Removing fish from your tank!!!

[jason sartain]

This adventure started yesterday at around 11:30 am and didn't end until around 5:15 pm.
O.K I have a 240 display with at least #300 of LR.I have a breeding pair of Bangi's in there and decided to get them out and put them in their own tank.I also have a Large Clarki and a white tail Damsel that I'm wanting to remove as well.
First I removed all my corals to my frag tank and sump.
Then I had to remove about 90% of the rock to my rubbermaid containers.
HaHa,then the fun begins.
Even with all this removed it still took about 3 hr's to catch these guy's.
I almost had to go swimming to catch them!
I guess the moral behind this is,don't put any fish in your tank that you may want to remove later.
If you have a 75gal or smaller I guess it wouldn't be that bad,but for those of us with large tank's it's a PAIN IN THE A**!
But,everybody is out of the tank and doing good in their new tank's and I learned a good lession.
Anybody else got a similer story?

 

[theplatypus]

Next time try a small barbless hook.

 

[jason sartain]

HA HA, that's funny because I actually did!!:doh: :doh: :doh:

theplatypus;246449 wrote: Next time try a small barbless hook.

 

[theplatypus]

jason sartain;246459 wrote: HA HA, that's funny because I actually did!!:doh: :doh: :doh:

It works very well. The trick is keeping the fish you want to remain in the tank away from the bait.

 

[jason sartain]

The Clarki would bite the bait but wouldn't really grab it,I think the Damsel was too small to grab it,and the male Bangi was holding the eggs in his mouth and don't eat at all when their doing this.
I did almost catch my sleeper goby by mistake though!

theplatypus;246468 wrote: It works very well. The trick is keeping the fish you want to remain in the tank away from the bait.

 

[theplatypus]

jason sartain;246477 wrote: The Clarki would bite the bait but wouldn't really grab it,I think the Damsel was too small to grab it,and the male Bangi was holding the eggs in his mouth and don't eat at all when their doing this.
I did almost catch my sleeper goby by mistake though!

If you have access to them the small fly fishing hooks are what I have used in the past.

 

[jason sartain]

Thanks,I'll try that next time if I have to remove another fish.(Hopfully not)

theplatypus;246478 wrote: If you have access to them the small fly fishing hooks are what I have used in the past.

 

[mrsmojo]

You can temporarily blind them if you let the lights go out and use a flash light several hours later. Chris has done that several times in the past to get fish out of our 240 gal.

 

[jason sartain]

Thanks for the info guy's and gal's,hopefully I won't have to do it again?

 

[nickskains]

I used a fish trap. The Fish Corral from Dr.Fosters. It was like $20.00 and all I did was not feed for a day then put the food directly into the trap. Caught my yellow tang in about 30 mins. Some fish it may take them longer to get used to the trap. I put the trap in the tank the night before so that they would get used to it being in the tank. Worked with the tangs, clowns, chromis and my trigger. The sixline and dwarf angles didn't want nothing to do with it.

 

[jason sartain]

I have about 40 diff corals and I had to pull them all and put them in my frag tank,sump,and fuge before I removed the rock.

ares;246614 wrote: how the heck do you guys remove all your rock? no coral? or just very small and on plugs?

 

[glxtrix]

I just wait till all lights have been out in the tank for a few hours and pop on my actinics....the fish will be stunned from the light ( takes several minutes for their eyes to adjust) and just swoop them out with a net. Simple as can be.

 

[jason sartain]

I think I'll try that next time.

 

[glxtrix]

It's super easy, and no harm done to the fish. They will wonder out as if in a drunken state. It's best done when the surrounding area is all dark too. I typically get fish out of my tank around 130am. That way there is no ambient light from outside and no house lights have been on. The sudden pop of my actinics is enough to startle them for a good 5+ minutes.

 

[pullins125]

i have same problem when i get into my 150 gallon tank. it so deep it hard to get alot of fish out. it definitely not as hard as removing the rock by far but still a pain. it sucks having a 30" deep tank. it so bad i dont touch none the fish in there. i learned once you add a fish if it doing good leave it alone. lol

 

[cameron]

I donated a fish trap to the club that should be floating around here somewhere. Worked great for me.

 

[jason sartain]

Yep,mine is 31" deep,and that was part of the problem.
Everything else in there is going to stay!!

pullins125;246839 wrote: i have same problem when i get into my 150 gallon tank. it so deep it hard to get alot of fish out. it definitely not as hard as removing the rock by far but still a pain. it sucks having a 30" deep tank. it so bad i dont touch none the fish in there. i learned once you add a fish if it doing good leave it alone. lol

 

[fishgardener]

There use to be a LFS near me called Madison's Reef. Guy there showed me how to catch fish(once rock removed) using egg crate to make the available space for the fish smaller and smaller. It work when I was trying to catch a devil fish(3 stripe damsel) that had killed everything in my first tank!

Sheryle

 

[derek_s]

I tried Lee's method of cutting the lights on after a few hours of darkness and it worked great. I think the trick is making the tank complete dark. Since I wanted to catch one during the day, I put a blanket over the tank to block out all light.

When I turned on the light, he was so stunned I coulda probably caught him with my hands.

 

[snowman733]

The BEST way to catch the fish is to Double Team them! lol. Just get two nets and try to catch em. Try to get another person with the net so you and your partner have a net, and you can get them anywhere they swim.