Catching a pesky fish....

[thefurrywarrior]

I have been reefing for about 1 year now. When I first started the hobby I of course was convinced to get 2 hardy fish in order to get my tank cycling. Unfortunately, one of those was a domino damsel. The reputation that goes along with these fish doesn't even touch how mean mine is. He has killed 2 fish and scarred shrimp into my BTA. I have waited as long as I could to actually get him out but the time has come. What are recommendations for fishing him out? I have a 55gal with about 70-80lbs of live rock.

 

[peasofme]

a line and a hook and some bait

 

[thefurrywarrior]

funny....considering I have a yellow tang that would smack him out of the way jumping at it....and I am not trying to kill him....gonna take him to my lfs.

 

[Sao870]

line and hook still sounds best 2 me.... you could put some food in a net .. let him get use to it then when he goes i scoop him out ..

HTH

 

[Green_Reefer]

A small hook will not kill the fish. Just clip the barb off the hook before removing the hook and the fish will be fine, it's probably less stressful than chasing him around your tank for days on end or trying to trap him.

edit - biologists use hooks to catch fish for research purposes and release them afterwards without damaging the fish. You should see the size of the hook they use to do this with Great Whites.

 

[AfricaOffroad]

I've caught many specimen fish with tiny hooks.
Never ever damaged one.


I generally use a no:20 hook . When I've caught the fish I cut the back of the hook off with a side cutter, then slide it out backwards so the barb doesn't do any damage to the mouth.

 

[Capt56]

You can try using a fish trap with a door that closes with a fish line. Feed into the trap and let the fish eat without any suspicions, then close the door when it goes in.

 

[LobsterOfJustice]

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1200936

 

[davocean]

Some fish are easier to catch or trap than others.
For me, easiest and quickest, least invasive way to catch something like a damsel was to scoop a well in sand, and drain tank.
I siphon into a clean trash can, scoop the fish, then pump water right back in, takes about 10 minutes, doesn't harm fish or corals.