Catching fish in reef tank

[0rangeFish]

I'm having trouble catching my banggai cardinalfish. Theres two of them and both are very shy fish, so as soon as my hand, net, whatever goes into the tank they disappear into the rocks. I can't take out the rocks because of all the coral. I've tried bottle traps (I'm very good at catching snails and crabs :facepalm and netting with lights on and off. I swear they would wait till they withered away to nothing before eating food out of a bottle. I need to get them out because my tank has marine ich. I got my clowns out easy, but the cardinals are proving to be very difficult. Any suggestions would be great.

 

[snorvich]

Drain the tank down (saving the water) so there is very little at the bottom. Also, I suggest reading the stickies.

 

[johnike]

Drain the tank down (saving the water) so there is very little at the bottom. Also, I suggest reading the stickies.

Good answer!
This is how my multi Centropyge experiment ended a couple years back.

 

[0rangeFish]

hmmmm that might work! Only question, what about coral and rock, won't being out of water hurt them?

 

[igot2gats]

hmmmm that might work! Only question, what about coral and rock, won't being out of water hurt them?

No, as long as you fill it back up soon after. A lot of different corals are used to being out of the water during low tide.

 

[Dmorty217]

Sps can be out of the water for 15-20 mins without damaging them, LPS is a different story. If it is going to take you longer than that, Just fill up a spray bottle with saltwater and spray the SPS every 10-15 mins and you will be fine. The rock is fine

 

[rioshilo]

I have this and it works great. I leave it in the tank for several days so they are comfortable with it and put food inside the tube, or just inside the box until the fish I want start going inside and then I feed and watch, waiting,to drop the trap door with the string when the one I want go inside.



http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=14700

 

[Noah 123]

Do you have any sea stars or other echinoderms (urchins, cucumbers, etc.)? If so, keep them out of the air! Always keep them in water, as for many stars air can kill them.

 

[hogfanreefer]

This thing is what I have and makes a great fish trap. I've used it several times and the longest it took to catch the intended fish was two days. The shortest was approximately 15 seconds. Put it in the tank and turned around to grab the door and the wrasse I was trying to catch was in side exploring. Didn't even have to bait it.

I think it's large size makes it more effective than other traps.

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+27698+20398&pcatid=20398