How to Catch Fish and Critters in Displays - Page 3

Anthony Calfo · 12/15/2005, 02:36 PM

did I mention the blow dart method?

Or the CO2 barf-stick?

Hmmm...

bacaksiz · 12/16/2005, 09:03 AM

Not really. (: is anything even remotely similar to this trap being sold in the market?

ACBlinky · 12/16/2005, 02:02 PM

I just wanted to post and say THANK YOU for this thread. I had to catch a very fast Potter's angel today to put him in a hospital tank. He's already injured, so I didn't want to stress him by chasing or trapping him and I didn't have days (weeks even) to train him to eat from a net. Draining the tank and cornering him worked like a charm, thank you so very much - I doubt I would have thought of something so brilliant and yet simple on my own

3S1K · 12/17/2005, 10:25 AM

What do you recommend for catching a 4" yellow tang?I want to add a smaller Blue Hippo so I want to remove him for a bit so the Hippo will get used to the new home.

DJG · 12/18/2005, 02:21 AM

Suggestions on how to snag a large and very aggressive maroon clownfish are most welcome.

David

simonmr · 12/18/2005, 06:21 AM

I caught my maroon clown the other night while he was asleep. put the net next to the anemone and gave him a little push with a shick went into the net before he could wake up.

pitt_prodigy · 12/20/2005, 12:12 AM

Anyone got a good trick to catch a dragon goby? Cant bait him cause he's a sandsifter. Tried to corner him and he just runs into the rockwork and refuses to come out? Too much rock to net him + he's too quick.....any ideas??

Anthony Calfo · 12/20/2005, 12:25 AM

ACBlinky... you are very welcome my friend. And thanks for the update on your attempt and success. Very helpful for the consensus my friend

pitt_prodigy, DJG, and 3S1K... in answer to your questions, please do read (or re-reread) the beginning of this thread. A hearty amount of info and suggestions for you to consider and try.

DJG · 12/20/2005, 12:47 AM

Anthony-

With all due respect, and after carefully reading the post, I was inquiring about a method that might be "species-specific". SimonMR suggested such a method that actually worked well!

David

dave11 · 12/20/2005, 04:09 PM

Thanks for advice - used the drain down method to catch the fish - made life for them and me much easier - the last time I had to catch them they were all pretty logy from box toxin and easy to net - now all healthy again and putting them back in main display tank its much more of a challenge - thanks again

petermai · 12/26/2005, 06:02 AM

it's a bit cruel in my opinion but i was having problem trying to rid my tank of a yellow tail damsel, i found the method that works best for me...would be to turn the lights on early morning preferably before the sun is up or whenever you feel that the fish in question is already sleeping...and scoop him up with a cup. i'm not sure about other fishes, but the damsel seems to wander out "blindly" when the lights are turned on in the morning.

WishIWereAFish · 12/27/2005, 10:05 AM

Thank you for this great post. I looked it over and decided "hey I'll bet I can build a trap like that" Bought some plexi-galss from ace ($10. and a small can of pvc glue $3.29) The first night I put it in the tank the Dominoe was so curious and hungry he swam right in. Unfortunatly my fishing line holding the door got snagged and I was unable to trap him. But it's very promising and I think it will work once I get him back in there. Thanks again for your info

YogiBear · 12/27/2005, 10:34 AM

One of the things I do for all my fish is to train them to feed out of a plastic specimen container. All I do is defrost their food in tank water in the box and then submerge it into the tank. It usually takes a week or so before a new fish will swim right in but after that, I can grab any fish I want right out of the reef with this method. Once they are 'trained', all I have to do is put the cup in once a week or so to keep them going in it. They will usually go into the cup empty once I have been doing it for a while. Probably the lowest stress way to catch up your fishes IMO.

markrovner · 12/27/2005, 10:53 AM

That's kind of brilliant...

