how to catch fish

[mikenam]

I have a bung of agressive fish in my tank like domino damsel blue damsel, and yellow tail damsel. I am wanting to trade them in but seem like they are impossible to catch. Any easy way or technique to catch them?

 

[byrdman81]

lol i rememer tryin to catch a domino i once had in a tank... Talk to your lfs or make you a fish trap out of plexiglass or something clear thats what i use. put food in it and when they swin in close the door on them

 

[jettster]

trout hook piece of food and wala cought fish

 

[Agu]

With your fish a low level explosive comes to mind .

Or use a net to chase them into a clear container.

 

[atrox]

I wish i could find the thread that had a video of them trying to catch a regal tang. It was well done and funny. I'll keep looking

 

[metweezer]

Damsel's are possibly the hardest fish to catch. You have your work cut out for you. Good luck.

 

[ser_renely]

slurp gun?

 

[crvz]

pull out the rocks? how established is the tank, that may be the easiest and fastest solution.

 

[mikenam]

its been up for 6 months. im gonna try to drive them into a clear container. Those fishes are beating up on my poor manderine. Id rather keep my manderine than those damsels.

 

[Indymann99]

Catch the Manderine ( prob easier) put in QT, add Lionfish - dont feed Lion - couple of days.. no more damsels. Sell Lion back to LFS.

Just kidding, fish trap will be least disruptive to tank.

Good luck

 

[garyw68]

Try this....get a net and put it in the water and leave it for a good hour or so. Keep doing this for a week or so. This fish will be scared of it at first but if it is something they are use to seeing...they will think it’s not a big deal. Then put some food in it...they will swim right in. That’s how I caught my blue tang when he had ick and an angel fish a traded.

 

[ju66alo6]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13214605#post13214605 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by atrox
I wish i could find the thread that had a video of them trying to catch a regal tang. It was well done and funny. I'll keep looking

How to catch a Regal Tang - 91.9 meg
http://www.reefcast.com/videos/tuckertrapper2.mpg

 

[CAROLGYRL]

Well, guess what!!!!!I am trying to catch my hippo, That video is soooooooo funny, i laughed my rear end off. no, wait, its still there!!Well, He has ick, and I have been playing with the net for a few days now, leaving it inthe tank so they could get used to it. I guess I'll try the clear box too!!!but I'm not buildingit until 3 a.m.!!!!I'll video it and see how it goes!!!!!

 

[mpty]

i had 3 domino damsels, aggressive dudes, i caught em all in like a week and sold em back to lfs. i took clear plastic diet coke bottle (2L ones) and cut off the top so it made like a funnel. i had to cut off the tip also (the threaded part) to make the opening bigger. and then i inverted that and put it in a clear glass container (i used one that had bannana hot peppers in them) boiled it to get rid of an excess vinegar in it. this was a trap idea i read somewhere on the net.

using an inverted top of the plastic bottle was great cuz it sorta just fit into the glass bottle. it just like crumpled in. it was all ghetto and stuff but it did the trick. i caught a clown and my blenny first tho so you have to watch it often cuz it might catch some other fish. that's why the inverted plastic is great cuz if you catch something you don't want, you can just pull the crumpled plastic out and let the wrong fish go easily.

i had to do this because my tank is long and thin and i didn't wanna like take out all the rockwork cuz its all landscaped really nice.

good luck!

xoxo - mpty

i doubt that will work with the tang tho.

 

[x1crt]

there are some kinds of traps for fish that ive seen in my LFS.
but just try to feed and use a net and get them

 

[mikenam]

i put my manderine in my fuge for right now. No more getting picked on in there and has all the pods he can eat. i will try to build that fish trap mpty was described.

 

[otrlynn]

The other method not mentioned here is the tank drain-down method. You need to have a few brute trash cans (enough to hold all the water in your tank). Clear an area in a front corner of sand. Start draining the water into trash cans (your corals can survive a few minutes of exposure to air) keep going and you will find your fish heading for the deepest area of water (that corner you cleared) When they are in that corner, you can net them and drop them in a bucket. Immediately start pumping water back into the tank. If you put some type of container on the floor of the tank, you can pump or pour water into it and let it overflow, minimizing disruption to the sand. A helper is essential in the process, as you want to do it quickly. One warning is to watch the fish you are trying to catch, if they hole up "high and dry" in a rock, you will still end up taking out rock.

 

[20jlr]

I just did the "take out 200 lbs. oflive rock and chase it " method

 

[mr&mrsfish]

I've used all of the aforementioned methods for catching various fish. The clear trap based method worked for the "bold" fish. However, I struggled to catch a six-line wrasse for weeks. I literally spent hours trying to coax him into various traps. After pretty much giving up and refusing to tear down the tank, I stumbled across the "Drain the tank" method mentioned by Otrlynn. I had the tank drained, the six-line netted, and the tank refilled within 30 minutes! If all else fails, drain the tank.

 

[fishfl]

catching fish

catching fish

I net my fish at night. Most fish sleep and when there sleeping you can blind them with a very bright flash light and net them realy fast, it works great. The idea is that the fish is in shock for a second and cant see. Turn on the flash light and net at the same time.