6lines..

[Delphinus]

So what do people do with their older 6line wrasses as they get more cantankerous, territorial, and just overall-kind-of-nasty?

How long do they live?

I've had my 6line wrasse for at least 4 years now, and he's definitely confirming the notion that these fish get meaner as they age.

Think I'm gonna have to try to catch him out of my 75 and put him in a different tank (haha good luck with that eh? :( ).

Anyone got any tips for catching a wrasse?

I'm half wondering if I could try putting some cyclops into a bottle and see if I can coax him into swimming into it. Probably the longest shot ever, but I just don't see how to catch a 6line wrasse with a net short of removing all rock from the tank.

[Chin_Lee]

my 6 line was definitely mean but had a change of attitude after doing some carpet surfing and being ressurrected with some CPR. Hes more mellow now since then.
as far as catching him is concerned...... good luck :)

[Joe Reefer]

My sixline is so curious that when I go fishing for other fish in my tank he is the first to be traped or hooked. They can really hide in rocks so going after them with a net is out of the question.

[Skimmer Juice]

My sixline killed my mandrin a couple months back, and they where together for about a year before the incedent

[Murminator]

My six line you could catch him with your hand he was very curious and a pig nothing bothered him when he was eatin

[revgeoff]

My sixline was a bastard! He attacked anyone new (even after changing the rocks) and sometimes turned on fish that were in the system before he came along. Then the heater broke and killed off everything (or so I thought). After taking out most of the water and running carbon for two weeks I filled the tank back up and....he was still alive!
Now he doesn't even pick on my anthias. I think every sixline needs a near death experience in order to calm down.

[Delphinus]

Well .. I learned a couple things tonight:

1) It's really hard to feed a piece of mysis onto an itty bitty (1/8") hook.

2) The battery's going in my watch apparently, because while I thought I had 15 minutes before lights-out on the tank, just as I got the mysis onto the hook the lights went out.

3) I have a bad feeling I'm going to catch my hawkfish first. In fact, I did kinda catch him once already. He ate the mysis off the hook before I could "shoo!" him away from it. (It was the second piece of mysis I put on the hook before the lights went out.)

Attempt #2 goes tomorrow..

I tried a pop bottle fish trap. Gonna guess that holds not a lot of promise, as soon as the feed mode was off it was just bouncing all over the place in the current despite that I tried to anchor it down. And the second problem with the trap idea is that all the mysis sits on the bottom of it, where the fish won't see it.

[seashells]

Try moving rocks between tanks. Ours hid in the rock. Next thing we knew he was in the other tank.

Shellie

[Cap'n]

I have a similar problem, blue velvet damsel. Worked his way up the chain to #2 and is now challenging the purple tang for dominancy. I have tried to get him used to a big net hovering over or in the tank during feeding for the past month. Right...wishful thinking. Going to try the hook next.

Keep the tips coming, Tony. The one about trying while the lights are on seems to be a good start.

[Delphinus]

And here are tonight's lessons.

1) It's really hard to feed a piece of mysis onto an itty bitty (1/8") hook.

2) When they say that fish don't see a fishing line, that probably doesn't take into account that actinics will make the line glow blue. They darn well see the line.

3) They're not all that dumb either.
First try - mysis fell off.
Second try - CBB comes and eats the mysis off the hook.
Third try - mysis gets stuck on carpet, carpet eats the mysis.
Pull hook out. Oh yeah, that reminds me of lesson #4.

4) Don't slide your fingers along the fishing line as you pull it out. Continuing with story..

Pull hook out of finger. Put new mysis on hook.
Untangle fishing line from shirt button. Notice that mysis fell off. Put new mysis on hook.
Tang goes for the mysis. Sit and watch in frozen panic. Swims off. Whew.

By this time, both the CBB and the tang realize that when they see the string with the rock attached, that there's a tasty treat on the string. Unbelievable, at this point I can't even "shoo!" them away with the net.

Attempt #3 goes tomorrow, I might try when the halides are on and turn the actinics off so that the glowing fish line is less of a factor.

Although at this point I think I need some better bait. Anyone have large mysis to trade for some small mysis??????

[wayner]

This is Hilarious :lol:

[Doug]

This is Hilarious :lol:

:lol: Agree. Yer cracking me up again Tony. The suggestion about removing the rock he hides in ,{if possible}, sounds good. My friends does not move from his rock when we have taken stuff out for whatever reason.

