How to catch a clown

[Kitta]

I just bought a Clarkii and it only been in my reef tank for 1 week. The fish is about 2 inches long and it is acting too aggressive towards other fishes in the tank, especially to the coral beauty. I tried this morning when the lights were off but no luck. Does anyone have any experience with this kind of behaviour with this type of fish? What I am really looking for is a way to get this fish out and put it in the sump.

 

[Adam1]

Kitta,

The best way I have found is to use tiny barbless fish hooks sold in fly fishing stores. Bait them with a bit of mysis or some other kind of food that will stay on the hook. Keeping it away from the other fish is the biggest challenge.

Have a net ready since they shake loose frequently.

I have used this technique on damsels all the way to tangs with great success. If it sounds cruel, consider the alternative of chasing the fish around with a net.

HTH

Adam

 

[Ryan22]

Maybe I have a slow clown, but I just feed the tank and scoop it out with the net, as long as the net isn't already in the water I can get the clown where ever I want it in the tank, rop the net in behind it and scoop it out. I move mine into the sump for a day or two almost every time i add a new fish, I've never had a problem that way. If I stick the net in the water and try to chase it around and catch it, forget about it, never going to happen.

HTH,

 

[oimate84]

A previous edition of Advanced Aquarist gave a tip to get unwanted fish out by: When all lights are off and fish are sleeping, get a flashlight and beam the unwanted fish with it, then net him out of there....Good luck. i never tried this before but it seems like an idea

 

[MarkO1]

I've always had pretty good luck with a little Plexi-glass and food.
angle a tall (at least height of tank) piece of plexi to the front of the tank and with a swift hand and net, you should be able to corner him towards the front of the tank/plexi during a feeding.
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bank failure watch list

 

[Kitta]

Thank you all for the ideas. This fish is still too shy to come up when I am putting food in the tank. I will try to get it out ASAP because I don't want it to cause a lot of stress to the others.

 

[esmithiii]

Here is a photo of my $5 fish trap:

You can't see the fishing line, but by pulling it the door closes. (In the photo the trap is upside down from how i ended up making it work. The rock tied to the fishing line should keep the door open until you pull the fishing line trapping the fish)

Put some food in and wait. When the clown swims in, pull the string and trap that fish! I could have caught any fish in my tank except the mandarin. It may take a couple of days for the fish to not be afraid of the container. Just squirt some food in each day (don't feed except in the trap) and soon you can catch any fish.

The "trap" by the way is a small plastic terrarium that you can get at any pet store and probably at wal*mart too.

Ernie

 

[Vixyswillie]

Awesome little gadget, Ernie - great idea! Hope I never have to use it, but it's sure a good method to file away. 8)

 

[teeljay]

hi Kitta...I am not as experienced as the others on this reef, but I saw my LFS operator use a plastic bag instead of net material to catch his fish, I tried it at home and the fish don't seem to see the bag. It has made it easier for me to catch some of my fish.
good luck