To catch a regal that does not feed!

[mattsilvester]

Hi All,

I've got a dilemma. I have a regal angel in my reef. The regal eats nothing only my corals! I want to catch him and take him out. But how does one tempt a regal into a fish trap when it doesn't feed?

Any ideas? Seems breaking down the reef is the only option

Cheers

 

[ryanrid]

Hi All,

I've got a dilemma. I have a regal angel in my reef. The regal eats nothing only my corals! I want to catch him and take him out. But how does one tempt a regal into a fish trap when it doesn't feed?

Any ideas? Seems breaking down the reef is the only option

Cheers

Section off one part of the tank when it gets to that side trap it so you only have to pull part of the tank out

 

[jjk_reef00]

You can try the fish stunner trick: turn on all the lights at 2AM after several hours of complete darkness.
Sometimes the fish are stunned and and aimlessly swim the tank in a disoriented fashion. You have a couple of minutes before they regain their coordination but if you are lucky the fish will swim out of the rockwork and you can easily net him. I've caught a few fish this way, but certain fish just do not come out of the rocks, then I agree with above where you section off a portion of the tank so you don't have to break everything down.

 

[reef80]

You can try the fish stunner trick: turn on all the lights at 2AM after several hours of complete darkness.
Sometimes the fish are stunned and and aimlessly swim the tank in a disoriented fashion. You have a couple of minutes before they regain their coordination but if you are lucky the fish will swim out of the rockwork and you can easily net him. I've caught a few fish this way, but certain fish just do not come out of the rocks, then I agree with above where you section off a portion of the tank so you don't have to break everything down.

I've tried this and it works for some of my fishes too. Also I will turn off all light in my tank and living room where there is total darkness suddenly towards end of light cycle and then I shine a led headlamp towards it. This also seems to spooke the fish and blind him where it makes him vulnerable and I use a black net to swoop it out. Sometime u have to chase it for a while...But they have to be out of rock work for it also to work....good luck.

 

[evolutionZ]

how about using coral to lure it instead of food?

 

[mattsilvester]

Hi All,

During routine maintenance today, I just had a go ..... can't believe how dumb this fish was, he swam out, into a corner, as though he was waiting to be caught..... anyway, job done.

Thanks for the suggestions anyway.

 

[ace_92101]

What are you going to do with the Regal? I assume it's an Indo Regal, no?

 

[humaguy]

nice job Matt...glad you didn't have to bait a trap with her fav coral snack...
you seeing any rare angels around lately?

 

[bullitr]

It's very easy do it at night 2-3 hours after the lights are off
Just find out where it sleep using flash light wait 10 minutes Get all your net ready then turn the lights on
You have 5 minutes window to poke it out of the rock work or just scoop it out

 

[mattsilvester]

nice job Matt...glad you didn't have to bait a trap with her fav coral snack...
you seeing any rare angels around lately?

Rare - not so much, unusual.... yes.

Many fish which are common place in say the US are unusual here - and vice versa.

Just last weekend I paid about $33 (US) for a 2-3" yellow tang.... about the same that I would pay for a 6" "local" angelfish species, while a powderblue was half that and a flame hawkfish is double.... a 8-10" clown trigger is about $60-70(US)..... while a 1" clown trigger is about $30...... go figure..... hahaha

The regal in question was a yellow belly indian ocean fish.