How to catch a problem fish???

[repstein]

I want to get rid of a dragon wrasse in my tank. How do I catch him? Any ideas?

 

[DEADFISH1]

you can try a 20 oz plastic Coca Cola bottle, cut off the lid and then invert the bottle so that there is a funnel, just make sure the opening in the bottle is big enough for the fish, tie some fishing line to it.
when your ready to use it put some frozen brine shrimp in it, and get ready, I've successfully done this twice, both times the fish went crazy for the brine shrimp, I had them caught as soon as I put the trap in.

one was a Yellow Tailed Damsel & the other was a Hawk fish.


here's a link, kind of the same. http://www.actwin.com/fish/aquatic-plants/month.9908/msg00016.html

 

[jamesw]

Oh, I can't wait to say this...I told you so!!! Hehe.,..just kidding Rus..

What you can do is find where in the sand the wrasse goes to sleep at night, then after lights, scoop out that section of sand w/ a net. You might be able to get him that way.

HTH
James

 

[Len]

You can also try commercial traps. They run about $40, although some better LFS rent them out. If all else fails, an unbarbed hook may work. Tricky part is to avoid hooking other fishes. I fished out a Coris aygula using this method (and accidently caught my Chevron Tang, who has since fully recovered).

 

[davelin315]

I can tell you that the hook method won't hurt your fish, either, it'll just surprise them (I'm an avid fisherman who has hooked himself with yanking lures out of trees many a time, and if you've ever had a treble hook in your arm or leg, with a barb, you'll know that it looks painful, but besides the little "pop" noise when you push it through to cut the barb off, it doesn't hurt - okay, maybe the beer helped). You could also try the feed and swoop in with the net method, or, just put a chunk of food in your net, and when he swims in to eat, yank it out.

 

[Mouse]

I agree with Dave,

Unless you can break the tank down a barbless hook wont hurt a bit.

* mouse sits twiddleing his nipple piercing *

 

[Trident1]

I caught two fish before using a plastic pitcher with a swinging lid (you can get a box like pitcher). You place a small piece of rock on top of lid secured with a rubber band. A fishing line is attached to the lid and the pitcher is then placed in the tank so that when the line is released the lid closes. The weight of the rock should be sufficient to close the lid. Place some food in the pitcher and just wait to cut the line. It may a couple of days to coax them into the pitcher. Happy trapping!

 

[Gatortailale1]

Sounds like a nice way to spend a rainy day. First you can build yourself a better mouse/fish trap, then you can go fishing on your own reef. ha ha

 

[Mr. Reefer]

This worked for me with a coral beauty.Try feeding the fish in the evening. Then while the fish is at the top of the water column turn off the tank lights, which stuns the fish for a few seconds. As soon as you hit the light, or have someelse turn them off, scoop the fish out. Good Luck. I tried all the above, even traps, but this is what worked for me.

 

[repstein]

I knew that was coming James. I tried the hook method and the wrong darn fish would go after the hook. I have have a heavy glass cup which I have left in there for a few days adding krill to it. Now the wrasse runs in there to get it before I even get back from my freezer. I am just going to tie a little piece of plastic with a string on it... kinda like a rabbit trap. Should work... I hope. I will try it saturday so I can return him to the fish store.

BTW curse you Rob... you told me he would not eat shrimp!

 

[repstein]

Well my plan kinda worked. The evil wrasse is gone and some other dude can buy it now. All I did was put krill in it. Turned it upside down on the sand for an two hours. The wrasse tried everything to get into it counting trying to dig under. Then I moved it so there was a opening at the bottom. Soon as he went in to get it I reached into the tank real fast and pushed it into the sand. Simple enough eh? I had been filling the glass with krill all week leting him get comfortable going in to get it.