Hello all, this is my first new post to the group. I've had my 32g Biocube for about 3 years now and have learned a few things over time regarding battling dinos, algae, cyano, heater malfunctions, and pH/alkalinity issues. I still have my original ocellaris clown pair (one black, one orange). Other inhabitants are a pistol shrimp/YWG, but tragically, the YWG died. It appeared that it had a chuck of flesh taken out of the side of its body. It definitely wasn't from trauma due to the rockery. I'm not sure, but I think the pistol actually went rogue and maybe attacked it. Who knows. I'm sure the shrimp ate it as it disappeared. My heater malfunction took out most of my corals and prized blood red fireshrimp. Wish the pistol perished instead of my fireshrimp!
Anyway, a bit of a long winded preamble. I have had 3 cherub angels successively but they all went MIA. Actually my original one was found dead on the sandbed next to a small bubble tip anemone, but it wasn't being eaten by it. I speculate that it was stung by the BTA and didn't survive the sting. The second pygmy lasted several months, grew nicely, but then went MIA as well with no sign of its carcass. I doubt that the pistol killed it. I am wondering if my maxi-mini anemone ate it. Since cherubs seem to have a very curious nature, I wonder if it wandered into it's sticky tentacles. Seems that it might be too big for it to swallow. After being without the second pygmy for several months, I decided to get another one. This one is considerably smaller, about 1.5", had the same curious nature darting in and out of the cave and brushing by the maxi-mini, but have only seen it dart under the nem by its foot. My black clown was a bit aggressive towards it initially, but started to leave it alone after a few days. Barely a week went by, and it was MIA yet again! Boo hoo! $40 down the drain. Again, I suspect it may have wandered too close to the nem's sticky tentacles. Does anybody here have similar experiences with disappearing pygmies due to nems? I am devastated as it was a cute little fella. I will refrain from getting another replacement as I can't risk another expensive loss. Maybe if my nem dies, I would. My BTA is no longer arouund as it perished early on, likely due to an immature tank. It did survive for the first several months though.
Anyway, a bit of a long winded preamble. I have had 3 cherub angels successively but they all went MIA. Actually my original one was found dead on the sandbed next to a small bubble tip anemone, but it wasn't being eaten by it. I speculate that it was stung by the BTA and didn't survive the sting. The second pygmy lasted several months, grew nicely, but then went MIA as well with no sign of its carcass. I doubt that the pistol killed it. I am wondering if my maxi-mini anemone ate it. Since cherubs seem to have a very curious nature, I wonder if it wandered into it's sticky tentacles. Seems that it might be too big for it to swallow. After being without the second pygmy for several months, I decided to get another one. This one is considerably smaller, about 1.5", had the same curious nature darting in and out of the cave and brushing by the maxi-mini, but have only seen it dart under the nem by its foot. My black clown was a bit aggressive towards it initially, but started to leave it alone after a few days. Barely a week went by, and it was MIA yet again! Boo hoo! $40 down the drain. Again, I suspect it may have wandered too close to the nem's sticky tentacles. Does anybody here have similar experiences with disappearing pygmies due to nems? I am devastated as it was a cute little fella. I will refrain from getting another replacement as I can't risk another expensive loss. Maybe if my nem dies, I would. My BTA is no longer arouund as it perished early on, likely due to an immature tank. It did survive for the first several months though.