By the way, his 6-line is several years old & HUGE. he considers it the feature fish in his 180, besides his large Regal. Seems pretty docile.

[Cap'n]

What if you dumped a bunch of mysis in to get a feeding frenzy and distract the other fish then strategically drop the baited hook by the target?

[Delphinus]

Wrasse - 3
Me - 0

I almost hooked him on Saturday, but it didn't take. Anyhow, he's now so completely suspicious of the rock, whereas the others have all completely associated it with "tasty mysis treat on a string" that it's more or less a doomed endeavour now.

It'd probably be easier if my CBB and flame hawks in particular weren't such mysis fiends. My tang, he's not so much into the mysis per se, but he's so in tuned to "the hand brings food" notion that he's chomping at the rock I use for a line weight as soon as it breaks surface.

As for the feeding frenzy ... it might work but the wrasse is so much in perpetual motion that he'd just go for the easy pickings of the frenzy instead of the one mysis hovering on a string.

He's very suspicious of the mysis that doesn't move whereas the others are all "Cool! A mysis that doesn't move!!". He comes up to it, eyes it, you can even sort of see him thinking "Something doesn't feel right about this. I'm outta here!" Whereas the others will happily gulp it down if given the chance.

Oh.. as for moving the rock he's in .. that might work, if I could get whatever rock he's in. He never sleeps in the same spot twice, and when he's not sleeping he'll just move from rock to rock. He is the most active swimmer I've got in there, just constantly on the go. Never stops for more than 1 second. It's like a toddler with ADD or something.

Oh well .. at the moment his aggression to the newcomer seems to be abating a little, so the urgency is coming off. I might try a wait and see approach, but I might also try a trap. We'll see what this week brings..

[OCDP]

Heh, this is pretty entertaining..

Don't you hate it when time comes to catch a fish, it's always such a challenge (IMO) [and I have a 20g tank!] . Also, notice that the fish your trying to catch is always so suspicious of what's going on, and all the others happily wander in to your traps... yeah, that's pretty annoying.

Good luck sir.. keep us posted.

[hawk]

I've read somewhere that after lights out if the fish you're trying to catch is still out or is "persuaded" to be out, they can be momentarily stunned by quickly turning on a bright flash light aimed at them. You would still have to be ready with the net and pretty quick but it might buy you a second or two.

[niloc16]

i know this may sound weird but i recently read an article on catching fish in your tank. it stated that not to pay attention to the fish you trying to catch but rather on another fish. the fish have a natural sense to know when they are hunted. apparently it is suppose to work. so maybe try it and the wrasse will come out

[EmilyB]

Kari just fixed my fish trap (well Erin helped with the finger stuff :lol: ). I caught a nasty dottyback with that one, so if you want you can grab it from him Tony for now.

[midgetwaiter]

I don't know how attached you are to this wrasse but have you ever tried bow fishing? Once you get used to the distortion angle of the water it's not too bad. I built a mini cross bow and picked off a blue damsel that was giving me problems a few years ago. Took a good hour to get him but it was gratifying. I might still have it around somewhere if you want to try.

[wayner]

This keeps getting better & better. :lol:

[Cap'n]

I built a mini cross bow and picked off a blue damsel that was giving me problems a few years ago.
Are you serious?! Wouldn't there be a danger of breaking the glass? How many bolts did you send through the water 'til you got him?

[clipperfish]

I havn't laugh so hard in a long time . But i will be following this thread beacuse i just bought a 6line yesterday ,this is going to be very interesting to see the out come . who wins the wrasse or us (LOL)

[midgetwaiter]

Are you serious?! Wouldn't there be a danger of breaking the glass? How many bolts did you send through the water 'til you got him?


I never thought about the glass, it was a wooden chopstick that I sharpened, baked over the stove and then sharpened again. I don't think it would have broken the glass.

I don't know how many times I missed, lots, maybe 20 times. When I finally got it I really nailed it though. Beat the hell out of moving 50 pounds of rock around too.

[Delphinus]

Interesting idea. I guess if you get desperate and there was no other way..

At this point I'd rather just take the fish out (and put him in a different tank) rather than have him .. um ... "taken out" as it were.

You'd have to be one hell of a shot to get this sixline anyhow. Man he is the fastest most active swimmer I've ever had.

I thought the aggression he was showing the newcomer had abated, but I got a good look at her fins earlier, and there are some definite bitemarks. That little brat is coming out, so I'll be hunting down that trap (or trying the hook idea again in a few days, I'm going to give the hook idea a rest for now though).