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Need A Fish Trap!!


DennisW

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That Rubbermaid tub is 97 cents.. its about 6-8" square. You will need to add a rockinside so when you yank it dont flip over...

.97? Just take one out of the cupboard, the (wife) won't mind.

 

If everything is centered and lined up properly in my thesis/plan, when pulling the fishing line up, the tuperware should be pretty much lined up and just close. Just keep fishing line taut until you pinch the tuperware tight. If you use something like a barbless fishing hook or one of those fishing swivels with an end you can open up, you can hook that to the tank and remove easily to dump fish into a bag.

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Definitly very good ideas. Thanks for the drawings. I plan on trying something this weekend or next. I have to work too much! .97 sounds like a great plan! If I took a container from the cupboard and "altered" it for "fish tank use", my wife would skin me alive. It's the "for the fish tank" part that she would have a problem with. If I ruined the container for ANY other reason then, "for the fish tank", she would probably let it slide. Somethin' about wives and fish tanks just dont mix.(wife) (scary)

 

Dennis

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  • 2 weeks later...

I know I came up with an idea for a fish trap, but anyone have experience with luring a Lawnmower Blennie out of a reef? I had to clean out the hospital tank and resetting up for QT to keep main tank free of fish for 4 weeks. (I know, stupid me, I should have used a rubbermaid container overnight...was overwhelmed reading about bacteria and ich; obviously wasn't thinking (nutty) ) I don't want to tear my reef apart again for the sucker and I don't want to have to make a straw /pin and yarn blow dart either. As of now, I cannot even see where he's hiding but the search goes on. When I took everyone out the other day, I was down to the last few rocks before I could get the sucker!

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Sometimes Ron, the only way to do it is to rip your reef apart. That is what Im going to have to do to get those 4 damnsals out. It's gonna happen a week from this Saturday. It always seem like your tank is doing sooooooooo good to. Then, ya gotta rip it apart. Not fun but....necessary.

 

DEnnis

 

PS: No idea how to lure out a LMB. Does it like mysis shrimp??? Always seems to be a good bait.

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Sometimes Ron, the only way to do it is to rip your reef apart. That is what Im going to have to do to get those 4 damnsals out. It's gonna happen a week from this Saturday. It always seem like your tank is doing sooooooooo good to. Then, ya gotta rip it apart. Not fun but....necessary.

 

DEnnis

 

PS: No idea how to lure out a LMB. Does it like mysis shrimp??? Always seems to be a good bait.

I've never seen my LMB eat anything I put in. Only 1 time I saw him scraping some algae off the glass. He must eat something, he's definately not malnurished.

With yours, have you tried the very very tiny fish hooks that someone mentioned...maybe rip a piece of coctail shrimp? Just pinch all the barbs down first. Worse comes to worse, the hooks will rot away in no time if one does get stuck too far....just don't forget the barbs! Oh yeah, good dark beer helps as so I'm told.

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you could try the "drain the tank down to 1" " trick.

 

Get some garbage cans, and drain the tank down to an inch or less,,, its pretty easy to catch a fish then. Turn around and refill the tank.

 

a LMB may hide in the rock, but then at least you know you just have to get that one rock out...

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No..I havent tried the little hooks yet. I went to GI joes before looking for small enough hooks but couldnt find any. I cant remember but I think size 14 was the smallest. It was still too big for a damsal.

 

Hmm....drain the tank to 1". Thats a good idea but, I could still see them wedging themselves in the rock work somewhere. Then I have the other fish, including a powder blue (From you Joel!) that is very prized due to the looooonnnngggg and ROUGH acclimation it went thru.

 

Dennis

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Good luck' date=' LMB dont tend to eat food you drop in and usually eat algae from the tank. And to make matters worse they are very smart.[/quote']

 

 

Mine has started to eat all frozen foods also.............mysis, things like form. 1 and 2, etc., so maybe he'll eat something. I wish you luck in getting him out.

