A hook and line still the best

[coral_lagoon]

(barbless hook) way to catch a fish without destroying your reef? Thanks..

 

[worm5406]

hahaha.. I bought a fish trap... haven't used it yet... but I have it ready.

 

[cloak]

Check this out.

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-06/sp/index.php

Depending on the size of your tank, I've found that leaving them high & dry works quite well. GL.

 

[serpent]

Go buy a cereal container that has a pop type lid. Rig the lid with fishing string and tie it off to something to keep the lid up. Then attach the container to the side of the tank with a mag cleaner and place food in the container. After a couple of days, your fish will get use to the container and venture inside. Also this is cheap ($3) for the container.

 

[Palting]

DIY fish trap works!

 

[SaltwaterSensei]

If the trap doesn't work (I've always tried a trap first), I have used the hook method. How ever not just any size line and hook. Aside from reef keeping my other passion is fly fishing and fly tying. If you do end up needing to use a hook and line, I reccomend using the smallest hook and line possible (always bardless of course). IME a size 28 to size 32 with at least 8X tippet works really well. This is what they looks like;

http://www.troutnut.com/topic/2426/Fruit-fly-hook

I like the tiemco branded hooks.....

 

[johnike]

You should have been here the other night when I caught that damn BiColor Angel.

I won.

 

[Eric45]

I have a method that always works for me. It combines the fish trap and a clear plastic bag that can fit around the trap. I put the bag over the trap making a slit for the plunger and sew light fishing line into the mouth of the bag. I run the line back to my viewing chair and wait. Sometimes I put food in the trap first, but that's almost too easy Once the fish goes in, I just pull the line and it closes instantly over the trap.

I go to all this trouble because the door on the fish trap doesn't seem to work. But I keep the works for the next time and its no trouble at all. Been using the same one for a couple of years now.

 

[PistolShrmp]

The "trapping" method mentioned in the article works best for me. You'll probablly need a couple of days for the fish to get use to the bottle and hungry enough to venture inside - beats the heck out of draining the tank!

 

[Flame_Angel]

Gotta be careful using the hook method. Tried to catch a Lamarcki out of my 400 one day, and had my 9" Bariene tang come out of nowhere and grab the hook instead. Luckily it was barbless, and he worked it out in short order.

 

[mr.maroonsalty]

If the trap doesn't work (I've always tried a trap first), I have used the hook method. How ever not just any size line and hook. Aside from reef keeping my other passion is fly fishing and fly tying. If you do end up needing to use a hook and line, I reccomend using the smallest hook and line possible (always bardless of course). IME a size 28 to size 32 with at least 8X tippet works really well. This is what they looks like;

http://www.troutnut.com/topic/2426/Fruit-fly-hook

I like the tiemco branded hooks.....

You must floss a lot of teeth with those! I'm proud of every 16+" fish ever taken on a dry with these.

I think it's a 22, it's about as small as my eyes can thread on the tippet any more.

 

[barjam]

I use dim red lights and a net with the lights off. I don't have super huge rock structures or a super large tank though.

 

[sanchoy]

tried this already. If you have alot of aggresive eaters be wary. LIke posted above, i tried getting a sps eating angel whore out of my tank and nabbed my blue powder tang on accident.

 

[bigpuffer1]

depends on what you are attempting to catch. if its a smaller fish then a trap will work but the larger ones you usually have to hook or sometimes corral them with some plexi glass and lift the out.