cant get damsels out

[warble]

yeah i just started a new tank and i used 5 damselfish to cycle the tank but i cant get them out. I already tryed the inside out pop bottle but that doesnt work. Got any ideas?

 

[chevron tang]

i have no idea but good luck. about the only way you may get them out is by tearing up your rock fixture (if you have one) in the process of trying to get him out.

 

[salty rick]

I orginally had six damsels and was able to catch three of them. The other three got too wise so I have left them in the tank. That has been about four years now. The way I caught the other three was to take a large fish net and use a safety pin to pin a piece of shrimp to the inside. I placed the net into the tank leaning it up against the front of the glass. As the damsels went into the net to eat the shrimp I scooped the net up and caught them. I figured three out of six was not too bad. The only problem was keeping the Tang from eating the shrimp first.
Good Luck

 

[miner]

If you can make a DEVIDER to seperate them from the rest of the tank, it really helps a LOT.

 

[ocellaris_keeper]

Get two 5 gal buckets and reomve all of your LR and snag those little pests!! Mine have flippedover hermits/ pulled them apart/and killed my black spotted Wrasse.
Get 'em out!!

 

[olim]

i had lights out for bout 1-1 1/2hrs turned the blue back on and everyone came out front like whats going on. i could have got him by the tail but didnt have anywhere to put him and nobody wanted him and i couldnt kill him so i left him in, doesnt bother anyone now. but its an idea.

 

[sandy]

I have two yellow-tail damsels. They are still quite little. Instead of fighting, they just swim around together. They used to harass the cleaner shrimp, but don't anymore. Any reason why I should get rid of them?

 

[blondenaso1]

Put a big fish in there that will eat them! Then it will be easier to take one big one out then 5 small damsels. Do you have a friend with a big Lion fish? See if he'll let you borrow it! LOL Or you can try a octopus it'll take care of them, and everything else in the tank.

 

[sandy]

Seriously, is there any reason why I should not keep my two yellow-tail damsels? They get along fine and don't seem to bother anybody.

 

[underthesea]

I have a blue damsel in my reef with other fish and inverts, and clean up crew and never had a problem with him bothering anything or one in my tank and it has been set up for years. I would leave them but it seems to me there are alot of people on this board that hate them.

 

[blondenaso1]

Just because damsels are inexpensive does not mean that they are not as important as other fish. I still have 3 damsels in my tank from when I was cycling it, and I have never thought of taking them out. I really like the yellow tailed ones. If they are not bothering anything then why go through the hassel of taking them out. I really don't think that they are as mean and territorial as most people make them out to be.

 

[scott270]

ya a lion or an eel would do the trick or get them with the lights of when they dont expect it

 

[jeffrey-chiang]

Why do u need to remove them? I have a yellow tail damsel,too.(ovrt 3.5 years old) It's no aggressive to others...even the clown fish.And it can live in any kind of tank...

 

[iloveclowns]

It's not easy....I had to take eveything out of my tank(lr, dead coral) to get them out. Just make sure you can see them before you take anything out. Because sometimes they go into rock when you try to take them out.

 

[dwarfs]

when i needed to take my damsel out i just waited till it was feeding time he was so used to me i had the net already in their and he swam right in. but i left my yellow tail in their i like it in my tank it remindes of a small purple tang. i have a damino damsel it is getting quite large?? and seames to chase the other fish. how big will it get it's about 2" now and trys to eat everything. i'm watching him or her now it might be a female,because its so large?

 

[cyn]

For the record, my lyre tailed yellow damsel is a Pain in the A$$! It steals food from the corals, harrasses the clowns and in general just can not leave anything alone. I also have 2 blue damsels and they are no where near as agressive and aggrivating as the yellow. If I could find someone to take the bugger, I would get it out of my tank!
cyn

 

[von_rahvin]

spot light them. when ever i want to get rid of a fish i replace the batteries in my maglight, turn off the lights in my tank, let it sit for an hour or 2, and find the fish without the light, they all have places they go to, and nail him with the light he freezes and in goes the net never fails after a shot or 2

 

[sheni_angel]

I'm new at all this...what's an inside out pop bottle mean to remove damsels? <img src="graemlins//yeahright.gif" border="0" alt="[yeahright]" />

 

[k.lee]

Originally posted by Sandy:
<strong>I have two yellow-tail damsels. They are still quite little. Instead of fighting, they just swim around together. They used to harass the cleaner shrimp, but don't anymore. Any reason why I should get rid of them?</strong><hr></blockquote>
Sounds like a pair. But most damsel pairs still tug some on each other.

 

[k.lee]

Originally posted by Jeffrey-Chiang:
<strong>Why do u need to remove them? I have a yellow tail damsel,too.(ovrt 3.5 years old) It's no aggressive to others...even the clown fish.And it can live in any kind of tank...</strong><hr></blockquote>
The onlyvreason, anyone would/should want to remove them is for bio-capacity/stocking levels. Unfortunately damsels are the LOWBOY simply because of availability and price usually. SW IS expensive no matter what anyone says, and as an aquarist we want rewards, Ie. captives which move, swim, breathe, et cetera. The damsel is our lowboy.
I've learned I can cycle a tank without damsels, some are not always as informed tho, hence the problem when aquarists complete a cycle and want more exotic species, distregarding thw lowboys.