WishIWereAFish · 12/27/2005, 04:15 PM

Dominoe Damsel problem solved. I put my newly made trap box in the tank last night and caught the little bugger this afternoon.
Low stress and kind of fun...Great idea!

DanConnor · 12/28/2005, 11:52 PM

Here's one more technique, not exactly like any I've seen posted yet. I haven't tried it myself, but Joe Yaullio (sp?) at Atlantis Aquarium uses it to remove fish from his giant tank and swears it really works.

In the middle of the darkest night when all the fishies are sound asleep, turn all the halides on full blast. After a few minutes all the fish will come out of the rocks, but will be blinded or at least unresponsive to visual stimuli for about 5 minutes, and can be easily netted out.

marrowmuse · 01/06/2006, 03:59 PM

This is sort of an odd one that might not be useful to many people but I thought I'd mention it to keep people thinking. It' all about outsmarting your quarry!

For an aggressive, territorial fish, an alternative bait to use in a trap is a small mirror. I just happened to have a 1" diameter mirror laying around one day when I was trying to catch some damsels. I held the mirror up to the tank to see if it had any affect on the fish, and there was an immediate aggressive reaction from the dominant damsel. I propped the mirror up in the back of a mason jar laying on it's side and was able to catch him with just my hand as the trap door. The mirror didn't work quite as well for the rest of the damsels but it did work. A really aggressive fish can't keep it's fight-or-flight priorities straight when it's staring down an identical fish that's matching him, move for move!

Anthony Calfo · 01/06/2006, 04:03 PM

wow... very novel idea/lure, Ved!

Thanks for sharing this mirror trick. Quite savvy.

Anth-

reefkeeps · 01/14/2006, 07:41 AM

What is the best way to get a reef lobster out of a fully stocked tank? So far I have just made frags at every attempt to capture him.

Jadran · 01/15/2006, 09:00 AM

trap it in bottle .. use some squid for bate... most probably you'll have it first night trapped..

opihi · 01/16/2006, 12:27 PM

Anth--
Used the drain method to remove a PBT from our 100g display. worked like a charm-- thanks for sharing your wealth of info.

Cheers!

Jeff

howman · 01/22/2006, 08:17 AM

any thoughts for an engineer goby in a 180g reef?

howman · 01/22/2006, 08:18 AM

or an algae blenny?

rawbomb · 02/09/2006, 12:06 AM

My caught my Algea blenny with the old bait in the jar trick along with a psuedo, and coral beauty. Though i also ended up terrorizing my cleaner shrimps as once they get in the have no way of getting out.

terryhendrixson · 02/09/2006, 08:00 PM

Ill have to try these i have a zoo eating blue hippo tang.

12/15/2005, 02:36 PM	#51
Anthony Calfo Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Pennsylvania Posts: 5,436	did I mention the blow dart method? Or the CO2 barf-stick? Hmmm... __________________ "If you give a man a fish, he eats for a day... but if you teach a man to fish, he eats for a lifetime." Current Tank Info: 2K gallon fishroom, garden ponds

12/16/2005, 09:03 AM	#52
bacaksiz Premium Member Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Ankara, Turkey Posts: 71	Not really. (: is anything even remotely similar to this trap being sold in the market? __________________ Serdar Current Tank Info: 600 G reef

12/16/2005, 02:02 PM	#53
ACBlinky Premium Member Join Date: May 2005 Location: Peterborough, ON, Canada Posts: 4,954 Blog Entries: 20	I just wanted to post and say THANK YOU for this thread. I had to catch a very fast Potter's angel today to put him in a hospital tank. He's already injured, so I didn't want to stress him by chasing or trapping him and I didn't have days (weeks even) to train him to eat from a net. Draining the tank and cornering him worked like a charm, thank you so very much - I doubt I would have thought of something so brilliant and yet simple on my own __________________ "The cure for anything is salt water: sweat, tears, or the sea." - Isak Dinesen Current Tank Info: 150g mixed reef, 30g sump/refugium, LED lighting, 100lbs LR, coral beauty, flame angel, blue & yellow tangs, gobies, damsels, 6-line wrasse, lawnmower blenny, dottyback, clown pair, rabbitfish, shrimp, crabs, CUC.