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I was shocked, I gave it some time and got the bugger I couldn't catch Sunday with only knocking part of my reef over...he must have had a brain fart because he kept going back to where I tried netting him up top.

 

Now the lemonpeel and blue devil are being buggers. Too skidish for a tupperware and are paranoid of a hook. Hope the neighbors are watching me fishing through the windows :)

 

Just need Spiderman type of netting that shoots out of a spring loaded gun and surrounds the wanted fish. I'll sleep on that idea, but not that talented with my tools.

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Working in a pharmacy and all, I was thinking, wouldn't it be nice to have a "medicated" food that once eaten, allows the fish to kinda, drift off into a peaceful slumber? Then wake up after 30 minutes or so without any ill effects. Hmm.....kinda like a tranquilizer.

 

Dennis

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Just remember not to feed a couple day and leave trap in. Then put food in trap, guarantee they will slowly go to it, always the fish you don't want to catch first. LOL Just be patient, if anything put the food in and walk away, let them get comfortable. Than come back for another feeding at normal routine. Your sure to see everyone the eats in there. Just make sure its food that doesnt float away. I use krill or fat stinky shrimp or squid.

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Here's fish trap #2, “McDonalds tulle trap 125g special” that worked without removing all my rock again...though I was 1/2 hr. away from doing so to a small portion of my tank. A small removal would have been a relief compared to my last 98% rock removal. This stemmed from late night thoughts of Spiderman....though I'm still tossing around ideas for fish trap #3 if I ever need it in the future. (a spring loaded fly swatter gun with netting attached; triggered with remote line)

 

Even if this wasn't a 100% catch rate, at least most of my rock would have remained in place.

When my fish swam to one side of tank, I used a “tulle trap” to block a small portion of tank and let them get comfortable for an hour. (tulle= .99/yrd at fabric store....bridal veil material). Don’t know why, but I had some acrylic wall/corner protectors in my garage. I cut them to water depth and zip tied the tulle along the plastic. (the “V” shape helped with stability when pressed into substrate...but anything salt safe would work). I used some rock to keep plastic ends pressed against glass.

If needed again, I will silicone tulle along entire length of plastic and attach suction cups for holding net tight against the glass. Fish were sneaking through my loose setup on occasion...but that was a good thing the ended in their capture! My angel was very sneaky when I didn't have enough rock keeping tulle completely flat on the substrate; he would retreat through the crack and into his safe reef hole when he got suspicious of me.

I left my fish net laying on the rock and kept trying to snag them when they emerged for a baited fish hook or algae scraping. It still takes patience! Well, the angel snuck through to my larger portion a few more times and I kept closing off the places he could get through each time. Once I closed that last hole, I coerced him back. He made a swim for it and found the hole was closed, got confused swimming and searching all over the “tulle trap” for an escape to his safe portion of the tank. That was the end of it, I just sandwiched him with my net and into QT! Next up was the Blue damsel and it took no time at all!

Happy Fishing!(hidesbehindsofa) (fish)

fishtrap2.jpg

 

If you buy some at Jo-Ann's fabrics, its a requirement for them to ask "what are you making". I always throw them for a loop anytime I buy something :).

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seriously folks,, just drain your tank into garbage cans (if you need to borrow call me) and catch them in the 1/2 inch of water that is left. Its that easy.

 

Next: REFILL. Cant take more than 20-30 minutes even in larger tank.

 

I like that idea, but i think you would need a little luck on your side that the fish ends up visible and where you could grab him without emptying the tank to find him

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Problem with the fish I have left...Lawnmower blennie, Lemonpeel angel and the Blue devil...is they're fricken small and love to bury themselves in the the smallest of places...with 1/2" of water, mine would likely have been stuck under the reef and would have to take the rock out still.

When I first started this hobby, I couldn't figure out why LFS's didn't have much in the way of great looking tanks for fish; except for that 1 or 2 great display tanks that were marked "NOT FOR SALE" I do not question that now :) I wonder how many "newbie" store owners have done that and went bare by the next week.

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