Catching a Pictus

[sivic]

Im probally the bad person out of the group, but i did use a regullar net 3 times to catch my pictus before getting rid of him. He never did get stuck but maybe i was lucky. It was very hard to chase him around the tank for at least an hour before finally catching him

 

[daveedka]

Everyday. Your best bet is to use a cloth net, or any fine mesh net. Catch the fish, place it in the tank you want to have it in, and leave it at that. The less time trying to chase and catch the fish the better it is for the fish. Why stress it more than you have to. Do it and get it done with.

A net has a greater risk than other methods, and therefore will potentially cause more stress. A white brine shrimp net will stand a much better chance than the blue and green heavy mesh nets, but any of them pose some danger. Most LFS's with any sense at all will use brine shrimp (fine mesh white ) nets for the sticky fish. This greatly reduces the injuries and problems of netting, but does not eliminate them.
The bigger issue is that it is hard to track down a pictus in a tank with a net, however they will readily go into a dark pipe to get away from you. they won't be hurt by the pipe, and even when you pick them up to move them if a lid is on it, they will be in the dark inside and fairly calm. I use 3" pvc on the bigger fish and 2" on the smaller guys. With Pictus and thier affinity for brine shrimp, a small bit of brine shrimp inside the pipe will save you chasing them at all. trust me your pictus will find the shrimp. As Mike said we don't net fish every day.
Therefore most of us aren't as good at it as LFS employees, and pictus are lightning fast fish.
Dave

 

[JosephMCorbett]

I heard all of the horror stories about netting Pictus with regular nets and so was planning to catch mine in a container when I moved all of my fish from a 55g to a 125g. So, here I am catching the other fish with my net. My Pictus start going bonkers and one runs into the net as I'm trying to catch some Tetras. El Stucko. One wisker is stuck in the net. Now what? Well, I ended up pulling and streching the net and pushing his wisker back through the whole at the same time...not easy, because they are barbed. Anyway, got him out and he's fine. Advice....don't use a standard net. Don't even get a standard net near him.