Catching an uncatchable fish

[Authentic]

I had a really aggressive pseudo chromis that evaded my trap for a week.he always attacked any new fish I put into the tank so I put my new fish into a bottle trap and I caught him within 15 min .

[yachtdr22]

Originally Posted by solitude127

I was able to use a fish trap with a rotating door. My goal was to catch a sixline wrasse and was successful. Instead of food in the trap, I placed a mirror in there. 24 hours later he was trapped.

Rotating door????

[henriks]

Yesterday i needed to Get an tang out of my 1600 l. A fishingnet with fine mesh did the job in 15 min. Just placed it in the aquarium and chased the fish into it. Just like they do when they catch them in the wild. Then picked the fish out of the net by hand. And i can tell you that that tang is not something you catch easy with neither a trap or a normal net.

[BillyHalloween]

I starved my fish for 3 days, cut the top off of a plastic juice bottle, poked a hole in the side of it and put a suction cup on it. I suctioned it to the side of the tank and attached a piece of fishing line. This way, i could pull up on it and rotate the bottle up so the fish could not get out. Put some mysis in there and they swam right in. Rotated it and had no problems. Caught 2 dominos and 2 clowns this way. Had to fish a watchman goby out though. That sucked. Hope this helps!

[ilikefish34]

I used to work in a pet store that had two owners. one would tell myself and other employees to put fish in the 125 gallon reef tank then the other would come behind her and tell us to take it out. the tank was over loaded with live rock (325 pounds). it seemed like every week we had to catch something out of there. the aquarium had pendant metal halide lighting so the top was open.

damsels were the easiest. i would simply use the largest net available and flake food. keeping the food on the surface, forced the fish away from the rock work. had to go after them just before they got to the food as they were on the way up because they turn back down the instant they get to the food.

for a blenny, psuedochromis or any other fish that liked holes in rocks, i would use a whelk (similar but smaller) shell. anything that was new in the aquarium would get a full inspection and this was no exception. they would go in and i would take them out, shell and all. caught a coral nipping juvenile majestic angel this way.

acrylic dividers were a must for the larger fish. dividers were a must for larger fish and we would disassemble a section of the tank.

those are some of the tactics that i never use at home. in my personal aquarium, i net feed my fish. i thaw the frozen in some tank water in a coffee mug, strain it into a fish net and then dip the net in the tank. the fish become accustomed to this and don't see the net as a threat to the point that i have to be careful not to accidentally catch a fish during normal feedings.

hope this helps someone.

[308systems]

I caught a crafty sailfin tang by simply making a fish trap out of a 1 gal clear plastic water bottle from King Soopers. Cut the end off, cut a 2.5" diameter hole in the end, invert the end and sew it back together with fishing line, or tape it with clear tape, then set it(or hang it) in your tank and put a piece of nori inside.

My crafty sailfin was inside the bottle within 30min of placing it - then i just lifted the whole thing out and dumped him in the QT

Mark

[yachtdr22]

Originally Posted by 308systems

I caught a crafty sailfin tang by simply making a fish trap out of a 1 gal clear plastic water bottle from King Soopers. Cut the end off, cut a 2.5" diameter hole in the end, invert the end and sew it back together with fishing line, or tape it with clear tape, then set it(or hang it) in your tank and put a piece of nori inside.

My crafty sailfin was inside the bottle within 30min of placing it - then i just lifted the whole thing out and dumped him in the QT

Mark

pic please?

[adolltoo]

i had a purple stripe dottyback (aka devil-dottyback, to me that is) that was eating my lil blue legged crabs and was mean to my pajama cardinal.

to catch him i used a sheet of glass (can get cut to your size needed at ace) cut to the width & height of my tank. i slid it down in, but now all the way down... chased devil-dotty between that sheet and end of tank... slid the glass down once he was over there... now he was kinda in his own narrow tank with nothing to hide in/around. i put the net down in and easily caught him.

[monopolybag]

Didn't read everything, but have to add, plexi glass sheets, patients, and or a solid net or specimen cup always works for me. I use the plexi glass sheets to corner fish in reef tanks where I can not move the rock yet the fish can easily get away.

[s_luark]

Originally Posted by solitude127

I was able to use a fish trap with a rotating door. My goal was to catch a sixline wrasse and was successful. Instead of food in the trap, I placed a mirror in there. 24 hours later he was trapped.

