help catching a fish in a Nano!
 

so my wife trying to be real nice buys a arabian bluelined dottyback and puts it in my Nano. Better then in the big tank i guess, but nonetheless it is evil and i want it out. I have alot of rock work and corals so taking everything out is the last thing i want to do. anyone have any ideas on how to catch this guy? hes quick and there are alot of places to hide so is thre any diy fish traps anyone knows of? Thanks

Come on man its a nano , take the stuff out and catch the fish ,..:biggrin:

Set a trap. I made one with plastic bottle and it worked quite well. At first the fish did not want to get in so I have stop feeding and put some food in the trap.

Small barbless hook, bait, fishing line.

My dottyback is VERY inquisitive and food driven so I am sure it could easily be cought with the inverted pop bottle method or any trap you can buy. Do a search for cathing a fish and you will find it. Bait it with some "meaty food" and I am sure you will have your fish if it's anything like mine!

I put food in a larger diameter tube.. if it's too small he wont go in.. when he goes in.. trap him on with your hands on both sides..

If it's real cagey you could always drain the water into buckets, leaving all the rocks and corals in place, catch the fish and then pump all the water back in .Corals will be fine out of the water for a few hours.
I did that with my 175g when I had to catch all my fish it only took me an hour and a half from start to finish

thats a great idea! corals are really fine for a few hours?

Corals are out of the water for hours at a time when the tide goes out but if you plan everything ahead of time then they probably won't be out of the water more then half an hour. I drained and pumped back in over 160g of water in an hour and a half.
The only thing you might want to do if you have sand in the tank is to make a little well at the front of the tank for the fish to go into so they don't hide at the back. I managed to catch 5 fish that way without moving a single rock

Are you serious? :eek:

heck why not, some entertainment value at the same time :mrgreen:

Steve

I am sure it's entertaining! :biggrin:
Some fish don't do well after they have been caught even with a barbless hook. I am thinking at the trout here.

Anyway, I thought doing this for my yellow watchman goby. I just did not want to talk about the idea on a forum. I might reconsider the idea now.