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dnorton1978

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I have decided to decrease my bioload by taking out my Foxface. I tried to catch him for a good 20 minutes, and gave up because i did not want to stress the fish too much. I have a 55 gallon tank with about 55lbs of LR, and some corals.. Please tell me i have other options besides taking the LR out???????????
 

Maximus1

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dnorton1978":13hedxcs said:
I have decided to decrease my bioload by taking out my Foxface. I tried to catch him for a good 20 minutes, and gave up because i did not want to stress the fish too much. I have a 55 gallon tank with about 55lbs of LR, and some corals.. Please tell me i have other options besides taking the LR out???????????

Use the smallest hook you can find and cut off the barb, bait it with shrimp, and voila! I am dead serious about this. I use this method to catch all my fish. Do it and you will be amazed at the effectiveness of it.
 

Len

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Yep, I know hook and bait sounds like a bad idea, but it's probably your best shot. To reiterate his advice, use the smallest hook you can. If you can find barbless, great. If not, make sure all the barbs are filed down clean and smooth. The greatest problem you will likely encounter is keeping your other fish away from the bait. Murphy's law will dictate that you will hook a fish you didn't want to catch ;)
 
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Anonymous

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Murphy's law will also dictate your foxface will just nibble at the hook and never swallow it. :P
I say use this:
UL1513.jpg


Buy it and you'll use it forever.
 

Len

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I could never convince rabbitfish or tangs to go into those things. OTOH, it works great for Clowns and pseudochromids :)
 
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Anonymous

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If you do one of your 100% water changes from teh other thread it will probably just be flopping around on the rocks and you can just pick it up and put it in a bag of water lol. Just giving you a hard time.

I use a 1 gallon clear triangle shaped aquarium that you can find at petsmart for a couple bucks. I put it in the corner of the tank with the opening facing the wall of the tank. I leave about an inch gap. Then I herd the fish in with a net or wooden spoon. They always run for the corner and once there I simply slide the aquarium up against the glass and they are trapped in the aquarium. They can't see the clear aquarium so they are more prone to go into it. usually catch them in less than 5 minutes. I caught my yellow tang in about 2 minutes a couple weeks ago.
 

dnorton1978

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Well i appreciate all of the input. I guess i am going fishing today. When i catch that bugger, do i fillet him and make a sandwich??? LOl
Have any of you fisherman ever had problems with the fish not eating after you hook them? I am going to take it back to the LFS, but still would not want to know he was going to die... Thanks again
 

Maximus1

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I'd prefer to deep fry him myself :D Nah, he should be fine. That's why you use a barbless hook. It will prevent the damage caused by a barbed one and should slip out easily. If he doesn't go for the hook at first, you may want to starve the tank for a couple days. Make sure you keep an eye on the hook as other fish will go for it. Good luck and report back, stat!
 
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Anonymous

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Len":35akzvmo said:
I could never convince rabbitfish or tangs to go into those things. OTOH, it works great for Clowns and pseudochromids :)

Tangs are pretty reluctant, yeah. Wrasses are another one that will figure it out pretty quickly. I've gotten my rabbitfish in there a couple times but never had to remove him. I just find the whole ordeal a hell of a lot simpler. Sit down, wait, and watch vs. trying to jig that hook through the water and not let other fish get it.
 
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Anonymous

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Ranger":1u6djsx9 said:
If you do one of your 100% water changes from teh other thread it will probably just be flopping around on the rocks and you can just pick it up and put it in a bag of water lol. Just giving you a hard time.

:lol: Be nice Ranger! Actually you can do a Ranger-style commando raid ;) on him and ambush the lil bugger. Seriously, if the hook doesn't do it, another way is to spy on your tank when the lights have been out for an hour or two and see where he sleeps. Fish do have favorite spots to hang out at night, and you can use a flashlight with a clear red cover (fish dont see red light, and the colored plastic wrap they sell at the grocery store works fine to cover the lens). This is a 2 person operation for the actual capture and extrication.

After you locate where he sleeps one person stands ready with a net or two or even a net and one of those nice cheap plastic food containers as a backstop and the other one flips the lights on. You can usually catch fish while they are temporarily blinded by the tank lights.
 

dnorton1978

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Well i tried several different approaches today, and got results from a cruel method. I fished for about 20 - 30 minutes. I had some nibbles, but couldnt land the foxface. Let me tell you about the big one that got away!!!
I made a trap out of a big water bottle, and put some seaweed inside. The shrimp were into it, but not much on the fish. I later decided to feed them, and keep the net in the tank. Well, he got a little to close to the net going for some food, and i scooped him him up.
Thanks for all the help.

Bioload is looking better now, I believe
1 sailfin
2 little damsels
1 watchman goby
coral beauty
flame angel

And for the recap on the tank
55 gall. with about 55 -60 lbs of LR. I have a ton of blue legged and algae eating crabs. I have a fluval 404, sea clone 100 etc etc. The bio load should be a bit better right?
 

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