tips for catching fish in my tank full of rock

[powdertoastman]

ok, im trying to get one of our fish out of my 55g, the problem im having is there is 70#'s of lr in there, and its stacked about 3/4 of the way to the top of the tank, so does anyone have any tips for getting him out without taking all the lr out first or moving a ton of it around? i dont want to stress the rest of my fish out doing that or kill anything hiding in the rocks either, so any help would be great, TIA.

 

[sebae0]

i have never tried this but people have reported some succes with taking a cleaned out plastic bottle and cutting the top off and glueing it back on inverted with the small opening inside the bottom end. sorta like a minnow trap, then add some bait like a piece of krill or something. problem is it doesn't guarantee you catch the right fish. hth

 

[daniel411]

Originally posted by sebae0
i have never tried this but people have reported some succes with taking a cleaned out plastic bottle and cutting the top off and glueing it back on inverted with the small opening inside the bottom end. sorta like a minnow trap, then add some bait like a piece of krill or something. problem is it doesn't guarantee you catch the right fish. hth
other than that... a four leaf clover and patience helps

 

[powdertoastman]

lol ok, i guess ill just move a few chunks of rock and try to get him on one side of the tank with 2 nets, but i dont think ill have much luck, he is a fast little bugger, thanks for tips.

 

[fshhub]

2 options
1 is persistence and patience(lots of both)
2d is to remove rock
there really are no fool proof ways of doing this
some say to use food amoung other little tricks but in the end it will only work with either one of the 2 i had mentioned

 

[jackal4eva]

Well this worked with my damsels....
move your substrate so that there is about 2-3 inches of glass bottom showing... let the fish see it and they'll try to escape out of the "hole" - swoop em up...

 

[dreeves]

I waited until my damsels were tucked in and sleeping for about 3 hours...thne got a flashlight and blinded them while I simply netted them out...

 

[kreach]

We have had a lot of luck with the bottle trick mentioned above. Just pay attention to where the fish in question likes to hang out the most and then put the bottle there... better chance of catching the fish you want that way.
Good luck!

 

[puffygrrl]

They actual sell "fish traps" that are acrylic versions of the plastic bottle. Sebae0 is close with his description of how it works, but the key is using fishline to close the top when the fish swims in. Cut the bottle, invert, put "bait" in end with string running through both halves..have the fish follow the lure into the bottle and pull it throught the opening which in turn closes the bottle. Bad description, I am sure someone on here can do it better. Good Luck!

 

[slofish]

Dont know if it'll work, but try getting it while your feeding. Try keeping the food close to the top of the tank w/ one hand, and a net in the other. It'll have to come out and eat sometime.

 

[longx412]

For me I just yelled at the damsel. " DAMN get in the freaking net now." Worked for me one time...

 

[powdertoastman]

well tryed the bottle, moving rock, while feeding, while sleeping, he is just to darn smart, and was getting pissed and tryed to take a chunk out of my wifes hand while moving the rock lol, so we just gave up and hope he just gets along with the fish. thanks for all the tips.

 

[drakken]

Originally posted by dreeves
I waited until my damsels were tucked in and sleeping for about 3 hours...thne got a flashlight and blinded them while I simply netted them out...
ROTFLMAO!!!!!

 

[drakken]

I caught a very fast fiji devil damsel by using a clear breeder box. I put the box in a corner on an angle so I could chase him into the box. You have to be fast once you get him in there and slam it shut against the tank glass.

 

[bang guy]

32 gal Roughnecks are only $9
Get two and drain all the water out (keep it warm with heaters).
Pick up the fish & refill the tank.

 

[dillybobs]

This is a little trick that worked for me when I needed to catch a trigger fish. 55 gallon tank with live rock. I moved a small amount of rock out of the corner of my tank (placed and left in another area of the tank). With the corner open and an area that was free of objects in front, I was able to place a piece of plexi-glass into the corner of the tank (the full hieght, and just a bit wider than the tank itself). Using the corner as a pivot point, I left an opening that fish could swim thru. At first they are a little shy about swimming into this new area but in short time they just needed to explore. Once you see your fish in the divided off area close it shut. ( closed off area is a triangle space without any obstruction in it now). Place net in, gently scoop fish out, then remove plexi-glass. Fish is out, and your tank is back to normal without much stress.
Now this worked great for me: but I can bet your tank is landscaped with a ton of rock in the corners.

 

[polarpooch]

Here's what I did to catch my sohol (twice)...and it was easy:
put the bigger net in the water in the corner of the tank and walked away for about 20 minutes, and let the fish chill.
Then I tied a piece of string around a chunk of salmon soaked in Garlic Xtreme and hung it right over the net...
It took about 30 seconds to catch the fish.