How do I get a dottyback out!!!!!

Fish Ed

Fish Ed

New member
It has been 2 months and I get the bicolor dottyback f**king out!:angryfire:
It was in his own tank when I decided to decommission that tank and put it in a holding tank. Then it jumped into my 60 gallon tank! It killed my firefish and it's constantly attacking my wrasse and fighting with my clowns. I've tried netting it, making a soda bottle trap w/ food inside, removing some rocks & netting it and tried fishing it out with a hook. All unsuccessful! HELP ME! It's driving me crazy! :headwalls: This is one hell of a fish! I seriously don't mind if it jumps out.
 
I used a small fish trap and clam on a half shell. Good luck. Dotty backs are beautiful fish but become a real pain in the neck.
 
Springeri are the best dottyback. Active, nice color, and not aggressive. Have had mine for 1.5 years in a reef with no issues
 
Pull your rock and be done with it.... only 100% way I can get anything out of my 550g. I have pulled 500+ lbs of rock twice for bad fish. If it won't go into a trap I say bite the bullet...
 
Yeah, had a splendid in my 265 and it was a major pain. Finally decided I'd had enough. I noted where it tended to hang during the day and then 'ambushed' him after the lights had been off for a while. Maybe I just got lucky, but it was easy to catch.
 
Don't stress out and don't invest in an overpriced acrylic trap. Go down to a local pet shop and buy yourself a plastic fish bowl (usually run for around $5), submerge it in your tank and when you feed, use a turkey baster to squirt the food in the bowl. Eventually even the most paranoid fish will start venturing in and sooner or later your guy's gonna swim in and BOOM! You can either yank the bowl out before he has a chance to figure out where the exit is or quickly cover the open top with a net. This method has never failed me, and I have caught damsels, tangs, wrasses, and yes... dottybacks with this simple and affordable strategy. Good luck :beer:
 
my splendid is one of the most timid in my tank, but I got it as a juvenile and it lived its first 6 months after QT in the sump of my old system with a watchman goby, springers damsel and a huge mithrax. Now in the 110 the splendid and the springers are in the DT and are the nicest most peaceful inhabitants.

I will have to see how they respond to new inhabitants as I will be adding a tailspot blenny and 2 bangai soon.

Catching them is a PITS though, best to work with two nets or a net and something to help coral it with if possible, that is the manual catching route. Using a fish trap may work if you can locate its favorite hangout spot.
 
Mael said:
my splendid is one of the most timid in my tank, but I got it as a juvenile and it lived its first 6 months after QT in the sump of my old system with a watchman goby, springers damsel and a huge mithrax. Now in the 110 the splendid and the springers are in the DT and are the nicest most peaceful inhabitants.
Click to expand...

Well, it depends a bit on what you try to add. One of may favorite fish is the Chalk Basslet, and my Splendid did a splendid job on one I tried to add. Sayonara!
 
had a splendid in my 265 and it was a major pain
Click to expand...
That's interesting. My Splendid is also one of my meekest fish. It spends most of the time hiding in the rocks and only comes out when it's hungry. It never bothers the Clown or Gramma it's housed with, but that might be because they are both very large for their species, and the Splendid was added last. It seems to be getting a bit bolder as it matures, so it's also quite possible it will make me eat my words someday, but so far it's been a model citizen after about a year in the tank. I haven't tried to add anything lately, so I'm not sure how that would go. 3 fish is the most I would put in this tank, so hopefully I won't have to worry about that for a while.

The bi-color I had was another story. I got it when it was little and cute and was surprised by how quickly it grew into into a big, faded, mean, glutton. I tried moving it to a larger tank with larger, more aggressive tank mates, and it still tried to bully everyone, so I agree with trying to get rid of it. I caught mine by moving all the rock to one side, luring it out with food, and then trying to corner it with 2 nets. This method finally succeeded after numerous failed attempts over the course of several days, but it wasn't easy. If the fish hadn't been so greedy for food, I probably would have never caught it. Those things are lightning quick.

I think the key to trapping a bi-color would be to use its appetite against it. The fish bowl tactic sounds like the best bet to me. I wish I would have thought of it. Once it get's used to that fish bowl being in the tank, it probably won't be able to resist going inside for an easy meal. I know mine would have fallen for it pretty quickly. I would be patient, and wouldn't go to extremes like pulling all the rock out, unless the fish posed an immediate threat.
 
SoloChromis said:
Don't stress out and don't invest in an overpriced acrylic trap. Go down to a local pet shop and buy yourself a plastic fish bowl (usually run for around $5), submerge it in your tank and when you feed, use a turkey baster to squirt the food in the bowl. Eventually even the most paranoid fish will start venturing in and sooner or later your guy's gonna swim in and BOOM! You can either yank the bowl out before he has a chance to figure out where the exit is or quickly cover the open top with a net. This method has never failed me, and I have caught damsels, tangs, wrasses, and yes... dottybacks with this simple and affordable strategy. Good luck :beer:
Click to expand...

Wait, I don't get what do you mean by having a bowl, bait in it then yank it out. I can see that it can lure it in, but once my hand touches the water surface, it'll just dart out of the bowl into a crevice.

This fish is smart. It knows what a net and hand is.
 
Fish Ed said:
Wait, I don't get what do you mean by having a bowl, bait in it then yank it out. I can see that it can lure it in, but once my hand touches the water surface, it'll just dart out of the bowl into a crevice.

This fish is smart. It knows what a net and hand is.
Click to expand...

Trust me, the vast majority of the time's I've tried this, the fish even in it's frantic state isn't thinking straight and normally can't find the outlet of the bowl before you have a chance to yank it out
 
Hmm... It's not going in. I have mysis and pellets in there, it's trying to bite the glass and only staring into the mouth but not going in. Seriously, I'm certain this a**hole knows whats going on.
 
DAMMIT!!! The tang and bicolor dottyback went in then when I yanked it out the dottyback darted out but I caught the tang! Yeah, I can see how it can work. The tang was literally trapped in there. :headwally: ARGHH That damn dottyback! I think they're all startled now
 
Just get the aqua medic fish trap.
Put it in the tank and only feed the fish in it.
I had a problem fish, got him on day 5.
By that time, 7 of my 9 fish practically lived in the trap.
The shrimp never actually left it.
 
Fish Ed said:
DAMMIT!!! The tang and bicolor dottyback went in then when I yanked it out the dottyback darted out but I caught the tang! Yeah, I can see how it can work. The tang was literally trapped in there. :headwally: ARGHH That damn dottyback! I think they're all startled now
Click to expand...

Just keep trying, you'll get him eventually. Odds are they'll forget about the whole ordeal come tomorrow during feeding time :thumbsup:
 
Mark9 said:
Just get the aqua medic fish trap.
Put it in the tank and only feed the fish in it.
I had a problem fish, got him on day 5.
By that time, 7 of my 9 fish practically lived in the trap.
The shrimp never actually left it.
Click to expand...

LOL, yep fish trap is a great solution.

I'm with criticalencore, pull the rock and net him. Get a rubbermaid tote or two to put the rock in. 2 hour job max in a 60 gallon.
 
I have an orchid dotty and he is a model citizen, comes out of his cave when he thinks I have food(haha). It is my favorite fish, and I'm lazy when naming animals so his names dotty. Guess my cats name?
 
ive always used a glass trap to get all my fish out, simply feed everyday from the top of the glass fish trap and all the fish are forced to enter the trap to eat. Eventually everyone eats and goes in lol.
 
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