Lost my ARTC a fortnight ago. It was a great fish to own and I had a suitable home to keep it for life but unfortunately it's life was shorter than expected. I had it from around 3" and roughly a year later it had reached a foot in length. It lived with 2 large plecos that it used to rough-up a fair bit and it was a fascinating fish to own.
When I removed the fish to examine it I opened it's mouth and noticed the tip of a hard object, I removed this with a pair of needle-nose pliers and found it to be one of the larger trumpet snails that had recently started to over-populate in the tank. I can't think of any reason why this fish may have died other than it has attempted to swallow the snail and it has somehow been caught in the gill.
Anyway, not being a person to dwell on the sad things that happen in life I have rearranged the tank and have a nice south american cichlid setup going on. (the pleco's are happier anyway)
When I removed the fish to examine it I opened it's mouth and noticed the tip of a hard object, I removed this with a pair of needle-nose pliers and found it to be one of the larger trumpet snails that had recently started to over-populate in the tank. I can't think of any reason why this fish may have died other than it has attempted to swallow the snail and it has somehow been caught in the gill.
Anyway, not being a person to dwell on the sad things that happen in life I have rearranged the tank and have a nice south american cichlid setup going on. (the pleco's are happier anyway)
