Jason and Jon or anyone else know a good way to catch a damsel?

[kass03]

Ive decided to try to get my jewel damsel out of my 150. Ive had him for years and he used to be ok with the other fish but lately guards all the rocks and picks on the tangs.

Jon, my hubby has been trying to catch him with a hook (and having fun doing it lol) but I wondered what you used for bait?
We have a small hook and he goes after it but grabs the food off without getting caught. We tried mysis and regular shrimp but he doesnt seem to like the shrimp as much. The mysis are too hard to keep on the hook.

Jason, I was gonna try your fish trap if you still have it and wondered if I could borrow it?

kass

 

[yaitisme]

You could try a clear zip-lock style bag with a piece of fishing line tied to the corner of the open end. If he's brave enough to go after food on a hook he will probably enter a bag. Can also slide the netting off of some fish nets and replace it with a zip-lock bag.

I had to remove all but my base LR from my tank (probably not an option in a 150) to get rid of my DAMsel. Even then he would burrow under the base rock. Finally had to hit him with a pole against the glass to slow him down enough to net him. Nice looking fish in the LFS, but when I got him home he just wanted to hide every time someone was in the room. Bullied my peppermint shrimp and then started to nip a my new clown.

 

[Lishoop6]

put food in the bottom of a large net and wit for it to enter or after the lights have been on for a while make the room compleatly dark and then put a flash light were it is easy to catch from immediatly and grab em up

 

[Aquabucket]

The inverted plastic soda bottle trap has always worked well for me. You can even get 3 liter bottles at some stores now a days. These work very well. All you need to do is cut the top portion off and invert it. You may also have to cut the hole larger for the fish to enter. Adding small holes along the bottle help keep it submerged. Then simply squirt some food into the bottle and you'll be catching fish in no time.

 

[kass03]

Yeah good ideas.
He's to fast and smart for any net type plus the 150 is'nt easy to work in. I dont think a bag would work either. This fish is prolly 6 inches or so.
Ive seen a cool thread on here of how you train all your fish to go into the net by feeding them everyday with the net and once used to it they go right in. Good idea but I was hoping for something faster.
Spike I was telling my hubby about the soda bottle trick before you posted but knew this damsel would never fit. I did'nt think of cutting the top off to make it bigger though. We might try that.
Ive had this fish for over 5 yrs and he's big.
He used to always be ok in fact my flame angel beat him up all time when I first got him.

You guys would be surprised about the hook. All my fish went for it including my new powder blue tang I got yesterday. I had to keep trying to chase them away lol.

kass

 

[yaitisme]

Wow 6 inches, that's a keeper... fillet it and you may have a nice snack. If the ice doesn't improve i'll bring my ice fishing or fly fishing tackle over!

 

[jandlms]

Damsels have such a small mouth that a hook is going to be chancy. Fly fishing stores (Gander mt) usually stock REALLLLLLY small hooks. Maybe one of those.
Jason has a fish trap that I used to get a pesky damsel out of my tank. It took a while but I finally got the litttle #@$%%^%&^.
Good Luck!

 

[kass03]

Yeah I contacted Jason about the fish trap.
I thought you used a hook to get yours out Jon?

We have a real small hook but the problem is baiting it with something small that will stay on the hook.

Yeah Scott my hubby was really having fun trying to catch him lol he almost caught my tomato clown and I yelled at him cuz that fish is at least 12 yrs old.

kass

 

[jmkarcz]

Kass, The trap is brung.

(brought it to work)

J

 

[kass03]

Thanks Jason I plan on picking it up this afternoon.

kass

 

[jmkarcz]

Update?

 

[kass03]

I guess my fish are stupid or smart lol.

None of them will even go to the opening except the damsel. I tried for a cpl hours and he got his head to the entrance and that was it.
They all try to grab the food on the side or back.
My kid says he's never gonna fit in there lol I dunno I'm gonna try again tomorrow.
It is really a cool trap Jason I just wish the hole was a little bigger for the monster fish I grow.

Oh Jason PM the results of my TDS when you have time. I'm really afraid to know lol.

Also thanks alot for your help.

kass

 

[jmkarcz]

Drum roll please.....

My tap water: 147 ppm
My RO/DI (new resin): 1 ppm (teetered on 0)
Your Walmart water: 11-12 ppm
Your Tap Water: 467-470 PPM

 

[kass03]

That doesnt look like a PM to me lmao.

Well I know it has no nitrates in it lol I tested it with 3 diff kits.
Im sure it has phosphate and gonna test for that soon.
Ok so I have hard water and really never have to add calcium to my tanks cuz its always high.
Ive been using this water for 23 yrs on my tanks lol.
I do get diatoms and sometimes cyano but I also attribute that to my sandbeds that are both 11 yrs or older and have alot of detritis despite me vacuuming it with every water change.
I never get hair algae but maybe thats cuz I have alot of tangs.

I did try once using all RO store water on my 55 for water changes for several months and never noticed a difference so went back to my tap water.
Makes ya go hmmm lol

kass

 

[yaitisme]

Hey, if the tap water is working for you (23 yrs is a pretty good track record), more power to ya!

Jason, that is not bad for Wal-Mart water. You should sneak a sample of the tap water at that same store for an input/output comparison. I figured the polished wouldn't be near 0 as a DI would be crazy expensive for drinking water. 11-12 isn't all that bad for a stand alone bulk operation that needs to provide nearly an infinite output with little/no maintenance!

What are you using for a TDS meter? I was looking a dual in-line meter but thought a portable one would be more flexible.

 

[iceman5]

to helpcatch a fish i heard you can use a sheet of plexis glass and get the fish cornered to a side of your tank without all the rock work and the net him? good luck

 

[kass03]

I GOT HIM!!!!!

Jason is a Genius. I tried again today and had him in about 5 minutes. He was hungry today and kept sticking his head in and then went in once and I got him.
Then my kid bawled and screamed and pleaded not to bring him to the pet shop lol but I had to.
They put him in a nice big tank not for sale along with some other bullies and he proceeded to beat the crap out of the fish in there lol so not sure how long he can stay there either.

Thanks so much Jason. I know I woulda never got him without that trap.
It's a good thing it was the damsel though cuz none of my other fish would go near the entrance.

Iceman I saw them use the plexi at the pet shop in a big tank and it did work well for Steve cuz he's good at it.
I know if I tried it my rockwork would all be knocked down lol.

The Walmart water I got at the one in Darboy. Yeah I'd say that is'nt too bad. I use that in my nano.

kass

 

[jmkarcz]

Awesome Kass. Shhhh! don't tell anyone. I'm really not that great. I'm sure you can get testimonials on that.

I won't do another damsel in any of my tanks. Ever.

Clowns Yes, Damsels no.

Sidd sold me what he said was a maiting pair of yellow tailed blues last year... I haven't seen them s much as look at each other with love in their eyes.

Scott, it's one I got off ebay. Think it was make by Hanna. One of those protable pocket probes. It's always worked fine, I wanted something attached to the system, but is easier to test any water I want if its hooked that way.


It's better that you use walmart water than koolaide.