Poor Man's Fish Trap??

[socal57che]

I want to catch my evil chromis xanthurus specimens and was researching DIY traps. Looks like the easiest and most economical one is the 2 liter bottle with the end cut off and inverted. Anybody ever use one? How well did it work? Also let me know of others you've used like the commercial units or PVC DIYs. As soon as the Pepsi's gone I'm going to try it. I'll post results.

 

[dogstar]

I used the bottle trap to catch a hogfish and it took 3 hours befor it went in. IMO it might not work on chromis. The Hog was very brave.........and mean. Good luck
PS, I put it on the sand and my BG chromis never went near it. You may want to try to suspend it up high somehow where the chromis mostly stay at if thats how yours are.

 

[socal57che]

Thanks for the input.
I hear they tend to want to float so maybe I can use weights w/leaders to suspend it. I don't have any open space in this tank to lay it on the bottom anyway. 3 hrs sounds pretty quick to me. Did you put food in it? Did the food stay in it?

 

[dogstar]

I put in mysis shrimp, something there used to eating and can " see " that its food.

 

[socal57che]

sounds good, will do.

 

[trainfever]

I tried the soda bottle trap to catch a damsel but I caught every other fish and hermit crab except for the damsel. What I used was an old breeder net. It is a plastic frame with netting all around it except for the top. It is about 5 inches square on the end and about 7 inches long. I stood it on its end with the opening towards the glass of the tank. I had it set at an angle with one edge against the glass. I then would put live brine shrimp in there. The damsel was not spooked by the breeder net because the opening was so large but when he swam inside, I used a 3 foot dowel stick to push the breeder net against the glass trapping the damsel inside. I then reached in and slid the breeder net up along the glass to the top of the tank with the damsel trapped inside. Breeder nets only cost about 5 bucks and they break down flat for easy storage in case you ever need it again.

 

[socal57che]

O.K.
I'm convinced it could work. I have too little patience to find out. I transferred all my rock to my 100 gal, then took a piece of glass from the entertainment center and made a corral in one end of the tank. After separating the good fishes from the EVIL MINIONS OF SATAN I proceded to net them and throw them into the 100 gal. tank. I then transferred the rock back to the other tank. I decided it was time to remodel anyway. I took a pic of the trap with bewildered fish staring at it. I'll try to post it in a day or so.