need help catching blenny

[jason604]

I cant seem for the life of me catch this stupid sifter blenny that is wrecking havoc on my plates and brain corals. I tried starving him n puttin a net n spray food near it in hopes to catch him but i missed him by a hair once and now he never goes near the net again. His home is under the largest rock in my tank so i cant get him. Any1 has any good tips or is there any1 local that can lend me a fish trap if those things actually work?

Thanks

Jason

[Aquattro]

Drain the tank, pick him up, put water back. Done.

[jason604]

Will draining 100% of the water then putting it back harm any of my tank mates in any way?

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

Clams and sponges should never be out of water, but corals and live rock can be for a short while. If you work quickly it should be ok to drain, catch and refill.

[Seriak]

To catch my bi-color, I just scared it into a piece of rock and then removed the entire piece of rock, as they like to hide when scared, into another container. After he came out of the rock in the separate container, I put it back it the tank.

[lastlight]

Drain the tank, pick him up, put water back. Done.

caught both of my anthias in under 2 min. this is hands down the easiest method i've used.

[Misses.ReefWars]

personally i would place the rock he is living in, in a bucket filled with your system water, i would suggest continually pulling rock in and out of water, it may make him want to escape the rock or possibly stress him out but that is dependent, Ive never tried this but could be a good method lol

[Aquattro]

Will draining 100% of the water then putting it back harm any of my tank mates in any way?

Not at all. Anthony's comment about clams is especially wrong :) Sponges, who cares.
I've drained my tank many times to catch fish. I wouldn't even try any other way.

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

Not at all. Anthony's comment about clams is especially wrong :) Sponges, who cares.
I've drained my tank many times to catch fish. I wouldn't even try any other way.

You leave your clams exposed to the air??? At over $100 each and getting harder to find nowadays, that's not a risk I'm willing to take.

Also, sponges exposed to air can very quickly die and then you'll end up with dying sponges creating an ammonia spike & you go through a mini-cycle. Ornamental sponges are hard enough to keep alive as it is without the added stress of air exposure.

For these two reef inhabitants, a few seconds is not a big deal. However, if they're going to be exposed to air for longer (which is usually the case when completely draining your tank, catching the fish and then refilling the tank), I would move them to a holding container to stay submerged during the whole process.

[Aquattro]

You leave your clams exposed to the air??? At over $100 each and getting harder to find nowadays, that's not a risk I'm willing to take.


I would leave it sitting on the table for 30 minutes if I needed to. They do just fine. I've also soaked them in RO for an hour, no issues there either.

As for sponges, I've hardly ever seen a tank with enough sponge that could die and cause any kind of spike.

I've left acros outside for 2 hours and put them back in the tank, did fine too.

These things are way tougher than you give them credit for. :)

[spit.fire]

I would leave it sitting on the table for 30 minutes if I needed to. They do just fine. I've also soaked them in RO for an hour, no issues there either.

As for sponges, I've hardly ever seen a tank with enough sponge that could die and cause any kind of spike.

I've left acros outside for 2 hours and put them back in the tank, did fine too.

These things are way tougher than you give them credit for. :)

+1

The only corals I wouldn't leave out for too long is deep water acros

[jason604]

man i guess i gotta find a bunch of large containers to hold the water now lol. might as well do a water change as well while im at it

[reefwars]

I would leave it sitting on the table for 30 minutes if I needed to. They do just fine. I've also soaked them in RO for an hour, no issues there either.

As for sponges, I've hardly ever seen a tank with enough sponge that could die and cause any kind of spike.

I've left acros outside for 2 hours and put them back in the tank, did fine too.

These things are way tougher than you give them credit for. :)

+1 as well:)

[Aquattro]

+1

The only corals I wouldn't leave out for too long is deep water acros

I haven't noticed them affected any differently than any other, really. Typically exposed for about 15 minutes during one of my catching sessions.
Last summer I bought a huge stag and it had to sit dry in a rubbermaid for nearly two hours before going into the tank, hardly slimed up at all.

Longest was an acro that sat on my deck for 4 hours. I changed my mind and decided to keep it, put it back and although not happy the rest of the afternoon, it was fine the next day.

[Aquattro]

man i guess i gotta find a bunch of large containers to hold the water now lol. might as well do a water change as well while im at it

Good things to keep on hand. I have 3 50g barrels just for times like that -lol

[Reef Pilot]

Actually, I've had the tips of some birdsnest frags die on me when they were out of the water too long. This happened when I removed my frag rack for some cleaning in my DT, and it was out of the water a little longer than I had planned. All my other SPS frags were OK, but several of the birdsnest tips were damaged. I guess they are so thin, and just don't hold the water as much as the others.

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

OK. I've always been told not to have clams or sponges exposed to air. Never felt the need to test it out with one of my own clams:wink:

Learn something new every day. Thanks Brad for this info. I still don't have the nerve to leave my clams sitting out for half an hour.

Corals, I'm not so worried about. When I'm fragging or doing a big water change, the corals may be exposed for more than a few minutes, usually with no ill effects.

[Simmy]

OK. I've always been told not to have clams or sponges exposed to air. Never felt the need to test it out with one of my own clams:wink:

Learn something new every day. Thanks Brad for this info. I still don't have the nerve to leave my clams sitting out for half an hour.

Corals, I'm not so worried about. When I'm fragging or doing a big water change, the corals may be exposed for more than a few minutes, usually with no ill effects.

Did you catch your Flame Angel Anthony?

[jason604]

draining tank to catch goby failed.... his home is under the main rock that holds all the rockwork in my tank together. I wasnt able to reach him so i gave up and filled tank back up.. any1 know any other ideas or should i just get a fish trap? seems a rip off for 1 time use

[gregzz4]

You could try to corral him in a corner with eggcrate or such, then remove the remaining rock and net him

[jason604]

Man so many of my sps got bleached at the very top parts if them. Is this cuz they got burnt by my led without water protecting them? I normally turn my lights to about 5% when I do big water change but this time I forgot to for about 10mins. The whole top half of my birdnest is now fully white. Here a pic of my tri-colored nana with its tips bleached. Will they ever recover or should I snip it off?

http://i1292.photobucket.com/albums/b578/kosin604/1945B95F-F9A8-4AA7-B2D0-6C41B1400EE1_zpspokdfibv.jpg (http://s1292.photobucket.com/user/kosin604/media/1945B95F-F9A8-4AA7-B2D0-6C41B1400EE1_zpspokdfibv.jpg.html)