neon dottyback-CAUGHT!!!!!!!!
- Thread starter corky
- Start date
grouperhead
Active Member
nm, dotties can be a real pain in the butt. they are super terriotorial, will attack anything with the same shape or colors as them, and will accept no newcomers. im sure you know all this though. bo
corky
Member
o.k. the story behind the catch. As stated in another post a while ago, the neon was in a different tank until my wife put him in the 75 reef tank(not realizing how territorial he was). Since then(about 7 months) I've been trying to get him out. I tried just about anything and everything(food tricks, nets, etc) and couldn't get him out. Too much rock and corals to remove. This guy is the quickest and sleekest of any fish I've ever encountered. So I started building traps. I used 32 oz. clear bottles, 2 liter bottles, cylinder tubes, combinations of these things glued with epoxy and still no success. Other fish would go into the traps but not the dottyback. The hair was quickly dissappearing from my head as I was running out of options. The shop vac idea was definately becoming more of a reality than a joke(but how much damage would I cause? and I feared I still wouldn't get him). By now I was convinced that he knew I was after him- and only him- and my pride was on the line. I decided I would build yet another trap, the ultimate of traps! I brought home the plexiglass this past wednesday and told my wife I was going to do nothing but work on this trap to get rid of the dottyback. A couple of hours later I had to call my wife on her cell because I had cut my thumb pretty good with a saw and had to be taken to the emergency room. Thursday I continued were I had left of now working with a bandaged hand and even more intent on getting that darn fish!!! The trap was built and now had to be put to the test(it was about the size of a 2 gal. tank- it had to be big because the dottyback was just too cautious). The trap was working like a charm as every fish would enter the trap except the dottyback(I would have up to 4 fish in the trap at one time). I tried all kinds of food from live brine to frozen cubes to several flake foods. NOTHING! Saturday I was away but today(Sunday) was going to be another day with nothing on my mind but this fish. Again tried all kinds of food with no results. I have a royal gramma in the tank and for no reason the dottyback relentlessly attacks him especially during feeding time. So my desperate mind had an idea. I went to the fish store on this site, copied and printed the picture i.d. of the royal gramma. I took a spring from a pen and a suction cup from a powerhead. Cut the picture out perfectly, attached it to the spring and suction cup and then placed it deep into the trap. I put some more food in the trap and reset this contraption. My idea was working, as the other fish would go in to eat the food, their movement would cause my royal gramma picture on the spring to likewise move back and forth creating some "real" movement. A couple of minutes later the neon dottyback flew into the trap to attack the royal gramma and the door shut quickly behind him! Finally!, he was caught. A long battle but it's all over with. Kinda makes you wonder if Ernest Hemingway ever owned a saltwater fish tank which inspired his classic story "the old man and the sea". And yet, I love this hobby!?.
fishinchick
Member
LOL you made my day! Great story there Trapper!!
Corky 1 - Dottyback 0
Corky 1 - Dottyback 0
dlight692000
Member
i just bought one, and it is with my convict tang, it it hasnt giving any trouble at all, i like it.
