another incident occurred today

[luminia9]

Came home to another gruesome scene - another fish with its insides ripped out, this time they left the fins and eyes intact. If you missed my previous post, I lost a yellow lab a few days ago. Never had this issue before in my tank, but now I've had two fish "murdered" in just three days.

Here's my current stock: three venustus africans (two females, one male), three yellow labs (lost the fourth one), one blue tursio, one eye biter, one borleyi, two firtideflow peacocks (male and female), two OB's, and two upside down catfish. They're well-fed, I make sure they get full three to four times a day. Any ideas what's going on here?

[lintel]

Have you checked all your water stats though?
To me it sounds like you're jumping to conclusions about the 'murders'.
Fish can be pretty brutal when one of their own is weak or dead - they'll pick it apart in no time.
I'm not saying that's definitely what's happening here, but it's worth considering.

What are your water stats looking like, and how long has the tank been set up for?

[lintel]

im no expert on what to keep with what but here goes
venustus africans - they seem fine, three is a decent number
yellow labs - three should be okay, no issues
blue tursio - seems safe, one is enough
eye biter - might be okay, but i'd consider getting a few more
borleyi - same as the eye biter, one might not be enough
firtideflow peacocks - one pair is fine, but you could add more
OB's - two is a good number, no issues
upside down catfish - these are tropical, not really a match for your other fish, but they're not likely to be the aggressors

[Shotgun]

I've had a bad experience with my upside-down catfish before - they actually killed my bubble eye golds and ripped out their eyes and fins, so it's definitely possible they're the culprits this time around.

[apricot]

I'm wondering if overfeeding might be the issue here - are you feeding them too much, causing some to die off and then get eaten by the rest? I had a similar experience recently, one of my fish was gutted and the others cleaned up the remains, no need for me to intervene. It's possible that the weaker ones are being picked off, just the natural order of things.