How to catch damsel fish!? Help

[NewDisign]

I want to get my permanent inhabitants for my roughly 5 month established reef. Though it may be young, it looks like it's been established for years. The fish I need to get rid of, and fast, are my damsel fish. Especially my two 3 striped damsels. The other is all blue exept it's tail that is yellow for a description. One of my striped damsels has began to nip at my best birdsnest frag. They are extremely territorial and have claimed the entire rock face of my tank as there's. I will try any solution to get them out ASAP. Any comments and replies are welcome and needed
Thanks

 

[ef200098]

Its tough. Try to do it while they are feeding.

 

[ackee]

If a fish trap is out of the question you can use a wide mouth clear plastic jar, one as deep as possible, something with the proportions of an olive jar. Weight the jar so it's stable. Attach a string, and put a small mirror at the back. These fish are territorial and will try very hard to kill their image. A mirror works much better than food bait in a trap of any kind. If you are good at DIY you can rig the jar to close when you pull the string to remove the jar and fish. A real trap is better, but a good one is expensive, about $40.

 

[curlykid]

put a blanket over the tank with lights off. leave for about an hour like that, then turn on all lights and swoop him up with a net. just did this today for one of my fish.

 

[Grassroots]

heres what you do

get 2lb test mono fishing line
1 small barbless trout hook (forget the exact size)

and aim it by the damsel it wont hurt it and its very effective so long as you dont catch other fish before you catch that one

 

[duncantse]

This is what I did, use 2 nets and place one in front and one behind the damsel. Keep chasing it around the tank then when it is tired, swoop in with your nets. One more thing, if it hides in your LR, just tap the rocks lightly then it will come out.

 

[NYCBOB]

fishtrap. with so much rockwork in most tanks, it is very difficult to catch any fish. damsels r very very hardy and live a long time to.

 

[4wheelvfr]

Buy a grouper....

 

[usatennisfan]

Easy, cheap DIY trap. Take a water bottle and cut the top two of so inches off. Poke a hole in the bottom. Turn the top around to form a funnel. Tie it on with fish line and bait it. Also add a long tie so you can yank it out of the water. I caught my entire seven damsel school like this in a half hour when I no longer needed them to jump start my 56.

 

[alexrex20]

shouldn't have cycled the tank with damsels then...

 

[JSeymour]

Damsels are the worst. We had a three stripe damsel in a 120 at work. He was quite small but always attacked everything. We tried training him to feed from a net. He fasted. Traps didn't work. Too smart. We added a large volitan, the lion quickly became afraid of it. Added a miniatus grouper, after a week of the damsel nipping the side and tail of the grouper, they became uneasy friends.

So what did finally work? We had a fire in the fishroom.

As a side note, freshwater mollys make great cycle fish. Hardy, cheap, no marine disease, and easy to catch. That said, I use liverock and a cleanup crew to cycle, no fish.

Good luck.

 

[Joboo]

Buy a grouper....

lion works well too

 

[NewDisign]

Grr!

 

[NewDisign]

Its tough. Try to do it while they are feeding.

These guys are cunning. My blue damsel would do it, but Beavis and Butthead(as I have dubbed them) bolt to the safety of the many holes and cracks in the rock when they detect the net in the water. I know because I just tried it thanks for your input though

 

[NewDisign]

If a fish trap is out of the question you can use a wide mouth clear plastic jar, one as deep as possible, something with the proportions of an olive jar. Weight the jar so it's stable. Attach a string, and put a small mirror at the back. These fish are territorial and will try very hard to kill their image. A mirror works much better than food bait in a trap of any kind. If you are good at DIY you can rig the jar to close when you pull the string to remove the jar and fish. A real trap is better, but a good one is expensive, about $40.

Actually, I've got a trap but it wasn't very affective. Though I'll give it another try because of your mirror suggestion. It is square so it should be fairly easy to install. Thanks!

 

[websiteworld]

I drained my tank into rubbermaid containers and caught them flopping in the sand. Lol. Then pumped water back in via submersible pump.

Man-1
Fish-0

Sent from my EVO 3d using tapatalk

 

[kripas]

Go to Lfs and buy a lion fish , once your damsel enter to the mouth of your lion fish , you can now return the lion fish back to your LFS

 

[NewDisign]

I drained my tank into rubbermaid containers and caught them flopping in the sand. Lol. Then pumped water back in via submersible pump.

Man-1
Fish-0

Sent from my EVO 3d using tapatalk

I think I might give this a try because my trap isn't working so well. Damsels are just too smart for it. I chased blue damsel to exhaustion and caught it hiding in my paly zoas with one of those monster sized petco nets So at least that one is gone, thank goodness!

 

[NewDisign]

This is what I did, use 2 nets and place one in front and one behind the damsel. Keep chasing it around the tank then when it is tired, swoop in with your nets. One more thing, if it hides in your LR, just tap the rocks lightly then it will come out.

This is what I did to catch my blue damsel won't work for the black and white ones though

 

[Damsels01]

try to lure them with food....lol....
just wondering what are you goin to do with it after you catch it?
try to sell it or bring it back....just dont kill it....its not fair to the fish if you buy it then decide to get rid of it cuz of its normal behavior....
sry i just love damsels and i think its cruel how people buy them to cycle a tank then get rid of it...IMO anyone who bought one in the 1st place should have known about their aggression and should have done the research....