Blue damsel...How to fish him out?

[iQuarium]

Hello all...any ideas on how to fish out a blue damsel from a reef setup? He is terrorizing the other inmates.

[Zoaelite]

You mean besides the use of weapons of mass destruction and cyanide? Lol, your best luck is going to be trying a little "flake food distraction". Feed a food which floats on the surface and when he comes to feed net him fast. (Best to turn pumps off)
Levi

[Brent F]

I recently caught a pair of damsels that way. I turned off the pumps and used a feed ring (a plastic ring that floats and keeps food from spreading acrooss the surface of the tank) to keep the food in the front corner. They had no choice but to come to the front corner of the tank. I had the net waiting below the ring. They swam above the net one after the other.

The difficulty may be keeping the other fish out of the way

[fkshiu]

1. (the only fool-proof method) Take out all the live rock.
2. Stake out the tank at night and find out where he sleeps. Quickly turn the lights on to stun him momentarily and scoop.
3. Leave a net in the tank for a week or so to let him get used to it. Coax him out into the open with some food and scoop.
4. Barbless fish hook and some fishing line
5. Bait a 2L pop bottle with the top cut off. Cap it and remove once he swims in.

[teejay]

Dynomite1

[CLINT]

Ill second the fishing for them.Stop by a flyshop and you'll be able to get tiny hooks.Kinda fun.Clint

[Murminator]

shop vac :mrgreen:

[Chin_Lee]

siphon all your water out to about the 3" left and then you can catch him quite easily. All your corals should still be fine if you do it within 10-15 minutes.

[iQuarium]

Thanks all...the deed is done. That was a nice little test of patience. I pulled out 3/4 of the live rocks and yanked the terrorist. I'm not sure which was more frustrating: trying to trap him or rebuilding the rocks. Never again...