catching Discus

[crystalview]

My New Female came to me very very cold. Got a fungus a few days later. I went to catch her and her fins get caught in the net. What do you use to catch them?

[rickztahone]

My New Female came to me very very cold. Got a fungus a few days later. I went to catch her and her fins get caught in the net. What do you use to catch them?

i use to use a net but then it seemed to cause a lot of stress on them. now i just scoop them up with my hands :D

[crystalview]

I may have to try that. They are fast running through the plants and wood. I am also short so My whole arm goes into the 24" deep tank. I always get. She was so upset after I treated her she has hidden evertime I walk by.

[tcyiu]

Crystal,
I've given up using nets a while ago. I feel it rubs off too much slime and also run the risk of the spines catching.

I now use a semi-clear plastic beverage container from the local dollar store. It has an oblong shaped footprint. Meaning that it is deep front to back, but narrow side-side. Most importantly, the top comes off completely so the "mouth" is wide open.

Being narrow, you can hold it with just one hand.

I slowly move this towards the target discus, and trap it inside the pitcher and against the glass. I then slowly move the pitcher up towards the waterline to let air in to break the vacuum seal.

If I flash my hand at in front of the fish, it will typically back away from the glass at which point, I tilt the container's mouth up and the fish is caught. You can now lift the entire container out of the water and transport it to wherever without ever touching the fish at all.

I could not find a picture of my container on the web, but here is something that sort of looks like what I have, except this one has a handle.

http://www.containerstore.com/shop/kitchen/pitchers?productId=10022307

Note that in this application, the lid is not needed. What you need is the oblong body and a wide mouth which fits flush against the side of the aquarium.

I hope this helps.

Tim

[crystalview]

Thanks Tim that is so Cool!

[philip69285]

I use a very fine mesh net thats very nice and soft. It seems to work well for them. I also use my hands as well. Either one seems to work fine :).

[Discus-Hans]

I use a very fine net and none of my fish ever was mad at me or complained.

We move a lot of fish also from tank to tank and I can tell you we even can't do that one by one :D :D when I move them from tank to tank they still jump on the food like nothing happened so think it doesn't bother them to much,

Hans

[mmorris]

Release them from the net head-first. :)

[White Worm]

spaghetti strainer. moves through the water easily and leaves all the water behind once they are scooped. Never injured once since it is a smooth plastic. I use that for the ones that I cant get by hand. I find that the upper fins will get caught and damaged when using a net because of their rigidity.