getting Damsel out of tank

peonleon2

Member
I have a problem trying to get a black and white striped damsel OUT of my tank. I cant catch him for the life of me. Does anyone have and good hints to get him out? I have tryed today for 30 min and moved 60% of my live rock but still cant catch him.
HELP PLEASE :help: :help:
 

toughguy80

Member
Do a search on this board for "fish trap". Basically you take a 2 liter and cut it in 2 near the top. Take the top part and face it so the the opening is inside of the remaining bottle. Put a little food in there and with a little luck, the damsel will go in and catch himself. Failing that, most of the time all the LR has to go in order to get him!
 

sinaloa213

Active Member
what i did to get my damsel out was to feed just a little bit and when he is eating turn all the surrounding lights off and just catch him with the net it worked for me really quick
 

reef.magic

Member
if possible, move most of the rock to one side of the tank and chase the damsel to the other side, screen him off with something, that'll give him less space to hide
or
turn off all the pumps and drop a small bit of food in an open space and try to grab him while he eats
 

stella

Member
What has worked for me... is taking a piece of clear plexi glass (the height should be a little more than that of your tank, and the same width); put the plexi glass in the tank near the corner of the tank, feed your fish in that corner, once they get there, use your plexi glass as a door, and trap them in the corner. Maybe you'll have all your fish in the corner but it's much much easier than moving all the LR ! :happyfish
 
D

deepsixer

Guest
Originally Posted by SiNaLOa213
what i did to get my damsel out was to feed just a little bit and when he is eating turn all the surrounding lights off and just catch him with the net it worked for me really quick

same thing i did to get all 3 of mine out and it worked great. i did it with the lights on and just the net for about an hour almost lost my mind. did it this way and it was a pc of cake.
 

aweo

Member
I use 2 nets.
position one stratigicaly in a place where the fish is likely to pass, and use the other to chase him in... The point is to have the "catching" net not move until hes inside and the other net keeping his attention.
Ever whatch the croc hunter? he waves a hand infront of the snake and uses the other unseen hand to grab it.
I also keep a piece of old dead coral to place in the net that the fish will hide in.
I use both these methods to catch fish in the wild, but with bigger nets.
even better use the plex method above in addition.
 

nofish4u!!

Member
Good Luck! I had one of those suckers in my tank and it took me 3 hours to get him. Moved all of my live rock to one side of the tank, used 2 nets and cornered him. It was hell! I will never buy one of those again.
 

wanabebell

Member
Originally Posted by Emperor11
Buy a large, mean fish!!!


MY THOUGHTS EXACTLY
im sure somebody will rent you a volitan lion (free meal) (all natural) ***) ***)
 

wanabebell

Member
Originally Posted by king4345
Try this
I haven't had a damsel problem in years... :thinking:

Anybody want to give the grouper a free meal
 

emperor11

Active Member
Originally Posted by wanabebell
Anybody want to give the grouper a free meal
Sure! Look, its a pettin' bass!

**crap, where'd my finger go?**
 

j-spot

Member
Instead of moving all the rock around or out, just get some tubs and drain the tank down to where the fish has limited places to hide. Works great and won't hurt your rock or livestock if you can do it quick. I've done this to my reef tank. Drained down to a few inches above substrate and nabbed the little b*****d.
 

hi1369

Member
what i did was simple. just put a little bit of food in a net and theyll go right in for the food. at least the fish did for me.
 

chipmaker

Active Member
Speargun, fishing rod/reel/hook, dynamite......All I can say,is been there done that and no more for me........have fun, didn't even get a T shirt out of it.
 

platehead

New Member
Since Damsels are inexpensive i would try hooking it with the smallest hook you can find. Just bait it and let him take it. This was the only way i was able to get mine out and i put him in my other tank and he is fine.
 
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