Remove a six line wrasse?

fraglerock

fraglerock

Member

I have a 75 gallon coral reef and I need to remove a six line wrasse. It has 100= lbs. of live rock and full corals I really don't want to remove every thing from the tank.
Any tricks and or Techniques that may help capture my wrasse would be greatly appreciated.
 
spanko

spanko

Active Member
Yeah, good luck with that.
You could try a fish trap.
You could try a small fishing fly hook with the barb ground off and try to fish him out.
 
S

smartorl

Guest
Six lines are pretty cunning. I honestly think if you catch him, it would be a case of sheer luck. I went through this when moving my tanks.......I was cursing my six line with a passion!
 
slice

slice

Active Member
Anytime I try to trap a particular fish, my Sixline is the first one to go in. If there is food involved, he is there first!
My Sixline is why I quit trying to use the DIY bottle trap; I was constantly having to remove him from it. I now use a modified Ultralife fish trap (it is near useless out of the box, but with my mods, it is near perfect)
FWIW, this is what I do:
 
fraglerock

fraglerock

Member
What did you use and how did you bait the trap?
I made a trap and attached a silverside to the pin so when the silverside gets a tug the pin gets pulled out the door shuts and I get my fish.
Well that's the plan.
 
bountyhunter23

bountyhunter23

Member
did you get it to work? I just removed mine after 2 years. I had a glass anemone out brake that i couldnt control so i had to get pep shrimp. So he had to go, or else he would have killed them.I had to take out all my rocks but 2 with out breaking my corals off. It took 3 different attempts. I cursed him soooo much and broke 2 glass scrapers that i was using to coral him.
 
florida joe

florida joe

Well-Known Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by Slice http:///forum/thread/384147/remove-a-six-line-wrasse#post_3364348
Anytime I try to trap a particular fish, my Sixline is the first one to go in. If there is food involved, he is there first!
My Sixline is why I quit trying to use the DIY bottle trap; I was constantly having to remove him from it. I now use a modified Ultralife fish trap (it is near useless out of the box, but with my mods, it is near perfect)
FWIW, this is what I do:

The door and its inability to close is the Achilles heel of that fish trap. GREAT modifications you should post it in the Tips treads
 
slice

slice

Active Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by fraglerock http:///forum/thread/384147/remove-a-six-line-wrasse#post_3364689
What did you use and how did you bait the trap?
I made a trap and attached a silverside to the pin so when the silverside gets a tug the pin gets pulled out the door shuts and I get my fish.
Well that's the plan.
I put the trap in this weekend, squirted mysis inside with a turkey baster. As I predicted, the Sixline went into the trap the first 5 minutes, left a bit later, dragging his huge belly behind him. I had to bait again.
My targets are the 2 green chromis. The larger of the two was trapped in about 15 minutes, the smaller one has not figured out the open end. Instead, he keeps banging his head into the side trying to get to the mysis. He has always been a little slow.
And of course, the LMB goes in to take a dump.
 
fraglerock

fraglerock

Member
I guess the silverside wasn't appetizing enough. No one would go in the tube to get it. I'm going to starve them for a day and try some mysis or brine shrimp and hope for the best. I'll let you know if I get lucky.
 
slice

slice

Active Member
Bait the trap with what seems to be their favorite food, which in my case, is mysis.
A silverside might be a good bait for a crab or shrimp, not a Sixline.
Let them go without food for a day or so before trying to trap them.
I trapped the remaining chromis the other night when I got home in 30 mins or so...after having to
put more bait in 3 times...Sixline kept going in and eating it all
 
fraglerock

fraglerock

Member
Well, I got my fish (six-line wrasse), I Modified my trap to suction to the glass, do to the fact that I did not have a lot of space on the bottom of my tank. It actually worked out great I had a better visual of the trap and I had a lot more options where to place the trap. After leaving the trap in for two days and not feeding for two days, I squirted some frozen brine shrimp in the tube, I had to bate the trap a few times, because my six-line had to see for other fish go in and eat before he would trust it. I had to sit still about eight feet away with my fishing string in my hand. After about 45 min. the six line finally went far enough in the tube for me to pull on the string. and thank god he was in there. I was extremely relieved that I did not have to remove all my rock and coral.
 
fraglerock

fraglerock

Member
I started this tank in July 2009.
75gal Coral Reef Display Tank.
8 gal Refugium, 10 gal Sump.
Tank setup: 100 lbs. Agonite live sand, 120 lbs live rock.
Total: 94 gallons of water.
Calcium reactor
Protein skimmer
U.V. sterilizer
Vortech MP10 Wave maker
Neptune Systems Aqua Controller Apex. Adding a 20 gallon long for a frag tank in the back of display. and I am experimenting with custom made LED light.
 
fraglerock

fraglerock

Member
Thanks for all the input. I feel confident that I can catch any fish I want. The trick is to put the trap in for a day so the fish get familiar with the trap being in the tank and second starve the fish you are trying to catch and be patient, you'll catch em
 
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