EEEkkkkk, How do you catch a fish????

[Picasso]

I just can't get anything out of my tank. I couldn't find my crab anywhere when I pulled my rocks apart, I'm pretty sure I can get my maroon clownfish with help from my daughter but I can't figure out how to get Sabriel, the white and purplish-blue goby type fish that I don't know what kind it is. Sabriel has made herself the coolest home. She's dug out under one of the biggest heaviest rock in my tank and lined her tunnels with tiny rocks. I hate to move her but she tends to nip at anything that comes anywhere near her hole and I've got the seahorses on the way. She stays in her hole most all the time. Each night she covers her hole with little rocks and opens them up each morning. PLEASE tell me there's a trap or something for this type of situation and I don't have to totally remove everything from my tank! She's really fast. Grrrrrrrrrrrrr

Catherine

 

[dustin_P74]

does she eat food vigorously? if so you can put some food in the net and just wait for the goby to swim in to the net and swoop her out or use the 2 liter bottle method. if not your really not left with much options other then taking all the rock out

 

[d2mini]

How talented are you with a blow gun?







Kidding! :D

 

[Picasso]

2-liter bottle method? I was thinking about getting a picture of a really hot guy fish of her species and putting it in the opposite corner of the tank. She would be, obviously, driven over to meet the hot guy fish and then I'd get her. Somehow, I think using a 2-liter bottle would be a better idea, how does it work?

Catherine

 

[daugherty]

cut the top ov the bottle off then invert it back into the bottle so the two cut ends meet glue it together in a couple spots. uou should end up with a bottle that looks like the top was pushed into the bottle

 

[dustin_P74]

and you only want the opening big enough for just that goby to fit into and then fill it with water and food and put the opening right at the opening of her cave, once she swims in set the bottle right side up and pull it out

 

[stagofdoom]

Dang I was trying to find a clip of the part of jungle2jungle where the kid catches fish with his bare hands.

 

[Picasso]

Dang I was trying to find a clip of the part of jungle2jungle where the kid catches fish with his bare hands.

LOL, yeah, that's going to happen! I just got my shipment email from liveaquaria they will be here tomorrow! I've got rehearsals all afternoon and evening, hopefully these guys will cooperate tonight because I really don't want to pull my rocks apart, they're all glued together!

Silly fish, her new home has a special rock picked just for her that I know she will LOVE. Funny how fish (and humans) hang on to "average" because they are too afraid to take a chance on something new.

Seahorse names anyone? I want to give them "horsey" names.

Catherine

 

[Teixeira29]

You could also try a trap, they sell them online,the same people that run liveaquaria.com sell fish traps. You put there favorite food in a tunnel looking thing, they go in there, you pull a string and then they are caught!! Good Luck!

 

[sen5241b]

choices:

Use 2 nets, facing each other - Downside: difficult, fish too fast

Buy fish trap, bait it and close the trap door on fish, - Downside: cost

Build --several-- homemade plastic 2 liter coke bottle traps and bait them - Downside: may not work for very smart fish like dottyback

Use small fishing rod with baited lure --seriously - Downside: fish will be stressed

Take all rock out of tank and net'em with 2 nets - Downside: Very time consuming

Drain tank quickly leaving only one viable puddle for fish to end up in. Then put water back very fast. - Downside:If too much detritus is in the sand it could get stirred up and cause an ammonia spike that kills things

 

[Picasso]

Thanks for the tips. I tried to use a bottle and caused a major cave-in of Sabriel's hole. Quickly I got a spoon to try and get her out but she's got this huge subway system build under this huge rock. my entire rock structure is built with Sabriel's rock as the base. The only way I'm going to get her out is to remove EVERYTHING in my tank. I'm starting to wonder how much damage Sabriel can do the the seahorses. She nips at the maroon clown and the firefish if they get close to her hole but she doesn't have teeth? I can't begin to stress how difficult it would be to completely remove everything from the tank and rebuild. I don't even know how to do that? Get buckets? Would this start a cycle in my tank? Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, silly fish.

Catherine

 

[stagofdoom]

Dont worry, when I put everything I had in my 24 into my 125 it took me FOREVER to find my pistol shrimp and goby, and this is after I took all the rock out.
It was a pain but you will eventually get her.

