ryberg21
New Member
Okay, so I was able to make DIY a fish trap that worked to catch my flame angel. Here's some instructions and pictures. Feel free to modify as necessary -- especially if you need to make it smaller to fit in your tank.
Materials required:
Three 11"x14" acrylic sheets (about $3 at Home Depot or Lowes)
Super glue gel
Acrylic cutter (I just used the edge of a chisel)
Clear packing tape
Fishing line
Two weights of some sort -- preferrably of equal weight. Can be metal because they won't be inside the tank
Turkey baster to inject food into trap
Steps to assemble:
1) Measure acrylic
* Don't remove the plastic wrapping on the acrylic
* Mark where to cut on the acrylic (see figure). Label pieces "A", "B", etc
2) Cut acrylic
* Align a straight edge (such as a ruler) to the line you are going to cut
* Score the acrylic 5-10 times with the cutter. The first time through, don't worry about pushing too hard, just worry about getting the line straight -- if your first curves, it's hard to get subsequent lines to go straight.
* Break acrylic by placing on the scored line along the edge of a table and hitting the acrylic which is hanging over the table.
3) Drill holes
* The hole at the bottom of the door can be small -- you just need to be able to insert fishing line and tie a knot.
* The feeding holes in "E" need to be around 1/4". I happened to have a specialty drill bit that cut these holes well, but I didn't remember I had it until I just used a normal one cracked the acrylic a little.
4) Assemble the fish trap using the figure below.
* Use super glue to glue the parts together. You don't necessarily have to cover the entire junction with glue. Several spots along a junction work fine, as the trap need not hold water (it just needs to hold fish).
* Tape the door on -- where the door hinges up and down (Where "C" and "E" meet). It doesn't have to swing the way indicated if you feel like the fish would enter from another direction.
5) Tie fishing line to the door
* Tie two separate strands of fishing line to the door. These strands will come out of the tank and be used to open and close the trap. See the pictures where I've used yarn instead of fishing line. One line is used to open the door, the other to close it.
6) Insert trap into tank.
* If desired use paper clips (with the paper clip portion out of the water!) to hang the fish trap on the edge of the tank (up high). For me it worked well to just rest the fish tank on some rocks near the bottom of the tank.
* It also helped to put a piece of rock in the tank to keep if from moving around (plus it just makes the tank look all the more "homey" and appealing...right?!?
7) Tie weights to fishing line
* Tie weights to fishing line so that you don't lose the line. I just let the weights sit on top of my egg crate cover of my tank when not actively trying to catch the fish.
8) Put food in the trap
* Using a turkey baster insert food (like mysis shrimp) into the trap.
* You will have to periodically "poof" the turkey baster to make the food float around -- my fish weren't interested in the food laying on the bottom of the trap.
9) When desired fish enters trap, close the door
* I found that it helped to have the door open quite wide (say 45 degrees) -- if it was too closed, the fish would be too scared to enter.
* It also seemed to help to not appear as though there was someone near the tank. When we finally caught the flame angel it was when my wife was holding onto the "close" line sitting out of view, and I was using the turkey baster to stir up the food in the trap.
Well, good luck hunting.
Diagrams and pictures:
1) Diagram of the fish trap
2) Pic of finished fish trap
3) Picture using yarn instead of fishing line (so that you can actually see it!)
Materials required:
Three 11"x14" acrylic sheets (about $3 at Home Depot or Lowes)
Super glue gel
Acrylic cutter (I just used the edge of a chisel)
Clear packing tape
Fishing line
Two weights of some sort -- preferrably of equal weight. Can be metal because they won't be inside the tank
Turkey baster to inject food into trap
Steps to assemble:
1) Measure acrylic
* Don't remove the plastic wrapping on the acrylic
* Mark where to cut on the acrylic (see figure). Label pieces "A", "B", etc
2) Cut acrylic
* Align a straight edge (such as a ruler) to the line you are going to cut
* Score the acrylic 5-10 times with the cutter. The first time through, don't worry about pushing too hard, just worry about getting the line straight -- if your first curves, it's hard to get subsequent lines to go straight.
* Break acrylic by placing on the scored line along the edge of a table and hitting the acrylic which is hanging over the table.
3) Drill holes
* The hole at the bottom of the door can be small -- you just need to be able to insert fishing line and tie a knot.
* The feeding holes in "E" need to be around 1/4". I happened to have a specialty drill bit that cut these holes well, but I didn't remember I had it until I just used a normal one cracked the acrylic a little.
4) Assemble the fish trap using the figure below.
* Use super glue to glue the parts together. You don't necessarily have to cover the entire junction with glue. Several spots along a junction work fine, as the trap need not hold water (it just needs to hold fish).
* Tape the door on -- where the door hinges up and down (Where "C" and "E" meet). It doesn't have to swing the way indicated if you feel like the fish would enter from another direction.
5) Tie fishing line to the door
* Tie two separate strands of fishing line to the door. These strands will come out of the tank and be used to open and close the trap. See the pictures where I've used yarn instead of fishing line. One line is used to open the door, the other to close it.
6) Insert trap into tank.
* If desired use paper clips (with the paper clip portion out of the water!) to hang the fish trap on the edge of the tank (up high). For me it worked well to just rest the fish tank on some rocks near the bottom of the tank.
* It also helped to put a piece of rock in the tank to keep if from moving around (plus it just makes the tank look all the more "homey" and appealing...right?!?
7) Tie weights to fishing line
* Tie weights to fishing line so that you don't lose the line. I just let the weights sit on top of my egg crate cover of my tank when not actively trying to catch the fish.
8) Put food in the trap
* Using a turkey baster insert food (like mysis shrimp) into the trap.
* You will have to periodically "poof" the turkey baster to make the food float around -- my fish weren't interested in the food laying on the bottom of the trap.
9) When desired fish enters trap, close the door
* I found that it helped to have the door open quite wide (say 45 degrees) -- if it was too closed, the fish would be too scared to enter.
* It also seemed to help to not appear as though there was someone near the tank. When we finally caught the flame angel it was when my wife was holding onto the "close" line sitting out of view, and I was using the turkey baster to stir up the food in the trap.
Well, good luck hunting.
Diagrams and pictures:
1) Diagram of the fish trap
2) Pic of finished fish trap
3) Picture using yarn instead of fishing line (so that you can actually see it!)
