had one get stuck under a rock and drown...definitely take everything out and have a big hunt


I've had goldfish do that, too. 
Dig, dig, dig, dig.......oh wait, how am I supposed to get out?


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## kimt (Mar 5, 2013)

I found him. He was dead of course. I pulled out the hutch a few inches this morning and shone the flash light back there but I didn't see him. I looked again this evening and the light caught the blue in his eye. He was dried up completely and he had darkened to almost the same color as my hard wood floors which is why I didn't see him this morning. The flash light just caught the blue in his eye tonight and that is when I saw him. I feel terrible. I wonder if I might have been able to save him if I had found him this morning. I don't know when he jumped out, it had to have been sometime over night. I fed him around 8pm and turned his light off and he was gone when I went to feed him this morning around 9:30. I cried when I found him. My husband thinks I'm nuts but I know you guys will understand. He might have only been a fish but I enjoy all of my bettas. They all have different personalities. Samson was my only giant and he was very happy go lucky. He was so happy when I got him his 10 gallon tank. He loved all the space and he zoom around the tank. Swim in peace dear friend.


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## karenluvsbettas623 (Jul 13, 2013)

:-(.So sorry to hear that. He would have probably already been dead in the morning, 12hr between when you fed him and when you found him missing , you shouldn't feel guilty.


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## PetMania (Mar 28, 2013)

kimt said:


> I found him. He was dead of course. I pulled out the hutch a few inches this morning and shone the flash light back there but I didn't see him. I looked again this evening and the light caught the blue in his eye. He was dried up completely and he had darkened to almost the same color as my hard wood floors which is why I didn't see him this morning. The flash light just caught the blue in his eye tonight and that is when I saw him. I feel terrible. I wonder if I might have been able to save him if I had found him this morning. I don't know when he jumped out, it had to have been sometime over night. I fed him around 8pm and turned his light off and he was gone when I went to feed him this morning around 9:30. I cried when I found him. My husband thinks I'm nuts but I know you guys will understand. He might have only been a fish but I enjoy all of my bettas. They all have different personalities. Samson was my only giant and he was very happy go lucky. He was so happy when I got him his 10 gallon tank. He loved all the space and he zoom around the tank. Swim in peace dear friend.


S.I.P.
I understand. I was horrified to find my little crowntail dead when I came home from school.


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## shannonpwns (Jul 15, 2013)

Oh no! I was really hoping he was just hiding... I'm so sorry! Poor guy.  If they only knew that jumping out of the water is bad for them!  I wish they could understand us, because I literally tell this to my fish all the time "Dont jump out of your tank Lila, you'll regret it!" She's my notorious jumper during WCs, the second that lid comes off, she's like "yeaaaaaa I'm freeeeeeeeeeee" ...yes, I talk to them out loud. 

S.I.P Samson, where you can jump and swim all you want, with all the other Angel Bettas :angel:


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## sainthogan (Sep 27, 2012)

My female jumped out of her tank near her filter once. She was out of the water at least a half an hour, but she was ok amazingly. Her fins and tail had started to dry up and stuck to the floor when I picked her up and it took a while for them to grow back, but she bounced back.
I'm sorry your guy didn't make it. I keep a piece of cardboard over that tiny hole now so that it doesn't happen again.


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