Catching a Niger Trigger

[brian762]

Any ideas on how to do this? he is about 4" and can not catch him and didnt want to tear all my rocks out. Thanks for any help!

 

[Wolverine]

What size tank? And how quickly do you need to get him out?

 

[brian762]

its a 55gal prolly by saturday

 

[Eric the half-bee]

Brian, I caught mine at night time when they wedge themselves in the rock work. I used a a net and a pair or blunt forceps to grab the tail and pull them outta the rock work. Worked for me.

 

[brian762]

Brian, I caught mine at night time when they wedge themselves in the rock work. I used a a net and a pair or blunt forceps to grab the tail and pull them outta the rock work. Worked for me.

Thanks. I am not sure if i can get to him where he sleeps tho. i have a huge rock that has nice size holes in it that he burrows into.

 

[Matt_Wandell]

You really don't have a chance of doing it easily if you can't get to the rock he resides in. If you can, block up the hole that he darts into with something--netting, another rock, whatever. Spook him and he will freak as soon as he realizes he can't get to it. They will typically panic and freeze up in the nearest bolt hole they can find.

If you can reach a trigger once it locks itself into a rock, it is pretty straightforward to get them. I would use a glove in case he decides to bite, but generally they don't try to move even if you grab them hard. Once you do, you have to get their stout dorsal spine down by flicking the "trigger" behind it.

Had to do this a half dozen times for some big triggers in our reef tank that were causing problems. In some cases they dove into rock tunnels about 2 feet deep. When you get close, they grunt very loudly, sounds like a pneumatic drill underwater. See my av for photo evidence <<<

 

[Wolverine]

In that time frame, it's going to be really tough to do without pulling at least some rock out and moving it around.
Be careful with any pulling methods, since these fish aren't that big, and you could easily cause some major damage to his fins, including the trigger.

 

[wells284]

I tried everything and nothing worked to get mine out so I went to bass pro and got the smallest fly fishing hook they had and put some mysis in there. Caught him within 20 seconds

 

[Wolverine]

The fishing hook push can work; the big problem is sometimes the wrong fish gets it first. You have to make sure to crimp the barb.