12/17/2005, 10:25 AM	#54
3S1K Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 391	Re: How to Catch Fish and Critters in Displays What do you recommend for catching a 4" yellow tang?I want to add a smaller Blue Hippo so I want to remove him for a bit so the Hippo will get used to the new home.

12/20/2005, 12:12 AM	#57
pitt_prodigy Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Palm Harbor, FL Posts: 751	Anyone got a good trick to catch a dragon goby? Cant bait him cause he's a sandsifter. Tried to corner him and he just runs into the rockwork and refuses to come out? Too much rock to net him + he's too quick.....any ideas?? __________________ -Josh Current Tank Info: 72 gallon RR Oceanic, heavily modded ASM G2 skimmer, 30g sump/refugium, AI vega lighting x 2, apex controller, Phos Reactor, etc.

12/18/2005, 02:21 AM	#55
DJG Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Israel Posts: 66	Suggestions on how to snag a large and very aggressive maroon clownfish are most welcome. David

12/18/2005, 06:21 AM	#56
simonmr Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Elmwood Park, NJ Posts: 222	I caught my maroon clown the other night while he was asleep. put the net next to the anemone and gave him a little push with a shick went into the net before he could wake up.

12/20/2005, 12:25 AM	#58
Anthony Calfo Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Pennsylvania Posts: 5,436	ACBlinky... you are very welcome my friend. And thanks for the update on your attempt and success. Very helpful for the consensus my friend pitt_prodigy, DJG, and 3S1K... in answer to your questions, please do read (or re-reread) the beginning of this thread. A hearty amount of info and suggestions for you to consider and try. __________________ "If you give a man a fish, he eats for a day... but if you teach a man to fish, he eats for a lifetime." Current Tank Info: 2K gallon fishroom, garden ponds

12/20/2005, 12:47 AM	#59
DJG Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Israel Posts: 66	Anthony- With all due respect, and after carefully reading the post, I was inquiring about a method that might be "species-specific". SimonMR suggested such a method that actually worked well! David

12/20/2005, 04:09 PM	#60
dave11 Premium Member Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Portland - Dorset - UK Posts: 113	Thanks for advice - used the drain down method to catch the fish - made life for them and me much easier - the last time I had to catch them they were all pretty logy from box toxin and easy to net - now all healthy again and putting them back in main display tank its much more of a challenge - thanks again

12/26/2005, 06:02 AM	#61
petermai Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: san francisco, ca Posts: 191	it's a bit cruel in my opinion but i was having problem trying to rid my tank of a yellow tail damsel, i found the method that works best for me...would be to turn the lights on early morning preferably before the sun is up or whenever you feel that the fish in question is already sleeping...and scoop him up with a cup. i'm not sure about other fishes, but the damsel seems to wander out "blindly" when the lights are turned on in the morning.

12/27/2005, 10:05 AM	#62
WishIWereAFish Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Laramie, WY Posts: 37	Thank you for this great post. I looked it over and decided "hey I'll bet I can build a trap like that" Bought some plexi-galss from ace ($10. and a small can of pvc glue $3.29) The first night I put it in the tank the Dominoe was so curious and hungry he swam right in. Unfortunatly my fishing line holding the door got snagged and I was unable to trap him. But it's very promising and I think it will work once I get him back in there. Thanks again for your info __________________ I'd rather want something I don't have than have something I don't want. Current Tank Info: 110 reef, 44 fw

12/27/2005, 10:34 AM	#63
YogiBear Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Wisconsin Posts: 87	One of the things I do for all my fish is to train them to feed out of a plastic specimen container. All I do is defrost their food in tank water in the box and then submerge it into the tank. It usually takes a week or so before a new fish will swim right in but after that, I can grab any fish I want right out of the reef with this method. Once they are 'trained', all I have to do is put the cup in once a week or so to keep them going in it. They will usually go into the cup empty once I have been doing it for a while. Probably the lowest stress way to catch up your fishes IMO.

