HOW DO YOU CATCH A DAMSEL in a reef tank?

[kat 4]

Yah -well here I am again - the coke bottle didn't work. Caught a shrimp and that's about it. Of course as soon as I removed the coke bottle, they came flying out of the rocks. We are moving in about 4 months so guess I will wait until then. I've got too many corals to move the rocks. Yes, all newbies - DO NOT cycle your tank with damsels unless you get them out before you add live rock. !!! Thanks for all your sharing

 

[kat 4]

p.s. Great sponge Bob tank!!! Love it!!

 

[1journeyman]

I had a really aggressive 2 Spotted Wrasse..
What I did (actually paid one of my youth to do...) was stand real still by the tank with the large net in the water. She kept pouring very small amounts of food in the net... the more timid fish ate out of the net first, but eventually the bull got mad because they were eating and he rushed into it.
This works really well with garlic soaked foods or Brine shrimp. Something your fish may not normally feed on but love as a snack.

 

[lionfish1]

Originally Posted by 1journeyman
I had a really aggressive 2 Spotted Wrasse..
What I did (actually paid one of my youth to do...) was stand real still by the tank with the large net in the water. She kept pouring very small amounts of food in the net... the more timid fish ate out of the net first, but eventually the bull got mad because they were eating and he rushed into it.
This works really well with garlic soaked foods or Brine shrimp. Something your fish may not normally feed on but love as a snack.
This was basically how I did it also. It takes patience and time but eventually I got the Devil.

 

[birddude]

I had one mean sob in my reef tank. Bought two red sea two banded clownsand they just wooped up on him and now The sob is the most timid fish in the tank! Those clowns are an inch less in size than the sob. But thy are bad dudes. Greg

 

[bjoe23]

hi

 

[hefner413]

Originally Posted by bjoe23
hi

uhhh. not sure why you said "hi" this thread is about a year old - how did you find it?? Anyway, glad you did... I've been trying to get rid of my damsel - some good ideas here!

 

[ccampbell57]

Originally Posted by Kat 4
We are so frustrated. We are trying to move our aggressive 2 damsels to another tank - how do you catch them? We tried everything - food in nets, fish corral, etc. but can't catch them. they hide in the LR and around corals. Any ideas??? I'm desperate!

Shoot it

Good luck gettung those pieces of S&*$ out of your tank. I had to completely rip down my 180 (all large fish and 250lbs of LR) to get 1 damsel out. This was 2 years ago. I wanted to quit SWF after that. I was really frustrated.
People always say, if you dont want to keep the damsel forever, dont put one in.

 

[scotty37]

mine are easy to catch, just feed them. they are hogs. They dont care if they are in a net. Put the net in, let them scurry around, put flake food in front of it, and net.

 

[grabbitt]

I wanted to get rid of a damsel so I could get a bit of credit before converting my tank into an aggressive tank. I knew I was looking at too much work for it to be worth the half credit I would get from my LFS, so I went with the simplest technique to rid my tank of a damsel: I bought a grouper

 

[grabbitt]

And as a guilt-purging follow-up, the damsel that could not be caught had killed his other two tankmates beforehand

 

[earlybird]

Okay this might be the best way.
You build a time machine and go back to the time you first heard someone say "cycle your tank with a damsel" and smack the crap out of that person.
Problem solved and possibly saved some people the headache in the future.

 

[2nu2believe]

How do you catch a fish?
Well most people, not in the aquarium hobby, use a hook. This is how I got an overly aggressive yellow tang out. Get the smallest hook you can find and file off the barb so it is easy to remove. Put on some shrimp, open a can of beer and have fun!!!

 

[scotty37]

nice!

 

[copeseter]

Smallest hook you can find, crimp the barb on the hook, small bit of shrimp, bingo, ready to move to another tank.

 

[hefner413]

Funny... but never thought of catching a fish with a fish hook! I think we have a winner!
I'm going to try the bottle trick first though... might as well let him live if possible..

 

[mach03infront]

that sponge bob tank is to funny

 

[ocellaris_keeper]

Originally Posted by fishieness
wait until he is sleeping. then when he is really lazy and cant see very well net the sucker.
or you can always buy a lionfish

funny!
Best way to catch a damsel is to block their favorite hiding places, turn off the lights ands they'll hide close to the rock. Add a trap and leave it in the tank as you slowly segregate the tank using plastic bags - it may take a day or two - they'll go into the trap if it looks like the only option and you have them.
Just like most of this hobby - patience wins.

 

[donald]

if you use a hook try to find a flyfishing store and buy a hook in the size 22 range. they are small!!! then just add shrimp and enjoy

 

[ags]

Go to Sports Authority or a bait & tackle shop and buy a sabiki line. The hooks that come on it are very tiny. Get a little raw shrimp or tuna, wrap the line around your finger and start fishing. Took me a few times to get the hang of it but once I did the damsel was out in 15 minutes. Kind of fun too.