Getting desperate... I need this damsel out of the tank!

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9350435#post9350435 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by blown63chevy
Well my damsel had a little different route. I got him from a friend that tore his tank down. I put him in my sump until I could find a sutable home for him. One day while I'm looking in my tank, low and behold, there's teh damsel in teh rocks. Seems he took a little trip THRU my hammerhead pump, 1" return plumbing mainifold and dumped into a 400g tank w/ 10" + fish swimming all around. I think that would humble you some. ;) Kind of funny though as my now 13" Naso dosen't and never did take a second look at any of the small fish in the tank. Just intimidated them by his size.
Click to expand...

I have a roaming peppermint shrimp that does something similar. I put him in my 80gal fuge that sits over my propagation unit and one day he disappeared. A few days later he showed up in one of the propagation tanks, having gone through the overflow and in to the distribution manifold.

I figured I would leave him there so I added the rock he likes to hide in and would drop a pellet in every so often to make sure he stayed fed. Two weeks later I was looking for him in his usual spot but couldn't find him. Moving to the next tank in line, I found him doing his little wiggle dance between a pair of Cladiella that are growing out!

He has shown up in a number of other tanks since, and not always one adjacent to where I saw him last. Most recently I saw him in the GSP tank, 7 tanks down from his last home!

Considering there is ~100gph flow going in/out of each tank through 1" PVC, it is possible he could be using the manifolds to move back and forth. I just hope he doesn't make it as far as the 2" main return and in to the sump. Even if he survives going through the Dart, the straightest shot from it lands him in a display that houses the fore-mentioned Arc-Eye Hawkfish - an encounter I highly doubt he will survive.

Until that day, I will be enjoying the aptasia free tanks without having to employ the horde of peppermints I would need in order to put one in each tank.
 
Cool.

Had a friend who had a fish that would continually go betwen his sump and main tank. He'd spend a few days in the tank, go down the overflow to the sump for a few days, and then take a ride thru the pump back up to the main tank.

And some people are afraid that their pump will kill/damage pods going thru them. :rolleyes:
 
Chaffey, that is a cool story. I wish my damsel would swim into my overflow... and right into my mag 12. That would be sweet. Or even if he just stayed in the sump... Id be happy.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9349872#post9349872 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by antjefferson
Does anyone know where one could discreetly buy a spear gun... no questions asked? :)
Click to expand...

Funny you should say that.I had a camel shrimp one time that was decimating my zoas. So I rubber banded the tip of a syringe to the end of a wooden skewer. I then dipped the tip in microvert and when he came out to get "it" I slammed my palm on the other end very successfully killing him by the 3rd try.

I would do the same thing in your situation. Except maybe use some squid (tougher and won't come off tip) dipped in something like microvert or maybe Formula 1 mush and hold it outside it's cave. Every time he comes out BAM!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thing is that they don't learn AND they know that it's an inanimate object and thus will ignore the slight movements of you aligning it for the kill. :smokin: Tell me how it goes.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9352261#post9352261 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by chevegan
Funny you should say that.I had a camel shrimp one time that was decimating my zoas. So I rubber banded the tip of a syringe to the end of a wooden skewer. I then dipped the tip in microvert and when he came out to get "it" I slammed my palm on the other end very successfully killing him by the 3rd try.

I would do the same thing in your situation. Except maybe use some squid (tougher and won't come off tip) dipped in something like microvert or maybe Formula 1 mush and hold it outside it's cave. Every time he comes out BAM!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thing is that they don't learn AND they know that it's an inanimate object and thus will ignore the slight movements of you aligning it for the kill. :smokin: Tell me how it goes.
Click to expand...
OMG... that is GENIUS. I am gonna try it when I get home. That way I dont have to starve my tank... I am worried that my coral beauty angel might take to nipping corals if I do! I will let you know how it goes! Kinda cruel.... but so is he!
-TJ
 
Crud... where on earth will I get a syringe from? You cant exactly just walk into savon and ask for one... maybe I will try a needle. :(
 
You asked for it . . .

