Netting Fishes

[Regalis]

Do you guys have any special ways to do it? what's your method? I usually try to distract my fishes with food...

[Don Trinko]

my fish are not used to a net so if I get them on the first try they don't even try to excape.
One method is to come into a dark room and turn the lights on and then get them before they get used to the light. I don't do this to my discus but I have done it on coryadoras. Typicaly when I need to catch a cory I take all the fake plants out and use 2 nets. (Big nets!) Don T.

[gotfish?]

i rarely have to catch my fish but if i have to do it, i wait til its time for WC and try to do it by hand. using net for some reason always slough off slim on their body..and scratching them even

:alien:

[calihawker]

I made a net out of a coathanger and an extra large ziplock bag. It's clear so they dont see it coming. Also it puts them right in a bag without ever exposing them to the air.


Steve

[Patr1ck]

I built a fish trap out of one of those cheap plactic ziploc rectangle food containers. I cut a 1.5" by 1.5" hole in the lid on one of the short sides. I put a couple dinner spoons in it to hold it down on the bottom. Then put it in the tank and put some shrimp pellets in it for bait. The corys love going in there, so do loaches and algae eaters, tetras, etc. I had a small discus some how make his way in there too. As soon as which ever fish that I was trying to catch entered I would open the lid on my tank and cover the hole (I used a soup ladel) to keep the fish inside. Then lifted the trap out of the tank.

I got tired of chasing fish around and tearing up my plants in the process, So I decided to let them catch themselves. Ive used this numerous times. Be quick though if you are trying to catch a loach. They're smart little ********. Most of the time it took and hour or two for the fish to get used to it, sometimes less. The yoyo loach took a couple days the second time. Like I said, smart little ********:D

P

[mikel]

Catch fish during big water changes is the easiest. My fish eat out of my hand so it's easy to fool them. I just use two hands, and create a saucer like cup under one, and out it comes (I make sure one hand is above and one below so that the fish cannot flop out and fall to the floor...a little tricy with the big size fish). I try not to use any net. In one of the videos of Duisburg 2006 discus show competition, the German discus display people used their hands to catch a fish and quickly transport into new tank. It was simple and quick, and offers one of a few opportunities for crazy humans to actually make physical contact with animals that are so loved.

[Peachtree Discus]

I made a net out of a coathanger and an extra large ziplock bag. It's clear so they dont see it coming. Also it puts them right in a bag without ever exposing them to the air.

i don't know about safety issues from the hangar, but pretty slick!! :thumbsup:


...if you are trying to catch a loach. ....The yoyo loach took a couple days the second time.

wow, what a flashback. those litte ******* can make u mess up an entire tank

i drop the water level to about 1/4 of the tank and use a HUGE net so they jus cannot run. but it's incredible how far they can still jump. i only net in extreme cases cuz i had a young'un lost a piece of his top fin and i have had an adult severely caught in a net. he was caught so bad i had to cut the net several times.

[Autumn Wind]

I built a fish trap out of one of those cheap plactic ziploc rectangle food containers. I cut a 1.5" by 1.5" hole in the lid on one of the short sides. I put a couple dinner spoons in it to hold it down on the bottom. Then put it in the tank and put some shrimp pellets in it for bait. The corys love going in there, so do loaches and algae eaters, tetras, etc. I had a small discus some how make his way in there too. As soon as which ever fish that I was trying to catch entered I would open the lid on my tank and cover the hole (I used a soup ladel) to keep the fish inside. Then lifted the trap out of the tank.

I got tired of chasing fish around and tearing up my plants in the process, So I decided to let them catch themselves. Ive used this numerous times. Be quick though if you are trying to catch a loach. They're smart little ********. Most of the time it took and hour or two for the fish to get used to it, sometimes less. The yoyo loach took a couple days the second time. Like I said, smart little ********:D

P
THANK YOU FOR THIS!!! I was just about to post this question because I have 6 cories and 3 BN I need to move out of a heavily planted tank. :)

[DiscussDiscus]

Agreed Wholeheartedly with fish traps.

