Help me get my damsels out

[rex taylor]

6 chromies, 2 clowns, 2 firefish and 6 pain in the tank damsels!BTW 150 gal and 200 lb of live rock.
Help! I don' want to take out all the rock.
Signed,
desperate in LA

 

[bang guy]

You have a really difficult task ahead of you.
All I can suggest of setting up a permanent net in your tank and feed all the fish right on top of the net for a few days until you can get them all in there. They learn quick and may not fall for it twice.
Why did you put them in there if you didn't want them

 

[hnf2k]

throw in a mantis shrimp.
j/k

 

[rex taylor]

Thanks for the quick reply.
New to the hobby and LFS said get these fish; 3 chromies and 6 damsels to cycle the tank.
I should and from now on will get my advice here, not LFS.
Thanks again,
Live and learn I guess.

 

[deyoe757]

Throw in a grouper, trigger, puffer there is a lot that will eat them...

 

[tangtang]

Why would you want to get them out. I look at my damsels as background fish. Well most of them. <smile> I do have one domino. He's a foreground fish if I ever saw one! <smile>

 

[peasly1]

what I would do is, get a peice of plexi-glass the width of the tank,slip it in there in the middle or hopefully they will all be to a corner and put it there..even if you put it in the middle you cut the tanks size in half,this makes for less hiding spots..I would also take the lr out of the side the fish are on..hopefully they will be on the same side as each other,its just easier in the long run and its not that hard,had to do it a couple of times on my own and it seem less disturbing than trying to chase a fish back and forth a 6-7ft. tank IMO

 

[frogger]

or you could starve your fish for a couple of days, then sprinkle a little flake on top and wait with a net and scoop them up quickly

 

[buzz]

The plexi idea sounds like a good one. A lot of people end up dismantling their rock work to get to damsels. One of the reasons most will advise not to use them for cycling is the difficulty in removing them. The other of course, is that you can cycle the tank with a few raw shrimp and not use anything live, but this is still a reason.

 

[evilss]

i left mine in my tank. they give color and movement. i got an aggressive set up so all but one is gone now. but its fun watching him.

 

[spruce]

I agree with peasly1... I used this trick myself. You can get a piece of plexi from homedepot for $4 and they will cut it for you.
Also, having two people with one on each side of the tank helps alot. Have one person massage the damsels to one area of the tank, with the other person waiting to net them.
Specimen containers laid vertically with the bottom side stuck in the substrate can do the trick too. Then manipulate them into the camoflauged container and lift it out.