Volitans to remove damsels

[mattsilvester]

Hi all,

It is a bit of an unusual post for me..... I have about 20 damsels.... in the U.S. they would be considered unusual I am sure..... I think they are called Indian Yellow Tail Blue Damsels. They are open water swimmers, and not very aggressive.

I am a bit ashamed to say, I want to get rid of them - but I will never be able to catch them. Would a volitans lion do the job for me? What size volitans should I get? If not a volitans, then can you suggest something else that will root them out?

 

[jarrod13]

To be honest, it probably won't work. Damsels are pretty smart and know to steer clear of predators. Because they are established they know where to hide in the tank so they won't be eaten. Over a period of time if might work but I think it would take quite a while. I keep damsels with my predators (lionfish and scorpionfish) and only had one I think get eaten. If it were reversed, lionfish was established and try to add the damsels, they would be eaten for sure. Just my opinion.

Why do you want the damsels out? I think you would have better luck with a fish trap to be honest.

 

[jvdub20]

+1 on the fish trap. Or, if possible, take out all your rocks and catch them that way.

 

[EllieSuz]

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=707656

 

[humaguy]

Hi all,

It is a bit of an unusual post for me..... I have about 20 damsels.... in the U.S. they would be considered unusual I am sure..... I think they are called Indian Yellow Tail Blue Damsels. They are open water swimmers, and not very aggressive.

I am a bit ashamed to say, I want to get rid of them - but I will never be able to catch them. Would a volitans lion do the job for me? What size volitans should I get? If not a volitans, then can you suggest something else that will root them out?

get an undy..problem solved...lol....

 

[namxas]

The damsels would eventually disappear, as IME, they make a mistake sooner or later and get just a bit too close to the volitans. Of course, if you didn't feed the lionfish supplemental food, it would likely happen quicker.

My concern would be what you'd do with the volitans afterward, unless you like large lionfish. Personally, I think they're really great fish...the lion, not the damsels! ;-)

 

[humaguy]

nice thing about the undy is if you give him a nice piece of rock with a hole to call home- it is easy to get him out of the tank...let him swim into his hole and remove the rock with him still in it...just my dumb .02...

 

[mattsilvester]

Attrition seems to be slowly taking its toll..... but reckon I'll be setting up the DIY drinks bottle fish trap trick and see how that goes.