Help! Tropical fish.

[Lisa]

I have a tropical fish tank with 3 fish - a clown loach, a bala shark and an Otto catfish.
They have all been living together in the same tank for at least 18 months and everything has been fine, until today.
My eldest DD heard a noise and went to see what it was, what she saw was the bala shark going crazy, swimming up & down and trying to jump out of the tank. The clown loach & catfish were swimming away from the shark, just giving it space.
DH fed them some pellets today too that they've not had for a few weeks. He also did a quick clean with the magnetic cleaners and left them attached to the tank.
Anyway, DH was watching tv tonight and the bala jumped out through a tiny bit in the glass lid and was on to of the glass under the hutch. He put the bala back into the tank but the catfish is no where to be seen. We moved every plant, every hiding place and it's no where. The bala shark looks different too. It's head looks broader and it's body wider. The head has a slight mark on it too, assumed to be an injury from jumping out.

Could the bala have eaten the catfish? We've searched the whole tank and the family room and there is no sign of the catfish. All the levels in the tank are fine. The loach is also very bright at the moment. Not sure what that means. Could the loach have eaten it? From what I've read the bala is more likely to have than the loach.
Is the bala going crazy because of the magnets being left on the tank. DH never cleans the tank with them so it wouldn't be used to it.

[tk1999]

I have no real advice sorry other than fish do weird things... the bala could have eaten it - is it on the ground anywhere? I had a fish jump out of the back of my tank once and land in the hood but in an obscure location that I didn't see when I took the hood off - only found it a few days later - blergh

[Lisa]

DH and I were talking and I was looking at the tank when suddenly the catfish appeared! We moved everything in that tank last night. Lord knows where it was hiding?!

[JLeigh29]

Lol! Could it have been hiding/stuck in/near/under the filter? We've had fish do that before. Last time I looked after my friends fish, it disappeared too. I never said anything until the day after she came back and she said it had just come out of hiding...so was missing for three days all up!

[tk1999]

I believe the 3 second memory applies to all fish - he probably got lost and couldn't remember where he was

[Lisa]

Lol! Could it have been hiding/stuck in/near/under the filter? We've had fish do that before. Last time I looked after my friends fish, it disappeared too. I never said anything until the day after she came back and she said it had just come out of hiding...so was missing for three days all up!

I think that's exactly what happened as I was looking at the tank at the time and it came out from the area of the filter. It obviously wasn't too afraid of DH as he moved it when searching.
We have such odd fish! Lol.