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Lost in the Sauce

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That's a trip!

Got any tricks for coaxing a hunted wrasse out of the sand?

The only fish still left in my system is a divided leopard and she's got to come out, before the timer starts.

I've cought her out a few times and tried to get her over to the open side of the tank before hitting the sand, but now she's dipping as soon as she sees me coming.
 

fishguy242

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That's a trip!

Got any tricks for coaxing a hunted wrasse out of the sand?

The only fish still left in my system is a divided leopard and she's got to come out, before the timer starts.

I've cought her out a few times and tried to get her over to the open side of the tank before hitting the sand, but now she's dipping as soon as she sees me coming.
a plastic hair pick at night , comb the bed ,watch where she dives ,big nets scoop area
 
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SaltyT

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That's a trip!

Got any tricks for coaxing a hunted wrasse out of the sand?

The only fish still left in my system is a divided leopard and she's got to come out, before the timer starts.

I've cought her out a few times and tried to get her over to the open side of the tank before hitting the sand, but now she's dipping as soon as she sees me coming.
I haven't been on here for 3 days and got bumped off your thread I need to see what I missed!

Frank called it. When she dives into the sand use a BIG net to scoop her up sand and all. Pinch the net closed and she's all yours.
 

Lost in the Sauce

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I haven't been on here for 3 days and got bumped off your thread I need to see what I missed!

Frank called it. When she dives into the sand use a BIG net to scoop her up sand and all. Pinch the net closed and she's all yours.
That's how I got the moyari out, but I was able to get it over into an open area, before diving.

Yesterday I saw her go down, then scooped and scooped and scooped about a 12"x12" area total and it was not in there.
 
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That's how I got the moyari out, but I was able to get it over into an open area, before diving.

Yesterday I saw her go down, then scooped and scooped and scooped about a 12"x12" area total and it was not in there.
She's swimming under the sand to avoid you. Smart. I comb around the sand to get them to resurface then jam egg crate into the sand all around where the wrasse is located to prevent them from moving too far. Then repeat the process scooping with the net. It should work as long as she can't get under your rocks.
 

Lost in the Sauce

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I was worried that was a possibility. I wasn't actually sure if they were able to move much when under the sand.

I like the egg crate cage idea. I'll give it a try. Unfortunately, the last two times I've seen it dive, have been back behind the rock every I can't even reach the bottom of, with no rocks in the way.

Darn these T-Rex arms of mine.

She's swimming under the sand to avoid you. Smart. I comb around the sand to get them to resurface then jam egg crate into the sand all around where the wrasse is located to prevent them from moving too far. Then repeat the process scooping with the net. It should work as long as she can't get under your rocks.
 

Petcrazyson

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Darn these T-Rex arms of mine.
1672782700503.gif


Something I think you could do if the comb idea doesn’t work, is find out where exactly the wrasse is and place an egg crate cage with a door at the roof of it around there and move away some sand from the egg crate cage bottom. The fish will eventually come out and I think it’ll be a little easier to remove it this way. Yea it’s a lot of DIY though. I mean it’s not fool proof but it’s something and it has worked for me with a sleeper goby.
 

Lost in the Sauce

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1672782700503.gif


Something I think you could do if the comb idea doesn’t work, is find out where exactly the wrasse is and place an egg crate cage with a door at the roof of it around there and move away some sand from the egg crate cage bottom. The fish will eventually come out and I think it’ll be a little easier to remove it this way. Yea it’s a lot of DIY though. I mean it’s not fool proof but it’s something and it has worked for me with a sleeper goby.
How to get it out, when you know where it is wasn't there issue. Finding the fish that knows I'm after it and isn't surfacing is the issue.
 
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Sand burying wrasses can be tough to catch. Back in my aquarium maintenance days the egg crate corral worked when I had to catch wrasses for clients, but I had a buddy that could help me.

@i cant think you worked in a LFS do you have a secret for catching stealthy sand burying wrasses?
 

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Sand burying wrasses can be tough to catch. Back in my aquarium maintenance days the egg crate corral worked when I had to catch wrasses for clients, but I had a buddy that could help me.

@i cant think you worked in a LFS do you have a secret for catching stealthy sand burying wrasses?
I honestly do the same thing as what you do except if it burrows then I generally wait until later in the day once the wrasse starts to come out, once I spot the head (Which I can’t do with my three… they’re beyond stealthy), I tend to go in for the grab and usually that works.
 

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How to get it out, when you know where it is wasn't there issue. Finding the fish that knows I'm after it and isn't surfacing is the issue.
Oh sorry lol I thought it was you would see it but it would go back to hiding and not be there anymore. Sorry lol.
 

Lost in the Sauce

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@Lost in the Sauce i use my hand to scoop them out. First time or two they get away. Just don’t flinch when you feel it.
first choice is bait a trap
I wish I could have trapped the divided before scooping the moyari. The divided is so sketch now. I'm going to give it a few days. Then I'll have to downstack it section by section.
 

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See above.
In my own tank when I had to replace my sand to go finer here’s what I did (bear in mind I did fail with my Chloropterus - I think theres a post somewhere in my 4’ build where I explain about him).

I took out all the rocks (Well, I would’ve had to do this anyway as I was replacing my sand), then I drained the water so there was only enough to cover the largest fish (at this time it was the Foxface as my CBB is easy to catch), I then just went and tried to catch as many of the others, then when it came to the sand sleepers they had both legged it into the sand. I had to drain my water all the way down to the point the top of the sand ‘pile’ was out of the water. I then just dug around with my hands and got hold of the iridis, my Chloropterus was slightly stealthier though and he came out of the sand to relocate himself so I just had to cover the old bits of sand with new sand as I didn’t want to stress him out more. Again, I probably would’ve done this anyway to seed the new sand with years old bacteria.
 
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