 

[dustin_P74]

its not that the fish are dangerous to the seahorses, its that the fish will eat all the food before the seahorses have a chance to eat because they are very slow feeders, also if your fish is nipping at aggressive fish then it will probably be very aggressive to a very peaceful fish

 

[yote]

If you have 2 nets,then wait untill the fish leaves its hole to eat.Quickly place one net over the hole,then try to catch the fish with the other net.

 

[JAG107]

Dottyback was the most difficult fish to catch when moving from 55g to 110g tank. Good luck, Catherine! I couldn't outsmart the damn thing with no rock or lights or anything! Took forever! I think fish are REALLY smart when it comes to our giant green nets, and they know troubles a-brewin' when that thing comes out. Good Luck!!!

 

[Piggy]

If the fish picks on the others I would get it out before adding the seahorses. Are you going to QT them?

 

[Picasso]

If the fish picks on the others I would get it out before adding the seahorses. Are you going to QT them?

Now, there's an idea. I don't have anything in my 20 long. I could qt the seahorses in there which would give me time to catch the buttheads in my other tank. I don't have the neat stuff in there for them to wrap their tails around and I don't have a lot of seaweed which is my pod farm. Something to think about. Thanks, Catherine

 

[Picasso]

Ok, I've caught everything that's moving and moved them to the 20 long. Even with a completely empty tank, Sabriel gave me a fit trying to catch her and I was using 2 nets! My "seahorse" tank is a big white cloud and I can see to put anything back. I've got my corals in a 5 gallon bucket full of water from the tank and it's sitting on a heating vent. I put all the LR back into the tank but I can't see where it went. Thanks to whoever made the suggestion to move the rock that had the crab! I never would have gotten him out of the crevice he stuck himself into and I would have spent forever trying to get him out! I hope these seahorses take their time getting here because I've got some serious re-building to do. Right now I've got 2 peppermint shrimps, 1 firefish, 2 cucumbers and a bunch of snails and hermits. My 20 long has 1 maroon clown, 1 white goby that I don't know what kind it is and 1 cleaner shrimp. I moved the shrimp because he sometimes nips at me when I hand feed him. Also, I don't want him messing with my seahorses. I'm worried about my two leather corals. They've been closed up for 2 days now. My finger coral looks like she's sloughing her skin and my shroom leather just doesn't make the fuzzies each day. Also, I dropped a huge heavy rock on them. Also, I'm worried that I didn't get to acclimate the stuff I've moved over to the new tank. This is very stressful. The funny thing is, my 20 long was set up to relieve the bio-load in my 10 gallon! I still have the bio-load issue with my 10. It's a sickness. Thanks so much for your support and encouragement!

Catherine

 

[dustin_P74]

fedex usually arrives with my packages from the fosters people at about 1pm so you have time. also we expect pictures

 

[Picasso]

Pictures so far:

Here's my 26 gallon bow-front the day I set it up, November 1, 2008:

Here's my 10 gallon the day I set it up, December 9th:

I didn't take any shots of my 20 long when I set it up but it was only last week. Even though I started with live rock and live sand AND added tons of GARF grunge AND micro-nutrients from IPSF, AND my way cool pod filled seaweed, I'm worried that I've added too much too fast. It wasn't supposed to happen that way.

Here's a shot of my 26 gallon last week:

See that little white fish in the bottom left corner? She's pure evil.

Here's my tanks this morning after moving everything around:

26 gallon:

I'm really worried about my two leathers in the bottom center. They had a huge rock dropped on them and they haven't been "up" for a couple of days because I've been digging in the tank trying to catch Sabriel and Gus. Right now, they are laying flat on the bottom. I love those two!

Here's my 20 long:

That's a lot of stuff in a tank that has only been set up for a week! Gus is swimming about but I haven't seen "The Evil One" (Sabriel) or my cleaner shrimp. It's only been a couple of hours.

Here's my overloaded 10 gallon today:

Ohh, I just noticed that my cover is off my water mover thing, I'll fix that now. The bottom dwellers, Epsilon (yellow goby), Jeeves (sand sifter) and Scooter (scooter bleny?) are happy together they dig holes for each other- it's really cute. The little clown looks stressed and he needs to move. He was supposed to go into the 20 long. Grrrrrrrrrrr, I need another tank?

I'll post pics of the Seahorses when they get here!