I like this idea, specifically for the sixline, and angels of sorts

[vaporized]

Reef Gently Inc. makes awesome acrylic traps. I caught every fish I have in 2 hrs. No tearing out rock and coral. It was the perfect solution. The hardest fish to catch was a flame angel. That was one smart fish. It almost knew I was attempting to trap it. I still trapped it, but it took 2 hrs. All the other fish were trapped almost instantly.

[BrooklynBandito]

Well this really helped. I ended up catching my fin nipping damsel by catching with a net in his sleep.

[308systems]

Have a crafty fish that needs to come out?

Buy a clear 2 litre soda bottle, or I found a water bottle that worked perfect.

Cut the spout off to make a 2.5" diameter hole, then cut the spout end off at the shoulder, then reverse it and push it back into the soda bottle body. Then punch some holes in the seam with a paper hole punch, or use a hot coat hanger to melt holes, and sew it together with fishing line.

Then dump some favorite food inside and set it in the tank, and voila' - 2 hours(or less) later you will have the fish inside and ready for retrieval.

Mark

[ReefPharmer]

i have had luck catching tangs and angels using the lights out technique. Turn off the lights completely when its dark around the tank (complete blackout) so fish go to sleep. In 30 mins to 1 hr, turn all the lights on full blast and fish are disoriented for about 5 mins. You can net them easily. I've actually bumped fish with the net or stick to get them to move out of rockwork and scooped them out with absolutely no resistance... very easy if you can at least semi get to them

Ofcourse you can wake up in the middle of the night yourself, trip your way to the tank, and possibly knock the lights into the tank as you are dazed by the light flash along w the fish. Do this at your own risk.

[cnguyenl]

I have a wrasse that I like to take out. Will try the trap and see how it goes!

[DrPat]

great stuff guys I GO FISHING AT NIGHT I usually have good luck as they sleep

[snorvich]

Originally Posted by DrPat

great stuff guys I GO FISHING AT NIGHT I usually have good luck as they sleep

Yes, any diver will tell you that the fish are clueless at night. Use a red light for best results.

[10reefman]

good info thanks

[rayr18]

I wish I read this thread before I had to remove some blue damsels last week...good information

[jcolley]

Originally Posted by snorvich

Yes, any diver will tell you that the fish are clueless at night. Use a red light for best results.

Yep!

This photo was taken circa 2004 at Kakaako Waterfront park. There was no zoom and only minimal cropping on this pic, the Naso just didn't care.
182801_1683175112675_6983123_n.jpg

[Sparkpaul]

I had to remove a Clark clown and damsel with fish hook with bait. I caught both in one afternoon. I put them in a floating acrylic box and some how they got out.

None of the fish would go near the bait and hook. That night, I caught the clown again while he was sleeping inside the anemone by using a clear plastic cup.

The damsel is still very alert and hyper aware. I'm going to try the coke bottle.

Thanks guys

[Minaimee]

I have been trying to catch a wrasse in my 100 gallon tank with no luck. It seams that I need to drain the whole tank and remove most LR to catch. Any suggestions?

[125mph]

If I'm only catching one or two fish, I find it easiest to divide my tank in half using egg crate as a divider. Then locate your fish and move some rock out of the way to make the segment the fish is in smaller.. Slowly, you keep making the segment smaller until the fish is cornered with glass and the eggcrate.. Then you take a net and just net him as he has no where to run or hide.

If you do this right, you only have to move a few pieces of rock and maybe set it on the other segments or temporarily set it in a container. After your segment becomes smaller, you can put the rock back in its place..

Obviously depending on your rockwork, this could be harder.

[BlueFyre]

I've used a home made fish trap with success against a bully of a mystery wrasse.

I have caught 3 blennies by going after them at night. I usually know where their sleeping spot is. So you take a syringe with just water in it, sick it in the hole or near and shoot all the water at them. They will come flying out and are disoriented due to it being night time. Easy.


Now the eel was another matter entirely. That took a complete tank drain and dismantling of a rock wall.

[Deinonych]

Originally Posted by BlueFyre

I have caught 3 blennies by going after them at night. I usually know where their sleeping spot is. So you take a syringe with just water in it, sick it in the hole or near and shoot all the water at them. They will come flying out and are disoriented due to it being night time. Easy.

That gave me a chuckle.