to catch a damsel

ctgretzky9

ctgretzky9

Member
Hello!
Just wondering if anyone has any ideas on how to catch a small 3 stripe in the reef tank. I have one that needs some treatment for fin rot, and dont want to treat the whole tank. I have a convelescent home for it and the meds.
I have tried:
1. using the net with some food in it to lure. Every other freakin fish ate from it except the 2 damsels i have!
2. Leaving the net in, turning off all outside lights, and stood by for when it swims near it (many times for many minutes at a time!)
3. yelling at it
4. reasoning with it
5. threatening to take away tv privleges
6. holding back its allowance
Any other ideas? I have a lot of LR fr it to hide in, and it mocks me as soon as i take the net out of the water.
 
ctgretzky9

ctgretzky9

Member
I will certainly give it (dont know m or f) a good spanken once i catch it!
the funniest thing is how as soon as i pull the net out at all, it comes up right to the front of the glass and swims around...as soon as the net even SLIGHTLY enters the water, the only 2 fish that run for cover are the 2 damsel!
Its pretty comedic!
 
skiper gre

skiper gre

Member
I have not tried this but read about making a trap out of a 2 leader clear coke bottle cutting the top off and putting it in backwards so the fish has a funnel to swim in and a small hole to get out. Put food inside to lure it in. I haven’t tried it if you do let me know how it works.
 
druluv

druluv

Member
Forget about, those fish are too smart. You'll have tear down your whole tank to get to him. I had the same problem before.
Good Luck!
 
ctgretzky9

ctgretzky9

Member
lol mk...id love to catch it on video...my wife watches me standing there like a moron for 15 minutes at a time trying anything i can think of to catch it, only for it to pucker its lips at me seconds later!
Skiper-that sounds like a great idea, i will give that a try. Only forseeable problem is that those damn-sels wil prob be the only fish that WONT go into it!
But i will try, his fins look horrible and I really need to treat it. I refuse to treat the whole tank regardless of what some people have told me that it is ok to dump meds in the tank.
 
ctgretzky9

ctgretzky9

Member

Originally posted by druluv
Forget about, those fish are too smart. You'll have tear down your whole tank to get to him. I had the same problem before.
Good Luck!
Oh please don't tell me that! Tearing it down is not an option, i have way too much LR stacked perfectly and my bubbling treasure chest is in a perfect location (hehe jk about the chest!)
They are smart little buggers though, arent they!
Did you eventually have to tear it down? uuughh
 
ctgretzky9

ctgretzky9

Member

Originally posted by druluv
Yeah I had to tear down the whole tank because he kept on bothering the other damsels.
Well, ill do the best i can to save him by catching him. As much as i love the little guy, I am not going to tear down for one fish.
Hopefully he will get better on his own or keep his fin rot to himself.
otherwise, my hermits and other janitors are going to get a nice snack one day while im at work
 
jacknjill

jacknjill

Active Member
i couldnt catch my yellow tang, man he was fast. so what i did was i went down there before the lights turned on while they were sleeping. (very early in the morning) and caught them easily. HTH
 
ctgretzky9

ctgretzky9

Member

Originally posted by JacknJill
i couldnt catch my yellow tang, man he was fast. so what i did was i went down there before the lights turned on while they were sleeping. (very early in the morning) and caught them easily. HTH
Duh! I must be dumb...I dont know why i didnt think of that! I will definately try that tomorrow morning...in all of these years, I never actually looked at them really early when they were sleeping. Do they hide to sleep? will they be out in the open?
Did you flip on the light to do it in the tank or use the room lighting to see what you were doing?
 
jacknjill

jacknjill

Active Member
yeah i just used the room light with the help of a flash light. it was actually my dads idea.
where they sleep depends on the fish. my clown sleeps in the anenome, blue hippo sleeps pinned between two rocks, annd the yellow just hovers. ive never had a damsel so i dont know. but good luck and let me know how it turns out
 
pyro

pyro

Active Member
The guy that owns our LFS has gotten damsel catching down to a science. He uses two nets, one of which he almost always leaves in the tank so the fish get used to it. The damsels still take a bit, but dang, this guy is pretty well coordinated (see what the semi-pro ball players do later in life?
). I beleive one time he just took a line from a powerhead and sweeped the rocks it until the damsel shot out too.
Good luck!
 
ctgretzky9

ctgretzky9

Member
Thanks so much everyone, i have a lot of good suggestions now to try. Any other ideas in case im too moronic to get it done with the suggestions to date are welcome!
Ill post what happens tomorrow as I know its days are numbered. I really htink its do or literally die in the next day or so.
Thanks again all, appreciate the time
 
pyro

pyro

Active Member
Are you sure it's fin rot? I recently got an issue of Aquarium Magazine, and they had an entire article on telling the difference between fin rot and torn fins. You might want to check it out. :)
 
ctgretzky9

ctgretzky9

Member

Originally posted by Pyro
Are you sure it's fin rot? I recently got an issue of Aquarium Magazine, and they had an entire article on telling the difference between fin rot and torn fins. You might want to check it out. :)
It is definately not torn fins....it started as small postules or "blisters" on the tail and dorsal fins, and now most of his tail and a small portion of the dorsal is gone. Overall, he still seems healthy...he eats, does all his fishy things etc, but he just doenst look very nice. i could be wrong on the diagnosis as far as the exact disease/viral/bacterial diagnosis, but was told by my lfs that fin rot sounded most likely what it was...if anyone knows any different id be happy to hear it.
 
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