Melanurus wrasse needs to be evicted.

jmadden

jmadden

New member
This fish was great for a while, but now it is getting bigger and starting to really disrupt my sand bed. It used to just cruise and search for pods around the rock. Now more recently burrowing under corals on my sand bed and creating a sand storm turning my tank into a snow globe. This is a problem, because I have a few scolymia that I want to move off the rock work to the bottom. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
 
Sorry for not reiterating the title of the thread in my post. I know I can't change a fish's behavior that is why I want to evicting him from my DT. There's no way to net him out and dismantling my reef would really be my last choice.

Are there any recommended traps or tricks that can use to remove it?
 
It's a sliding door. The complaints about it in the reviews section are correct. You need to weight the whole thing down if you have any amount of decent flow (or just turn the flow off whiel using it). I also polished and greased the edges of the door, to make it slide easier, and attached some tiny magnets to it, to make it slide down faster. It's still WAY easier for me to use in my tank than a self made soda bottle type trap, and I'm like 10 and 0 with it, so I will continue to recommend it, even with its flaws :D
 
You can use a clear plastic water bottle trick with food inside. Cut the head of the water bottle, invert the head, and put delicious food inside (after not feeding the fish for a day or two).
 
SDguy said:
It's a sliding door. The complaints about it in the reviews section are correct. You need to weight the whole thing down if you have any amount of decent flow (or just turn the flow off whiel using it). I also polished and greased the edges of the door, to make it slide easier, and attached some tiny magnets to it, to make it slide down faster. It's still WAY easier for me to use in my tank than a self made soda bottle type trap, and I'm like 10 and 0 with it, so I will continue to recommend it, even with its flaws :D
Click to expand...

I always read the lowest ratings first and so on. 10 and 0, that's good. If it catches fish it must work. Kind of pricy, but does the price out weight the price of sand covered scolies haha. Thanks for the help!
 
aleonn said:
You can use a clear plastic water bottle trick with food inside. Cut the head of the water bottle, invert the head, and put delicious food inside (after not feeding the fish for a day or two).
Click to expand...

Really, I never thought of doing that. Have you tried this method before and had success?
 
MikeandNicole said:
The wrasse sleeps in the sand, why not just watch and wait until it burrows into its spot and scoop him out.
Click to expand...

I tried something similar to that the other day. It was near morning and it had it's head out of the sand only I tried to maneuver a glass jar over him thinking it would bury it self, but it just took off. Haven't had a chance to watch it go to sleep since trying with the jar. I'll give it a go. Good thinking.
 
I was able to catch this exact species by waiting until the first set of lights went off and feeding, then swooped in. Took me about a week.

Good luck.
 
aleonn said:
I caught a fat and mean mystery wrasse with this method, as well as some peppermint shrimp.
Click to expand...

Nice, I'd really like to be able to get my two cleaner shrimp out as well. They are serious thieves and keep on victimising my corals when I'm not looking.

How big was your mystery wrasse? I've got one and it's around 4". It isn't aggressive at all. Kind of shy actually.
 
Mine was about 3.5". He picked on all new arrivals that were his size or smaller (wrasses and gobies). It took a couple of weeks to get him, he was pretty smart.
 
MikeandNicole said:
The wrasse sleeps in the sand, why not just watch and wait until it burrows into its spot and scoop him out.
Click to expand...

^This!

I dreaded the idea of trying this but it worked unbelievably well for me. I moved 2 rocks, put the net in the tank, watched the wrasse dive in the sand and scooped him out. I missed the first 2 "dives" but got him the 3rd time. Maybe 2 minutes and I had him. What really helped was taking my light fixture off so I had an easy reach.

My melenarus was a pain. Didn't mind the sand so much but it would pick off every snail/crab I have. It would even attack my conchs. My tank was filthy too since my CUC went into hiding all day. Now that the wrasse is out of the tank, they are back to work :)!
 
I had armed coris wrasse that did the same thing. He was a constant PITA!! I tried every trap made, too much live rock to net him out of the sand, finally one day I took a number 20 treble hook, broke two hooks of and pinched the barb off the last one and baited it with a piece of krill, dropped the line in my tank after not feeding for three days and caught him in about t so seconds. May seem kind of cruel but I don't miss that fish at all!! (he is still at the LFS)
 
I used the plastic fish trap with sliding door to remove mine, only took a couple of days of feeding into the box to catch him.

Beautiful fish, but eventually took out my CUC.
 
I must be lucky my Melanurus is a monster at about 5" and doesn't bother a thing, but's eats everything. It even gets bullied by smaller fish...
 
MIKE NY said:
I must be lucky my Melanurus is a monster at about 5" and doesn't bother a thing, but's eats everything. It even gets bullied by smaller fish...
Click to expand...

^^This. I have one and he get's bullied by a Maroon clown half his length. Great fish, but does enjoy it's sand :)
 
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