I recently had an Ich outbreak in my 120 reef. I purchased a fish trap from drfoster smith and made my own out of a 2 liter and managed to catch 10 out of 13 fish in the first half day. The 3 fish left would no go near the traps so I tried the method with a fish hook and managed to get my blue tang, now I have 2 fish left a small blue damsel and a small green chromis and I cannot catch them for the life of me. I have spent over 20 hours in the last 3 days. I am getting extremely frusturated. Is there any way to knock them out or make any sort of miniature speargun, I dont care if they die in the catching attempt I just need to get them out so I can rid my tank of Ich. It just so happens the last 2 fish are my least favorite and first fish I ever got. I cannot drain my tank but I am open to pretty much any other method.
Problems catching 2 fish
- Thread starter Dunshster
- Start date
reefnetworth
Premium Member
YOU DONT CARE IF THEY DIE? then you should change hobbies. why dont you just get a 22 cal. and shoot em? then all your reef worries would be gone forever.
its kinda like a small spear gun, except with a little more velocity!!!
JDM
its kinda like a small spear gun, except with a little more velocity!!!
JDM
The only reason I don't care if they die is because they are both extremely aggressive mean fish, and the longer they stay in the tank the longer I have to keep 11 fairly large fish in a QT which I hate doing. I had the 2 small fish when I had a 6gallon aquarium and decided to toss them in the 120 instead of getting rid of them in the past, the damsel chases and punk on my coral beauty all day long and the green chromis likes to chase my cleaner shrimp way to much. I love every one of my fish except thsese two.
Last edited:
I don't know if this would work so some feedback would be great. What if I were to throw in a lionfish or some sort of aggresive fish that would eat the small damsel and chromis then pulling it out (since anything would be easier to catch than these two) The only problem is I have 2 cleaner shrimp, a coral banded shrimp and lots of crabs/snails I do not want to get eaten while trying to get these 2 annoying fish
carlosngloria
Active member
Try a hungry grouper. Lol He should take care of them for you
Ooulophilia
New member
Yes you can drain your tank - get two garbage cans from home depot and a a decent size rio - it will take you half an hour, not 20 hours/3 days
I had a very similar problem a couple of years ago; 2 blue damsels introduced to a new tank to start cycling...... tank up and running doing great .... the 2 damsels mature, get more agressive, stress the tank, and any one of us could fill in their individual scenario ...
I used the fish hook routine that you tried. The size of the hook has to be small enough i.e. proportionate to the size of the fish. The bait on the hook has to be 1. just big enough to cover the barb but not so big as to need more than a bite or two to consume. 2. use their favorite food 3. take the time to desensitize them from the effects of watching their tankmates disappear to a similar method .... feed them a few times with whatever bait you will eventually put on the hook so they develop a certain comfort level with that particular item. (this particular fish is as smart as he is aggressive)
Then bait the hook, drop it into the tank on a relatively short line and be prepared to pull the fish out as soon as he takes the bait. This is an active process and not drop the line and come back a while later to see the bait gone and an empty hook dangling.
I sense your frustration, try the fish hook again before you feel like just taking the double barrel shotgun and blasting the whole tank. Good luck.
I used the fish hook routine that you tried. The size of the hook has to be small enough i.e. proportionate to the size of the fish. The bait on the hook has to be 1. just big enough to cover the barb but not so big as to need more than a bite or two to consume. 2. use their favorite food 3. take the time to desensitize them from the effects of watching their tankmates disappear to a similar method .... feed them a few times with whatever bait you will eventually put on the hook so they develop a certain comfort level with that particular item. (this particular fish is as smart as he is aggressive)
Then bait the hook, drop it into the tank on a relatively short line and be prepared to pull the fish out as soon as he takes the bait. This is an active process and not drop the line and come back a while later to see the bait gone and an empty hook dangling.
I sense your frustration, try the fish hook again before you feel like just taking the double barrel shotgun and blasting the whole tank. Good luck.
allstar.h2o
Premium Member
DUH.........Use a fish trap.
Randall_James
Premium Member
Ditto, works like a champ
BeanAnimal
Premium Member
Maybe instead of being an insulant jerk, you should at least read the first post of the thread you are reponsding to.
allstar.h2o
Premium Member
I must have gotten sidetracked by the wanting to murder fish with a speargun part. I am so very sorry for being an insulant jerk. Sorry to waste your time. Please by all means continue with your fish spearing business.
The only reason I was willing to spear the fish is because I want to keep the rest of my fish out of a QT tank as long as possible. The water quality is not near as good in the QT even with daily water changes. I have plenty of great fish that I wouldn't dare hurt, its just the damsel and chromis which are bullying the rest of my fish (Despite being the smallest) in the first place. I'm glad you came to this thread to thread to preach. Keep saving those punk damsel's one at a time. You are making the world a much better place!
*Update* My damsel has since killed the chromis (He chased it pretty much 24/7 for the last 4 days since the rest of the green chromis school was successfully moved to the QT). So now I only have 1 fish left to catch. The damsel is still deathly afraid of the traps I have and the fish hook, however I am hoping he will get hungry enough to overcome his fear of the traps/hook soon.
allstar.h2o
Premium Member
That is good that you are trying to catch the damsel without killing it. I dont like damsels myself. Maybe you should have not put damsels in your tank in the first place. Damsels suck regardless. I can only hope your blue tang or one of your great fish do not become a nuance. I had a ugly damsel kill a powder blue tang, yeah I was ****ed off I wanted to feed him to the cat. I eventually caught him and gave him to my LFS where he sat in a small ill kept refugium for two years. It was kind of like damsel prison.
I have a German Shepard that likes to dig up 100 dollar queen palms in my backyard. I am at a moral dilemma now thanks to you. If the dog digs up 15 will that exceed the dogs value? Should Ithrow it a T-bone steak with a hook in it or just spear it? If the dog was a mutt should I have done this after the Tulip plant? Idunno I think I will just train her she is just a puppy. Not saying you should train your damsel or anything but you get the point.
I am not preacher, dont believe in it and dont want to get in to it.
Most importantly I would like to thank Bean for realizing that I am an insulant jerk.
I have a German Shepard that likes to dig up 100 dollar queen palms in my backyard. I am at a moral dilemma now thanks to you. If the dog digs up 15 will that exceed the dogs value? Should Ithrow it a T-bone steak with a hook in it or just spear it? If the dog was a mutt should I have done this after the Tulip plant? Idunno I think I will just train her she is just a puppy. Not saying you should train your damsel or anything but you get the point.
I am not preacher, dont believe in it and dont want to get in to it.
Most importantly I would like to thank Bean for realizing that I am an insulant jerk.
Randall_James
Premium Member
hmm I suppose that if you go to the Macna XIX he could call you that in person? nice spokesperson.... Think i will pass myself, my ego can't take the abuse 
..
anyway dont take it personal...
..anyway dont take it personal...
allstar.h2o
Premium Member
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10496544#post10496544 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Dunshster
Does anyone have any recipe's for damsel? I really like cajun/blackening
If you could only catch/kill him too cook.
BeanAnimal
Premium Member
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10496497#post10496497 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Randall_James
hmm I suppose that if you go to the Macna XIX he could call you that in person? nice spokesperson.... Think i will pass myself, my ego can't take the abuse
anyway dont take it personal...
Grow up Randall
His comments were rude and uncalled for. I do not know why he would not want to take it personal, it was directed straight at him. Your comments are trolling and childish and wiff of a veiled threat. Which is worse?
