Fish Traps

[axepilot]

I have a big eye soldier fish that I need to remove from my tank and trade in. Catching him with nets is an exercise in futility - he's a rocket! He has become way too aggressive and it's time for him to go.

Are there any traps available that I can use to catch him? :help:

 

[darthgoby]

I had a fish trap and never caught a thing with it. I got one of the clear acrylic ones that they sell at a variety of places.

When I removed my chromis, I ended up having to take out about half the rocks and catch them that way.

 

[Dustin83]

Quick trick. It might or might not work. But it worked for me most of the time.

Dig a hole in the sand so that the lowest possible point that the fish can go is the sand. Then slowly empty out the water from the tank into a large trash can bin. If the fish is "smart", it will swim to the hole. Then you drain more water so there's nowhere else to go and net him out.

Couple things to be careful about though.

1. Make sure there are no fish or inverts stuck between the rocks and exposed to the air.

2. While you drain the water slowly, also make the entire process as quick as possible so your liverock stays fresh.

Hope that helps. Even if the fish doesn't go for the hole, it will at least be much easier to catch with less depth of water to deal with.

 

[fsn77]

I tried a variety of DIY fish traps, but I couldn't catch a fish in them for the life of me. Of course, I'd catch everything else in our tank -- cleaner shrimp, hermits, snails, but never any fish; let alone the fish I was trying to catch. Then I bought this fish trap. It's pricey, but worked the very first time and it only took me 5 - 10 minutes to catch the fish I was trying to remove.

 

[rufbabe]

I dont know much about those kind of fish but with me works catch them when the lights turn on in a dark room! They are sleepy and they get blind with the light!

hope it works!

 

[axepilot]

fsn, thanks for the link.

I really don't want to drain the tank to catch this little beast. Last winter I had to drain and move the tank when we had new carpets put in. I could not catch him with a clear tank and only 3 inches of water left!

I ended up completely draining the tank and beaching him. He's also active at night, so a midnight snatch won't work.

It might be time to break out the ole ultralight pole and go fishin'........:grinyes:

 

[BeelzeBob]

size 24 fly hook and a piece of mysis.

worked for 1 damsel in my tank. the others a lil too keen

 

[mrtuskfish]

size 24 fly hook and a piece of mysis.

worked for 1 damsel in my tank. the others a lil too keen

Works great; or use what sport shops call a "hair hook"--used to catch bait.Be sure to flatten the barb on the hook. This is not cruel; I'll bet it traumatizes the fish a lot less than chasing it around with a net. BTW; lots of the fish in our tanks are caught by divers " fishing" for the exact fish they want. Only real danger is handling them once you catch them. Cover with a wet towel to protect slime coat and have a needle-nose pliers ready to remove the hook. Lots of people laugh at this; but I never heard someone say it didn't work. When I lived on the MS coast, prior to Katrina, a lfs would ask me to help someone remove damsels this way...never lost or seriously hurt one, to my knowledge.

 

[soccerkidbs]

i am an idoit i never even thought of using my lil pole to get my PITA damsel out. i tore apart the rock work and used 3 nets. the is so simple.