To catch a coral-munching blenny
 

Sooooo.... Seems my combtooth blenny has all of a sunned taken a great liking to all my SPS. Bugger has to go!

Over the past few days I saw a few bitten tips on one of my colonies and I was suspecting either the blenny or my coral beauty. Last night I was sitting on the couch and I could literally hear the tips being crunched off my milli. Turned the lights on and sure enough a bunch of tips were gone. The only one that seemed awake was the blenny (he lives in a crevice surrounded by the afflicted SPS colonies). Red handed.

Now the question is: how the hell do I get him out without tearing apart the tank? Any tricks?

Bottle trick using a sps inside it as bait? :D

I've had good success with a bottle trap for crabs and shrimps
Depending on how big he is, can't hurt to try

Are you going to confirm it's the blenny before you yank it out ?
A red light, or a flashlight shone through your fingers works well

They are not easy to catch trap is most likely your best bet.

He's the only one active at night when the corals get bit. I've seen him take a little bite of one of my montis and the bit makes look consistent with the bite marks made in the algae on my glass... So fairly confident.

So how big is it ? Will it fit through the neck of a 500ml bottle easily ?

Ya, he might fit into one of those necks. The trick is how to lure him in. He doesn't seem to go for seaweed of anything.

You may use SPS to lure him since he loves those.

I've had good success with both raw and cooked shrimp
A day or so for it to stink and they can't resist it

For you, some food ( mysis etc ) in a small nylon bag ( like a little ball ) in the bottle might be enough

Maybe even some pellets ... anything that won't float

If all else's fail.. sharpen chop stick with few strong elastic band should do the trick

He only likes the really big, expensive and rare SPS colonies. Won't touch frags.

If the SOB touches my prized green milli and A. desalwii colonies again this might happen :evil: I swear I almost skewered the bastard today when I saw that.

But then I reminded myself that I'm the bigger fish and above that...

Ah! Finicky eater!

I am not sure whether it will work but you can try the net trick :)

So far the net has only led to me looking like a fool and a lot of cussing :razz:

Last resort, seal the hole of that, according to your term, SOB's hangout and let it suffer! :twised:

Naw, it's an endless network of tunnels. Might as well fill every nook and cranny on the rock with epoxy.

I saw someone propose the use of vacuum cleaner :|

Similarly, you can put a hose near its territory and just suck the sucker up! (And don't stop if you like sushi ;) )

So catch and release is not your style ?

Desperate time calls for desperate measure. And removing rocks to catch a fish then cause nutrient spike??

Not worth it

I used a very small hook and line to catch a wrasse. His mouth healed in a couple of days.

Agreed