Capturing my sunrise dottyback

[birman]

hi, guys
Anyone has a suggestion on how to trap this fellow? It's killing my bottom dwellers. It has already killed my royal gramma, yellow watchman et al.
Need urgent help. Tried to trap it with a bottle with inverted top.... no luck... it's too smart to fall for it. The trap has trapped and killed my cleaner shrimp .
Would prefer not to go for overhaul or drain water to get this "devil".
Any advice would be very much appreciated.

[reefrunner69]

I always did well with dottybacks with a comercial trap, or a homemade trap made with a critter keeper. I would think the bottle trap would work better than the critter keeper.

[birman]

hi, kevin
thanks for your prompt response. however, this dottyback is very smart. it doesn't even go near the trap while other fishes do.
i've starved the tank for a day or so and i've even tried rotating the type of food to attract it.
No luck.

I chased mine into a rock that he liked to hide in then I pulled the rock..

[vega]

You could wait till late nite when they slept. Then use convention fish net n torchlight for sunrise hunting. I always use this method for the fast swimmer in my FW tank.

HTH

[Kohan Bros.]

i dont usely catch a lot of fish but if worse comes to worse i heared that you can go to your local tackle shop and get the smallest hook and a very fine line bait it and try your luck hope it helps

[mrmarine]

Originally Posted by Kohan Bros.

i dont usely catch a lot of fish but if worse comes to worse i heared that you can go to your local tackle shop and get the smallest hook and a very fine line bait it and try your luck hope it helps

no offense or anything but i think thats stupid....JMO
you could hurt other stuff

[vega]

Yep hook sux, probabily dynamic will do better

[MT79]

I'd say use the home made "bottle trap" (www.reef-aquarium.net) and a BIG hunk of shrimp, stay clear of the tank and check periodically from as far away as you can so the fish stays relaxed. Leave room for him to feel comfortable, meaning leave as much of the bottle intact as possible. HTH

[bertzone]

Well i caught my domino damsel the hard way... But i caught it anyways... in about an hour... hehehe...

I put foreign objects in as many holes or escapes in the live rocks as possible to minimize it's retreats & distract it.. had my mom on the left side of the tank with a net to distract it & me on the right with another net to catch it. Confused & exhausted the hell out of the damsel until it gave up while the other fishes watched in suspense (or horror?!).

[RocketSeason]

Originally Posted by Kohan Bros.

i dont usely catch a lot of fish but if worse comes to worse i heared that you can go to your local tackle shop and get the smallest hook and a very fine line bait it and try your luck hope it helps

hahaha! thats funny!

You could also get a tiny boat and float that in your tank, and track the fish with a tiny fish finder!