Scopas Tang

mark r ramsey

Reefing newb
How do you catch a Scopas Tang?

I call her Miss Piggy. I have to keep her at bay when I feed the tank. She's like a vacuum cleaner. When the food hits the tank she has vacuumed it all up before the other fish even get a morsel. She needs to go back to the fish store, my other fish are starving (not really), they just can't feed as they like. I've tried to get her by surrounding her hiding place with rock and no success. I've tried a fish trap, but she goes around it.

Help!!
 
Thanks Waddi. That's what I figured. I have sooo many rocks with almost no room for any more corals.
The only way I would tear down this tank just to get Miss Piggy, is when I get a bigger tank (that she won't go into) would be the only way for me.

Thanx again man.....Mark
 
Thanks AL Reefer. Only have a 80 gal tank with rocks piled high. No way could I drain
my tank just to catch MS Piggy. Every rock has coral (s) on every rock, and I don't want
to risk loosing any of them.
Thanks for the advice, if it were a FOWL no problem.
 
I understand your concerns and I can assure you if I thought it was an issue I would not of suggested it. My tank was full of coral too. Absolutely no issues. Good luck with the scopas and however you decide to catch him.
 
I have three tangs one of which is a scopas. Keep her full by feeding dried seaweed sheets to him. They can forage on that all day and not eat so much at feeding time.

 
I've tried the sheets. I have so many corals in my tank she has to maneuver around them
Miss Piggy thinks the sheet moving with the water returns and power heads, I think she thinks
it's a anemone. I think if my Coral Beauty would partake miss Piggy would maybe go for it.

Thanks Melosu58
 
why not feed more often?

I got a yellow tang out of my tank with a homemade fish trap. Took a large tupperware container and cit a slot in the lid and put water and food inside then didn't feed for a bit. They'll eventually go in looking for the food. I had to weigh it down with a few rocks though.
 
I zip tied 4 pieces of egg crate once to make a large "scoop" (picture a carboard box that you cut the top and only one end off of) then I lowered it in the tank until it was about 6-8" submerged. Now you have this 3 sided box (the top is open because its open to the top of the tank.) I dropped some food on the 'far' end of the scoop you have (closest to the end with the eggcrate) then when the fish swims in to get food yout tilt the scoop up and out of the tank. I've caught a couple chromis and a 6 line wrasse, works like a champ.
 
I don't know what you are feeding, but I feed brine shrimp with a turkey baster and squirt a bit at the more shy fish while my "HOG" fish work on the bit that I squirted in the area where I put most of the food. I use this to feed my shrimps also, and they appreciate the food delivered right to them. If nothing else, you could use the turkey baster to distribute the food around the tank more so other fish have a chance.
 
I've tried a turkey baster, feeding just Miss Piggy thinking it will get a full belly of brine and Mysis. No chance, beside all of the other fish are 1/8th the size of the Scopas. They don't have a chance with her in the tank. I'm going to buy a 125 soon and she will go in there and I will buy fish larger than her, so she will know how it is to be picked on.
 
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