Clarence the Grouper

Years ago I hasd a job working in a marine station at one of the universities I attended. Usually this would mean cleaning/repairing boats but some previous experience let me bypass months of stinking like Brasso and work directly with the research tanks.

The station had racks and racks of tanks, all live fed from the Atlantic and containing local species used for ichthyology and phycology classes. Most was drawn to flatter table setups where a variety of urchins and crabs were kept â€"œ mainly because people could feed the huge arrow crabs that lived there by hand.

There was this one tank that was tucked in a back corner of a side room no one every paid attention to. It was a massive acrylic box (5ft L x 4ft W x 3ft H) with a steel frame supported on cinder blocks half filled with football-sized rocks. The pile came to the surface in the back and tapered out to a single layer in the front. What I found fascinating about it was the tidal system a former student had attempted to build for it. It used a cantilevered ‘wave’ box to splash water over the pile of rocks and a vertically moving drainpipe to change the water depth. Pretty cool stuff and I spent more than a little free time getting it working right.

The best discovery during my time working on the tank was in the sole occupant. It scared the pee out of me when I first found him . . . hand in the tank for balance while I was fiddling with the overhead plumbing and SMACK on my hand. After recovering my balance after nearly falling in, I stepped back to see what just bit me - a 14” red grouper. Apparently, he was caught by one of the ichthyology classes sometime before I got there, dumped in the tank and mostly forgotten about. This was Clarence.

The station manager seemed to be the only one who knew about him. Every few days she would feed him and it was from her I learned his name.

Clarence was not so much shy as he was weird. His usual game of ‘ I AM THE ROCK!’ consisted of him pushing the various rock footballs around so he could make a little cave to sit in. He was actually pretty good at it, which is how no one really knew about him. This later turned in to ‘Find the Crab’, that that is just getting ahead of myself.

I quickly adopted Clarence as my favorite fish. Three times a week I would throw on a wetsuit, grab a seine net and trudge chest deep in to the saltwater bog near the station. The goal: find food for Clarence. He was not that picky, eating small fish or grass shrimp when dropped in, but he certainly had his favorite.

Fiddler crabs were the meal of choice. I am not sure if Clarence thought they tasted better but he LOVED terrorizing them before chomping them to bits. He would wait until they nestled in to the rocks on the bottom and then start the hunt. There were times I watched him move the ENTIRE PILE of rocks to the other side of the tank in pursuit of a crab. Once he found it . . . SUCK . . . CRUNCH . . . gone. All that ever remained were a few scattered carapace bits or an errant claw he would later use for a toothpick. I would keep a small supply in one of the less used student tanks just for him.

My research eventually took me to a different university but Clarence remains always in my memories. I can’t look at a crab anymore without thinking how much he would love terrorizing it. :D
 
if he's the first one to food you can try a #26 barbless hook baited with a small piece of shrimp, some 1 lb test line and a small split shot.... if your really mad you can jerk his lips off..all kidding aside, it works and shouldn't have any lasting effect on the fish other then a soar lip.
 
A lot of LFS's have them. They come with Rid Aptasia chemicals. That's where I got mine from. Worth every penny. Or better yet ask a diabetic :)
 
I use UltraLife's "The Trap". I have yet to fail with this thing...ever.

img2813401thmb.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

J
Algae
2
Replies
23
Views
2K
griss
griss
P
Can I get another fish?
Replies
3
Views
629
griss
griss
P
HELP!! Bristle worm harrassing my clown goby
Replies
9
Views
660
Paul B
Paul B
xclusive252
Kessil help please
Replies
4
Views
509
wvned
wvned
J
WTB: 100-200g tank (ideally starfire glass)
Replies
1
Views
248
yoyoyoo123
yoyoyoo123
Back
Top