How to net a fish

Feeding time would be best, then use dividers to reduce the amount of escape space available to the fish.

i use a large net and a small net. direct the fish into the large net using the small net. and i would agree that feeding time in theory would be the best time...but in practise there would be a lot of hungry fish swimming all over the place, and you would send food flying all over the place around the tank. thats what ive found anyways.

trying to net a single fish is where the question arises:
do they have a 6th sense?
because, i think we would all agree, the one fish you want always seems to know your after it...every time...

If you don't have 2 nets, get a (plastic) spatula to help herd the fish into the net. Patience is very important.....

Should you try this at feeding time and scatter food all over the tank, break out a Vortex Diatom filter and get it going..

I was thinking I would have the same problem just a few minutes ago. I had a long fin danio in my 72g planted tank and I had to take him out and give him to my friend because he was bothering all the fish to school with them. I thought my friend was going to be here awhile since the fish is very fast and I couldn't catch him before. I feed the fish when I get home, so what I did was just put a very small part of the net in the water and the danio swam over to it thinking it was food. Right before he was about to bite it, I very quickly put the whole net in and scooped him out. I didn' think it would be that easy. Give it a shot at feeding time.

the last time i had to net fish in this type of situation was when 4 blue/green tiger barbs needed removing from my 36ins by 18ins by 15ins planted community tank. (sorry...i know tanks in measurements not volume). they had to be taken out as they were worrying the other fish with their fast, aggresive behaviour. unfortunately, it was this fast behaviour of theirs that made it difficult. i spent hours trying to chase them with the nets...and only caught one. so i came up with an idea by thinking like the tiger barbs. they are a fish that get very hungry as they are so fast moving...and i had been chasing them for hours, so they must have been starving. so i placed some food in the big net, and held it still in the water. when one of the tiger barbs went in to get some (and when the neons finally left the net...) i would jerk it up, and the fish was caught. this worked for 2 more fish, so i had just one more to go....i left it for a day, hoping it will get lonely and come to its senses and agree to get caught. unfortunately, my skills as a diplomat didnt work...and he didnt fall for the food in the net trick (he was a smart one who had learnt his lesson....). so it was back to chasing him with the nets....he was eventually caught acouple of days later, and reeunited with his friends in a 18ins by 12ins by 12ins tank i had set up for some small shelldwelling cichlids...and they are still theer with afew more tiger barb friends - so my dreams of those shelldwellers havent come true yet, much to the pity. but it is a very colourful and lively little tank all the same.

I use my nets as sparingly as possible. That way, when it's time to net, the fish have forgotten all about the dreaded net

It is also helpful to net during a water change, when your tank is mostest empty. Less room for the critter to escape.

Try it just as the lights come on. Make sure the room is dark and use a flashlight. This works for me.

Good idea Skittyfish! Stealthy....

Matak, I hope I never have to use a net on my Discus... ouch..

I have a Yo-Yo Loach that couldn't stand the idea of being netted. I was trying to move it from a 29 gallon I was dismantling to my 72 gallon.After trying for several days with no luck, I finally started dismantling the tank and took out all but a few inches of water. Even then he wanted to make it difficult - A few times even diving head first into the gravel to half bury itself. However, even then he would escape when I tried to scoop him and some gravel out. Well, I figured ok, You want to do that, I will take counter measures. I buried all but the handle of a net in one corner - and chased him there with my other net. Sure enough he dove headfirst into the gravel covering the net. I covered his top with my one net and scooped the hidden one out of the water - finally snagging him.

He is still psycho to this day