[pjf]

Unbeknownst to me, a Blue Devil Damsel had leapt into the overflow. When I performed my regular water change and tank cleaning, I emptied the overflow by removing the drain pipe and emptied the sump with a siphon hose.

I rinsed the overflow with hot chlorinated tap water and then proceeded to empty the hot chlorinated water from the sump with a large ¾” diameter siphon hose. I finally saw the poor Blue Devil in my sump but not in time to keep it from being sucked into the hose. I couldn’t get it out of the hose, so I let it drain down the 25-foot hose into the sink. I was able to grab it from the sink before it was about to flush down the drain.

When I placed the Blue Devil back into the aquarium, the Maroon Clown bit it and attempted to return to his anemone with it. With a stick, I rescued the Blue Devil from the clutches of the clownfish and his anemone cohort. The Blue Devil couldn’t swim but settled down on the sand bed breathing heavily.

A hermit crab then attacked the helpless Blue Devil so I used a stick to defend it for several minutes from all would-be predators. Finally, my wife called me to dinner, so I used the stick to move the distressed fish to the other side of the aquarium where the anemone on the sand bed can keep the hermit crab away. I gently nudged the Blue Devil under a rock where the Maroon Clown doesn’t venture. There it sat on the sand bed still breathing heavily. After dinner, I returned to the aquarium but the Blue Damsel had disappeared and no trace of him was ever found.

We still don't know who or what kidnapped or killed him!