6lines..

[Delphinus]

So what do people do with their older 6line wrasses as they get more cantankerous, territorial, and just overall-kind-of-nasty?

How long do they live?

I've had my 6line wrasse for at least 4 years now, and he's definitely confirming the notion that these fish get meaner as they age.

Think I'm gonna have to try to catch him out of my 75 and put him in a different tank (haha good luck with that eh? ).

Anyone got any tips for catching a wrasse?

I'm half wondering if I could try putting some cyclops into a bottle and see if I can coax him into swimming into it. Probably the longest shot ever, but I just don't see how to catch a 6line wrasse with a net short of removing all rock from the tank.

[Chin_Lee]

my 6 line was definitely mean but had a change of attitude after doing some carpet surfing and being ressurrected with some CPR. Hes more mellow now since then.
as far as catching him is concerned...... good luck

[Joe Reefer]

My sixline is so curious that when I go fishing for other fish in my tank he is the first to be traped or hooked. They can really hide in rocks so going after them with a net is out of the question.

[Skimmer Juice]

My sixline killed my mandrin a couple months back, and they where together for about a year before the incedent

[Murminator]

My six line you could catch him with your hand he was very curious and a pig nothing bothered him when he was eatin

[revgeoff]

My sixline was a bastard! He attacked anyone new (even after changing the rocks) and sometimes turned on fish that were in the system before he came along. Then the heater broke and killed off everything (or so I thought). After taking out most of the water and running carbon for two weeks I filled the tank back up and....he was still alive!
Now he doesn't even pick on my anthias. I think every sixline needs a near death experience in order to calm down.

[Delphinus]

Well .. I learned a couple things tonight:

1) It's really hard to feed a piece of mysis onto an itty bitty (1/8") hook.

2) The battery's going in my watch apparently, because while I thought I had 15 minutes before lights-out on the tank, just as I got the mysis onto the hook the lights went out.

3) I have a bad feeling I'm going to catch my hawkfish first. In fact, I did kinda catch him once already. He ate the mysis off the hook before I could "shoo!" him away from it. (It was the second piece of mysis I put on the hook before the lights went out.)

Attempt #2 goes tomorrow..

I tried a pop bottle fish trap. Gonna guess that holds not a lot of promise, as soon as the feed mode was off it was just bouncing all over the place in the current despite that I tried to anchor it down. And the second problem with the trap idea is that all the mysis sits on the bottom of it, where the fish won't see it.

[seashells]

Try moving rocks between tanks. Ours hid in the rock. Next thing we knew he was in the other tank.

Shellie

[Cap'n]

I have a similar problem, blue velvet damsel. Worked his way up the chain to #2 and is now challenging the purple tang for dominancy. I have tried to get him used to a big net hovering over or in the tank during feeding for the past month. Right...wishful thinking. Going to try the hook next.

Keep the tips coming, Tony. The one about trying while the lights are on seems to be a good start.

[Delphinus]

And here are tonight's lessons.

1) It's really hard to feed a piece of mysis onto an itty bitty (1/8") hook.

2) When they say that fish don't see a fishing line, that probably doesn't take into account that actinics will make the line glow blue. They darn well see the line.

3) They're not all that dumb either.
First try - mysis fell off.
Second try - CBB comes and eats the mysis off the hook.
Third try - mysis gets stuck on carpet, carpet eats the mysis.
Pull hook out. Oh yeah, that reminds me of lesson #4.

4) Don't slide your fingers along the fishing line as you pull it out. Continuing with story..

Pull hook out of finger. Put new mysis on hook.
Untangle fishing line from shirt button. Notice that mysis fell off. Put new mysis on hook.
Tang goes for the mysis. Sit and watch in frozen panic. Swims off. Whew.

By this time, both the CBB and the tang realize that when they see the string with the rock attached, that there's a tasty treat on the string. Unbelievable, at this point I can't even "shoo!" them away with the net.

Attempt #3 goes tomorrow, I might try when the halides are on and turn the actinics off so that the glowing fish line is less of a factor.

Although at this point I think I need some better bait. Anyone have large mysis to trade for some small mysis??????