Male Lyretail gets caught in the net...

[MHG]

So I bought my first male lyretail from blue zoo...after acclimation I noticed his teeth and spikes behind his gills got caught up in the net when transitioning from my acclimation bucket to the qt.... My question is, would a finer net be better for him or a courser net..?

 

[aandfsoccr04]

I don't ever use a net in my reef tank. I just use breeder boxes or my hands to transfer fish so something like this is avoided.

 

[humaguy]

yeah, nets are bad news esp. with angels...agree with above, cup, breeder box, hand etc...

 

[MHG]

I guess I am missing something....I don't think I can catch him in my qt with my hand...I guess I will need to drain most of the water...

 

[MIKE NY]

on smaller fish I use a fine mesh net, but on larger fish or anything with spikes etc... I use a container....just use the net to corral them in.

 

[namxas]

Actually, we keep venomous fish almost exclusively, and we use the soft, open-weave "box-bottom" nets. Believe it or not, just as what happened to your fish, the gill spines are what always get caught up as opposed to the dorsal spines on these fish. I've had to cut a few fish out of nets before we came upon using the "soft" nets, and dodging dorsal, pelvic, and ventral spines doesn't make it any easier.

The material of these nets is either white or black. Taams makes the white ones. The other thing that's nice is that the box bottom doesn't close up around the fish, which helps prevent their spines from getting caught. FWIW, I've never had a fish become caught in one of these nets.

HTH

 

[MHG]

Figures.. While catching my 6 line out of the qt my lyretail got angry at my Midas blenny trying to hide under his PVC and attacked.... I hope he did not leave a bite mark... I guess the lyretail is going into the qt next...

 

[Yogre]

I made a transfer "box" that has worked really well for me, after having the same experience as the OP, a fish getting her gill plates snagged in a net.

I took a 1-gallon plastic milk jug and cut it in half, and kept the top half that had the mouth of the jug. I then took a small piece of fiberglass window screen and zip tied it over the mouth of the jug.

Result, a transfer trap with a nice, generously sized opening to catch the fish, as well a good handle for me to hold it with. QT water drains out the screen, and the surface of the jug is smooth and slick, so when I transfer my new friend to my display tank, he slides right out into the tank.

I also drain a lot of the water out of my QT, and use a piece of eggcrate to help herd the fish into the transfer "box".