Catching shy fish...

[Rollermonkey]

Any suggestions?

 

I starved my tank for a week, hoping that would make my Assessor and Firefish more bold when I finally fed the tank, but I still wasn't able to catch them.

 

As soon as I moved to put one net in front of their respective hidey-holes they darted in before I could block the entrance so I could catch them with another.

 

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I have a feeling I'm going to have to catch the clowns first, then tear the whole tank apart so the remaining fish cannot hide from me.

 

I actually had my fire shrimp completely inside my net eating the food I had placed in there to lure it, and it still got out before I could get the net out of the water.

[orbit]

Water bottle trick is the best.

You can google the image and see how it's done.

 

Basically, you get a 1L or 1.5L plastic soda bottle. Empty the content. Rinse the bottle with tap water then with tank water or RO/DI.

Cut the top part (1/3) before the bottle neck.

Flip the cut part and insert into the bigger part of the bottle.

So the top part is inverted inside the bigger part.

 

(I actually had to cut around the hole to make a bigger entrance, Up to the size of the fish)

 

Drop a weight (a LR rubble). Put some pellets or mysis shrimp. Drop right around where the shy fish hangs out.

Good to go

[RollaJase]

Orbit is correct, this is probably your best option short of buying/borrowing/making a acrylic fish trap.

http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/249712-water-bottle-fish-trap/

 

Put some food in the base, switch off the pumps and wait and watch from a distance.

Tie some fishing line around the neck of the bottle so as soon as they enter and start eating you can pull the bottle towards the surface. The movement will make it much harder for the captured fish to find their way out again. Just make sure you make the hole small enough so that your clown fish don't get caught.

[orbit]

When I caught my bicolor dottyback with my water bottle trap, I cried with joy and satisfaction.

[Rollermonkey]

I think the difference in size between my firefish and the male clown is so small, that it may not be possible to make the hole big enough for one, but not the other. I have an acrylic fish trap, but it's too big to really fit into the BC, and I cannot find the stupid door for it anyways...

 

I'll try the bottle trick, though.

[cobracop]

I can't catch the non shy ones