My LFS suggested using a clear plastic tupperware and baiting the desired fish in through a cut hole with food.

My other vote is to sneak up on them at nice -- but I would absolutely try to avoid nets at all unless as a chaser, I hate the scratches you sometimes see on the fish after being handled with a net.

Lee

[Hattawi]

I use 2 nets, a small one to chase the fish and a bigger one waiting for the fish in the direction where the fish is heading to. Then I close in with the 2 nets and lift the bigger one with the fish inside it.

[tcyiu]

I agree that nets harm the slime coat and have totally given up using them. I now use a foodsafe 1gal container (without any lids). It is tall and compressed (i.e. narrow in one dimension, long in the other). This container is very easy to hold with one hand.

When catching fish to transport, I submerge the container in the tank, and slowly shepherd the target fish towards the side of the aquarium with the container mouth. By moving slowly, the fish don't get spooked. The aquarium wall traps the fish in the container. When trapped, I make quick movements with my free hand near the fish. The idea is to make the fish move deeper into the container, and away from the aquarium side. The container can then be tilted upright, and the fish is trapped without any contact by my hand, by the container or by a net.

A side benefit is that the container is used to acclimate the fish in the new tank (such as the hospital tank) which might have salt or other chems or might have a slightly different temp..

Tim

[Regalis]

I made a net out of a coathanger and an extra large ziplock bag. It's clear so they dont see it coming. Also it puts them right in a bag without ever exposing them to the air.


Steve

Wow, I think I'll try that one... not exposing the fish to the air sounds even less stressful for the fish and yourself.


Also thanks everyone for the other great ideas!

[Roxanne]

I use salad tongs....:D

Nah, I do what calihawker Steve does but without the coat hanger..

Tankwatcher Robyn can pick them up with her hands!!!

[Harriett]

I move them during water changes--first I take the level down by 2/3rds. I have a plastic approx. one gallon bucket [sand/beach toy type bucket]--I slowly sink it on its side, corner the discus and with one hand sort of herd the fish in. If I go slowly, they mostly cooperate very well. I hate using any nets on bigger discus and try not to do so. If I have to get a fish out and am not doing a water change, I will put some food in the feed cone and when they come over, just slip in behind the fish I want and gently net from below. It works very well.
Harriett

[yim11]

There are commercials products available for this also (if you aren't handy like myself...):

Fish Trap:
"The Aqua Medic/Aqualine Bushke Fish Trap is ideal for trapping a single fish from an aquarium with extensive decoration, or when minimizing removal-stress is a primary concern. It can be very difficult to extract a particular fish from a reef system with live rock or an African cichlid system with rocky aqua-scaping, where dismantling the structure is not a reasonable option. The Fish Trap is baited with food and as soon as the desired fish enters the trap, simply release the door string to instantly trap it. The heavy glass door closes quickly to contain the fish. The fish can be extracted directly from the aquarium within the Fish Trap, as only half the water drains from the container, for a truly stress-free exit. "

http://www.aquabid.com/cgi-bin/auction/auction.cgi?misc&1230291555

Catch-n-Bag:
"Large Catch & Bag from Tom. Allows easy transfer of Spiny & Poisonous animals. Easy as 1, 2, 3. Snap bag into place, gently move fish into bag, then lift bag and tie off."

http://www.aquabid.com/cgi-bin/auction/auction.cgi?misc&1230291671

(and no, I'm not Buergey2 on AB...he's just the only one selling it right now :) )

HTHs,
-jim

[Autumn Wind]

Tried the ziploc bag and it worked like a charm for the discus. The cories on the other hand :mad: I made the plastic container trap and so far my otto's think it's a playground and could careless about the shrimp pellet bait. However when I left it in the tank overnight the pellets were gone and the container was filled with Malaysia Trumpet Snails.
So still hoping for cories but I did thin out the snail population. :o
At this rate I'll probably end up getting impatient and tearing up my tank. :(