12/27/2005, 10:53 AM	#64
markrovner Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: DC Area Posts: 106	That's kind of brilliant...

12/27/2005, 04:15 PM	#65
WishIWereAFish Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Laramie, WY Posts: 37	Dominoe Damsel problem solved. I put my newly made trap box in the tank last night and caught the little bugger this afternoon. Low stress and kind of fun...Great idea! __________________ I'd rather want something I don't have than have something I don't want. Current Tank Info: 110 reef, 44 fw

12/28/2005, 11:52 PM	#66
DanConnor Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2001 Posts: 1,869	Here's one more technique, not exactly like any I've seen posted yet. I haven't tried it myself, but Joe Yaullio (sp?) at Atlantis Aquarium uses it to remove fish from his giant tank and swears it really works. In the middle of the darkest night when all the fishies are sound asleep, turn all the halides on full blast. After a few minutes all the fish will come out of the rocks, but will be blinded or at least unresponsive to visual stimuli for about 5 minutes, and can be easily netted out.

01/06/2006, 03:59 PM	#67
marrowmuse Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: philadelphia Posts: 51	This is sort of an odd one that might not be useful to many people but I thought I'd mention it to keep people thinking. It' all about outsmarting your quarry! For an aggressive, territorial fish, an alternative bait to use in a trap is a small mirror. I just happened to have a 1" diameter mirror laying around one day when I was trying to catch some damsels. I held the mirror up to the tank to see if it had any affect on the fish, and there was an immediate aggressive reaction from the dominant damsel. I propped the mirror up in the back of a mason jar laying on it's side and was able to catch him with just my hand as the trap door. The mirror didn't work quite as well for the rest of the damsels but it did work. A really aggressive fish can't keep it's fight-or-flight priorities straight when it's staring down an identical fish that's matching him, move for move! __________________ Ved Current Tank Info: surging 75 reef & fuge

01/06/2006, 04:03 PM	#68
Anthony Calfo Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Pennsylvania Posts: 5,436	wow... very novel idea/lure, Ved! Thanks for sharing this mirror trick. Quite savvy. Anth- __________________ "If you give a man a fish, he eats for a day... but if you teach a man to fish, he eats for a lifetime." Current Tank Info: 2K gallon fishroom, garden ponds

01/14/2006, 07:41 AM	#69
reefkeeps Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Alpharetta Ga Posts: 1,093	What is the best way to get a reef lobster out of a fully stocked tank? So far I have just made frags at every attempt to capture him. __________________ What I do, I do very well, and what I don't do well, I don't do at all. Current Tank Info: 150 REEF

01/15/2006, 09:00 AM	#70
Jadran Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Croatia Posts: 271	trap it in bottle .. use some squid for bate... most probably you'll have it first night trapped.. __________________ Mario Current Tank Info: 120g anemone tank

01/16/2006, 12:27 PM	#71
opihi Premium Member Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Las Vegas Posts: 2,118	Anth-- Used the drain method to remove a PBT from our 100g display. worked like a charm-- thanks for sharing your wealth of info. Cheers! Jeff

01/22/2006, 08:17 AM	#72
howman Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: Newton, MA Posts: 556	any thoughts for an engineer goby in a 180g reef?

01/22/2006, 08:18 AM	#73
howman Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: Newton, MA Posts: 556	or an algae blenny?

02/09/2006, 12:06 AM	#74
rawbomb Moved On Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Miami, FL Posts: 611	My caught my Algea blenny with the old bait in the jar trick along with a psuedo, and coral beauty. Though i also ended up terrorizing my cleaner shrimps as once they get in the have no way of getting out.

02/09/2006, 08:00 PM	#75
terryhendrixson Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: monroe,ohio Posts: 180	Ill have to try these i have a zoo eating blue hippo tang.