Trapping fish

[eww]

I just got a red transparent plastic gift bad from Michaels for 99 cents. Can't beat that for cheap! I will just rubber band that over my flashlight and it should be good. Now to set the alarm to get up at 2 or 3am when all the lights are out and the house is totally dark and quite.

 

[pblutang]

EWW,
Any updates on the catch? Just curious to see how it worked out for you.

 

[eww]

Highly frustrating. So far not even close. It seems the only time these guys are out is in the middle of the afternoon. They haven't been out at all in the darkness of night when I'm looking with my special red flashlight. They come out a lot with feeding but it's funny. You can walk up to the tank and watch them eat and they are fine. Now hold a net in your hand and walk up to the tank and they dive under the rocks and disappear. I think they know!!! I think the fish trap (as long as it fits in the tank) is going to have to sit in there for a couple of weeks and we will only feed through the trap. Then hopefully we can trap them once they get used to going in for food with nothing happening.

 

[thincat]

Man, try the barbless hook I told you about and it's done in 30 seconds.....I beleave it's the most stressless way to go...

 

[jrgilles]

yea, either a barbless hook, or you can condition them to the net.

Start putting the net in the water before each feeding (or maybe just leave it in the tank?). If they are used to it (ie, in the tank, in your hand, or whatever) then maybe they will stop running from it...

 

[mfinn]

yea, either a barbless hook, or you can condition them to the net.

Start putting the net in the water before each feeding (or maybe just leave it in the tank?). If they are used to it (ie, in the tank, in your hand, or whatever) then maybe they will stop running from it...

I think that might be a good idea. It may take a while.


The barbless hook thing could work also, but when I tried it, I had more aggressive fish that would go to the bait every single time before I could get it near the fish I wanted to catch.

 

[pblutang]

That's got to be frustrating.. Patience is something I hear over and over again in this hobby. I just helped someone catch fish out of a 125g and we ended up pulling almost all of the rock and coral out to get them. Good luck to you.. I have a sailfin tang that eats out of my hand and so easy to catch if I have to move him. same with my clowns. Condition yours to the trap or net sounds like a good idea. even the pinched barbs sounds like it would work.

 

[NC2WA]

Eric,

What are we trying to catch again??

 

[eww]

Eric,

What are we trying to catch again??

Two Yellow Watchman Gobies and a Pistol Shrimp

 

[NC2WA]

and I assume taking some of the rock out to catch them is out of the question???

(sorry I just had to ask)

 

[eww]

and I assume taking some of the rock out to catch them is out of the question???

(sorry I just had to ask)

Ummm... Becca says ABSOLUTELY NOT an option and I don't really blame her. I get pretty cranky doing stuff like that and I wouldn't want to deal with me either.

 

[NC2WA]

I thought as much, but had to ask

 

[jrgilles]

why do you want to remove these guys? They are peaceful, right? Or are they causing issues with the rockwork?

 

[eww]

Our tank footprint, even though it is 70 gal, is only 36" x 15" and most of that ground is covered with the LR. They just don't have enough room. They are turning up almost every square inch of the tank and moving anything near the sand bed around to where they want it, not where we want it. A lot of things get turned over in the process. They just need more room to play and everything all will be fine. We just can't give it to them. We found a home for them, now we just need to catch them.

 

[NC2WA]

sounds like they are behaving like....gobies...

But I agree sounds like they need more room to play.

 

[eww]

We got the trap in the tank tonight. We are going to leave it sit for the next week while we are out of town and let everyone get really used to it being in there. When we get back we will start feeding through the trap only and hopefully it won't take long to catch them. Then they can go to their new massive acreage home and be happy for the rest of time...