Share your fish catching/trapping skills!

[silvertetra]

I always use this method on my fast tetra.

Wrap the tank with black papers completely , and off all lights. The fish will sleep in fifteen mintues time. Then just on the light and net all the dizzing fishs out as fast as possible. You will realize they take time to recover from their sleep.

In just one attempt i remove 11 tetra completely. But then my tank is not too closely planted.

Good luck.

 

[nfeagle5]

I am a believer in the 2 net approach myself...however i do catch most of my fish about 30 mins afetr i turn off the light.....i get home usually around 11pm....turn off the light sonthe room (fishtank too) and comeback 30 mins later.....scoop....scoop....scoop.....transfer and im done
Quick and easy....not too dry tho lol

 

[oscarbreeder]

...LOL

 

[oscarbreeder]

I have also heard of a clear glass "bulb" that europeans use, the fish can't see it, you just take your finger off and it sucks them in.

You can also do this with a soda bottle and it works great for small fish.

For large fish I use the two net method.

 

[andrewhuynh265]

i get the fish into a corner and then a line up the net witht he corner of the tank so there is no space and just pull it striahgt up as fast as i can. usually works.

 

[Melody]

all my fish are pretty use to me and my hands in the tank and dont freak out too much when Im working on the tank, but I have a LARGE clear plastic cup that I will put below the fish after I can herd it into the corner, fish swims down, right into the cup, and cup comes up out of water with my hand over the top. Works every time. They never see it coming.

 

[mattrox]

I recently had to thin out some male guppies from my guppy pots (see gallery, more pics added soon). They are so excitable that they are near the surface begging for food. A quick scoop with an 8" net and I can get 15 at a time .

For my discus in the big tank, I lower the water level and use 2 nets, both 8".

 

[Matthi]

Bettas and Guppies : Since they are so friendly, I simply waggle my finger at the top of the tank and put a cup in and they swim into it.

Cory catfish: I use a net and another stick - usually my glass cleaner - place the net standing straight on the corner between glass and gravel in between the Cory and the other side of the tank. Then I put the other stick near the cory and herd it into the unmoving net. Very easy to have them net themselves this way.

Red tailed shark. Put net in water to catch other fish, find that he has moved in while I wasn't watching.

 

[Canuckfan]

I place one large net in the tank & then drive the fish into it with a smaller net .

 

[Paulo]

Hmmm....

my wife and I used the "Big transparent" plastic to catch our Discus, goldfish & Flower Horn.

They, specially the Flower Horn "Bite" a lot when we used our hands to catch them.

 

[TankGirl]

I have heard that flowerhorns bite! You gotta be careful with them, that's for sure.

Recently I caught a fish to treat him for fin rot and since I wanted only one specific fish out of a school I just put some bloodworms inside a regular green net and waited until he went in there to chow down, and snatched him up. Worked pretty well, and everyone got a nice treat

 

[BettaLadys]

I usually will lay a large net in the fish tank and let it sit for a few minutes. Once the fish come comfortable with it sitting there I'll place a little food in the tank. When all the fish come up to eat.. I just sweep them up!

 

[Fishyfanatic]

I can round up all of my fish in about 30 seconds. We have a 12 inch net that is about the depth of the tank. I put the net in on one side and slowly move it across the tank, catching as many as possible. It usually takes 3 trips through to get them all out. First we have to take everything out of the tank but we do that anyway. This has proven perfect for us. We used the little nets for about a year but it is too much of a pain because of our smaller, much faster fish.

 

[SerLunchbox]

ok ... mine is a bit odd, but seems to work for most fish i have. What i do is i put my largest net by the exit of a wood formation/cluster that i make. then i take my smallest net and chase the desired fish into this particular wood cluster. then i take another net and in essence force the fish into the largest net. Once the fish is inside the large net, i just grab the large net and trap the fish.

 

[FancyGuppyGuy]

I can round up all of my fish in about 30 seconds. We have a 12 inch net that is about the depth of the tank. I put the net in on one side and slowly move it across the tank, catching as many as possible. It usually takes 3 trips through to get them all out. First we have to take everything out of the tank but we do that anyway. This has proven perfect for us. We used the little nets for about a year but it is too much of a pain because of our smaller, much faster fish.

I love big nets it makes it so easy to get fish

I notice that if you want one all the other fish seem to know they are not IT! They'll swim around knowing its not their time togo to the great net in the sky while the one knows its their time

I have found the slower you are the better off everything seems to be, If you just stick the net it the tank and start waving it around like a flag all hell seems to break lose.

Putting a cloud of live brine shrimp makes it real easy to catch a ton of fish fast. They seem so preoccupied with the shrimp they forget about the net.

 

[oldshell4481]

what i like to do is take a nice waterproofed style M80 to stun the fish, then just scoop them out of the top 2% effective
just kidding
i discovered by taking a fishing lure, (swedish pimple) in my case, removing the hook, and jigging it up and down got the fish excited then i stealthily netted them from behind
also when going to net fish it is usually easier to scoop in the opposite direction the fish is swimming because few fish can swim fast backwards

 

[TankGirl]

Glad you are kidding, and happy to learn a new innovative way to distract the fish whilst readying the net.

Welcome to AA!

 

[kukerdan]

I have a heavily decorated 10 gallon, i dont need to remove anything, or use any traps, i can actually take the big net and catch whatever fish i choose, somtimes ill use the small net. for instance, i had to take a mean baby cichlid out today, he was pretty fast, and witty, hiding in everything, i just used to big net and scared him out, with out disrupting anything, ushered him to the front of the tank and bam i got him

 

[Billsgate]

I had to catch one of my keyhole cichlids a while back. I went in the tank with my hands, chased him to a corner of my tank, and he shot inside a coconut I had in there. I just covered the hole in the coconut with my hand, took the coconut out, moved him to my other tank, and tossed him in. (No I didn't let him adjust to my other water because temperature is the same as well as water composition) I was amazed at how well he responded to this. Normally when I have to net them, they lay on the bottom for an hour or so in hiding, and are very stressed after they are moved. Now he just swam around the tank immediatly after I 'tossed' him out of his coconut.

So, chase them inside a decoration that only has one hole, cover the hole, and move them. Easy as can be. But don't take your water chemistry for granted, you could shock them if there is too big a difference.

 

[thanew]

oh yes... after chasing my pictus' and frogs around the tank and even the mini plecos i've become quite skilled in catching fish...

i usually end up catching the pictus with my hands because i made the mistake one time of getting the smaller one with the net and he got caught.. luckily I removed him from the net with no harm done to him, he was scared though and making his 'EEEEEEEEEE' sound (the vibrating sound)... I usually chase them with a net into a corner and then i grab them.

as for the frogs... they get the net, they love hiding under things since they dig in the sand (recently dug a nice little crater under the drift wood to hide)...

now crabs -- that is where the fun is at because they love to crawl.. ive had one crawl up the net across the base and onto my hand... it was a little creepy at first but i think he learned his lesson when he caught a rough re-entry into the tank (tried to grab him with my other hand and he fell in (just over water about 2 cm over.. but he didn't really seem to love to have to scuttle in the water