How do I catch my Blue Fin Damsel?

[blancoh2o]

I have a little dilemma. I have a Blue Fin Damsel amongst other fish in my Reef tank. I am just now starting to add a larger variety of corals because my tank to fairly new. Well the Blue Fin loves to eat the Xenia that my friend gave me a nice little frag of yesterday. He gets along with all the other fish and dosen't touch the other corals. I guess the Xenia is tasty stuff if you are a Blue Fin.

Any suggestions on catching him without destroying my rock creations?

Thanks for any and all advice.
Steve

 

[Smonkey15]

this is my trick, when i bring food up to the tank the fish come to the surface because they're so excited about eating so i just pretend like i have food and the quickly use the net when the fish i want is near the surface. another thing i have done is to get a sheet of plastic or something like it and put it in the tank as a divider. you may have to move some rock around but if you can divide the tank in two then just slowly move the divider closer to the end where the fish is so he only has like 1 foot to swim around in, makes it much easier. you can also get fish traps at your lfs. hth

 

[Bearfan]

Another popular trick is to use an empty beta cube (clear) and place it in the water then chase the fish into it with the net.

 

[reefrunner69]

Fish trap baited with it's favorite food

 

[birman]

1 of my damsels was too smart for the fish trap. tried using a quarantine box with sliding doors. Keep the door open and start feeding your fishes from inside the box. your fishes will get used to feeding from there and the damsels will soon start to trust it as the source of food and will start to feed from there after a couple of days. Trap it when it's in. needs time and patience..... good luck 8)

 

[blancoh2o]

I caught him with a trap.

I stuck the Xenia in the trap and he went for it.

Thanks for all the suggestions.

 

[cj10488]

Awesome so how is that lil Xenia doing.. Am I going to have to give you more lol Glad you got rid of that thing.. It was kinda cool looking but man that xenia was sure a treat for him lol...


James

 

[blancoh2o]

I think the Xenia is going to make it. It is developing little bumps that will probably become new polyps. There are some of the little polyps left that the damsels never ate, so they are going to grow too. Thanks James.

 

[cj10488]

where the little bumps are is going to be a new branch lol Talk about an easy way to get it to multiply quick.. lol

James

BTW sure glad you caught that thing now before the tank got filled with alot more stuff.. Think of it this was.. Now you can add another fish lol... Royal Gramma???