Help me catch a fish!

[jrlandsman]

I have a small damsel, the blue and yellow looking ones. It keeps digging in the sand to the point where there is no sand in certain parts of my tank but there will be 5 inches in another sectoin. Anyway I have tried catching him with a net and I cant because there are so many rocks in my tank (its a 90 gallon reef with tons of rock) that the fish just hides. I also tried feeding the fish with the net each time but that fish wont get any where close. Also tried the trap thing with a bottle but that didnt work either. Anyone have any other ideas? It would be impossible to take the rocks out of the tank because there are so many. Someone help I hate this fish and cant get it out!

 

[blkhawk10]

Technically it wouldn't be impossible to take all the rocks out, but it would be a pain in the a$$. I know how you feel i've been going thru the same thing with my clown goby who finds it fun to nip all my SPS's to death. Personally the closest I've come to catching him is the bottle, but no luck yet. Hope something works out, let me know what worked.

 

[snowrider84]

I have had some luck with a little fishing hook and some line. Put a piece of food on it and see if he will take the bait, it can be a pain though not to catch your other fish. i had three a while back i was trying to get rid of i caught one then after a while got frustrated and removed all the rock

 

[shaggyblz]

Having the same problem with a Javanese. Been an ongoing battle ( about 3 months). I have tried the small hooks and bottle traps. Not sure how to catch them without removing rock. Thinking about digging a hole in the sand and then draining most of the water for a short period forcing the fish into a small pool. Might work. Let us know if you come up with any more ideas. I could sure use them.

 

[fishmamma]

If you can catch it at night when sleeping that will be the easiest. Some fish you can literally grab with your hands in the middle of the night. Good luck!

 

[coralreefer]

not yellow tangs!!!!

they're IMPOSSIBLE to catch

 

[naclh2o nut]

Get a piece of plexiglass that will fit in corner from top to bottom to make a large triangle. Have a hole cut in it near the top( big enough for fish) then have a second piece that will cover the hole. feed in corner and fish should swim in, put second piece over hole and dip fish out with net.
If it doesn't work day one leave in tank and keep feeding until fish are not scared.

 

[suspectcobra]

if you try the bottle trap with LIVE brine in the bottle i am pretty sure that will interest him, just give him time, the live brine gets them interested fairly quick, i have had to do it and it worked like a charm for me.

 

[vishnuborg]

I used to have the same problem. Finally, I tried using some kind of film to encase the live rock temporarily. Then I used an empty container flipped upside down (so all the air comes out; a capsized 'boat') with a net to scare it against the glass, where I scooped it up. Also with the sealed off live rock, it is possible to scare the fish into jumping out of the tank, where it is virtually immobile.

 

[sbaumann14]

what i did was go to walmart and got 7 ft of veil which i weighted down and laid it across my rocks. left a little area for the fish to swim out. when they came out, shut off the small opening and net the little guys!