Wowsas!

[sandybottom]

if their puddles are drying up they sure will. they will jump out and wiggle thru the mud to another puddle. they aren't always successful though. self preservation being what it is and all. during an abnormally dry season in the paddies they can get caught in vegetative pockets of water. unless it rains, they get ammo. poisoning or dry up.the labrynth organ was developed over time to help with poor unoxygenated condition like these.

[Bluewind]

What about a hybrid hypothisis?

What if the fish jumped out of the tank and daughter found it dead. She could have then disposed of it after.

What if daughter knocked the bowl over and killed the fish and then disposed of it after and cleaned up?

What if a pet ate it (from floor or tank)? Dog? Cat? Or maybe a non-pet pest?
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[SolomonFinch]

I met hubby for lunch. we discussed it....the net was right where I left it. I would have heard her knock it over, my desk is right there... I couldn't SEE it, but heard it. The two rooms are divided by a halfwall with an archway, a straight line would have me positioned 6 feet from the bowl.
If she had found her dead, she would have screamed her head off.
However...we do have a dog. He WAS in the house at the time, because I remember letting him out later and waiting for him to come back in.
But he is scared of everything, I imagine a flopping fish would have sent him scattering. (we adopt animals. animals no one else wants. most people don't like dogs who are afraid of their own shadow LOL)
I dont know that he would have eaten a dead fish. Before I quit eating dead fish (haha), he wouldnt eat leftovers whenever I grilled salmon or made tuna noodle casserole. But he does eat the fish oil I put in his weekly special broth I make for his heart and coat.
hm.
This is going to drive me nuts. Gonna call hubby and make him removes everything from tank. He wouldnt even look in the filter this am, he is afraid to find her corpse. honestly, i am as well. I will freak.

[LittleBettaFish]

Bettas can jump pretty high when they are spooked. I have nearly drained my entire 10 gallon out before and had bettas jump clear from the bottom out over the rim and had to be rescued when they fall to the ground.

Look everywhere. As someone mentioned bettas can end up halfway across a room in a very short space of time as they jump about trying to find a source of water. I've had fish end up quite a distance from their tank, and considering I keep wild bettas whose favourite hobby is 'jump out of the tank while mum is doing a water change and has removed the glad wrap for .2 second' I know they are pretty athletic.

[Bluewind]

Dog that just went outside + bowl of fresh water... ya see where I'm going with this?
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[Elsewhere]

Try checking under the gravel, if there is any. My friend's Betta went missing and she gave up hope, having checked everywhere, when lo and behold the little guy tunneled his way up from the gravel when she was draining the tank! His tail was perfectly fine, thank God- but he did end up dying a year or so later.

[SnowySurface]

Hmm...I know one of my fish from college named Sparkle managed to kill himself by jumping 3 inches out of his tank while I was at class. I didn't know where he went until my trash started to smell 3 days later. Since I may have been able to found him in time if he landed on the floor, I haven't placed a trash can near a tank ever since. T_T

That was back in 2003 before I realized bettas could jump at all. I've never really thought about the max jumping hieght for bettas, but with a swimming start they can jump pretty well. Is there anything the fish could have landed in that is near the tank? Like, how Sparkle found some way to go sailing through the air and land in a trash can? : /

[SolomonFinch]

The bowl was too high up for doggie to reach...it was on a kitchen counter atop a marble slab (so I can sanitize fish instruments)
But holy crap she WAS above my tall trash can!

[SolomonFinch]

Ok, calling hubby again.

[jinxhex]

There seems to be so many possibilites to where she could have ended up...