Story of the hardest fish you ever had to catch, and what measures you went to catch?

Acrocrazy725

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So I was responding to thread about not buying fish that are going to Get too big for your tank.
I thought it would be cool to share stories of what lengths you have gone to to actually catch that fish. It isn’t always the fish out growing tank because your tank is too small. Could be sick and in order to treat in tank with coral you have to get him out. Could be aggression and either remove one or one will kill other. They could develop a liking to your very expensive coral. Anyone who has tried to get fish out knows how difficult it can be.
I use a fish box. When I need to use it I leave door off and feed fish through removable top cylinder where food goes. This way here they are used to it. Some fish go in in a day some take a week, Depends on fish. In my experience eventually they will all get hungry enough to go in. Make sure your feeding what that fish eats only in trap. Then hardest part is not catching multiple fish but if you have to Catch other fish in order to get your target fish do it. Then you can just release others.
I also use my net everyday to feed so they are not afraid of it. Most of my fish will swim in it if I let them. My most difficult Catch was my six line he was attacking my leopard wrasses. It took me over ten days to catch him. I had to use box for him, Trap door kept malfunctioning and eventually got it. Took him the full week For him to go in. Then he would dart out quickly. Eventually he got comfortable and after another 2 hour stakeout I got him. I have caught, for various reasons in a fully stocked reef tank ; anthesis, Tangs, wrasses, and foxface. But that wrasse took the prize!!!
Love to hear your stories ...... what else do we have to do ...lol
 

TheShrimpNibbler

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The worst one for me was my Randall’s goby. I had an ich outbreak, so I needed to get everyone out of the tank. But if I put a net anywhere near the tank, the goby just dove right into the sand. I ended up having to take every rock out of the tank and then spend days digging through the sand. I eventually was able to flush him out of the sand and corner him, but it took over a week for me to get him.
 

DeniseAndy

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I got a bunch of blackmouth chromis before everyone knew what beasts they were. They grew up and got large, that was not the problem. They also liked to aggressively go after all other fish. So, I had to remove them. I successfully got three of the four out. The fourth, not so fun. This darn fish was smarter than my kids!
I tried traps, nets, blocking half the tank off, for months. I finally gave up and decided maybe as one he would not be so bad. He was not as bad.
Then, when I tore my tank down to get a new one "the move", I finally got the jerk out. What a pain!
 

DeniseAndy

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I am a terrible fisherman. I can cast great, but cannot hook the fish. My brother (who is a good fisherman) just shakes his head and laughs when he sees me try. :) I should have gotten him out here. He lives in Minnesota (where I grew up). And no, I cannot ice skate either. I was not a good Minnesotan.
 

jerrod

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Had velvet in the tank and had to catch a sapphire damsel. Fish traps, hook spotlighting at night, nothing worked and had to take out all the rock in a 240 to net him. Thought about letting him die at one point.
 
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Acrocrazy725

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The worst one for me was my Randall’s goby. I had an ich outbreak, so I needed to get everyone out of the tank. But if I put a net anywhere near the tank, the goby just dove right into the sand. I ended up having to take every rock out of the tank and then spend days digging through the sand. I eventually was able to flush him out of the sand and corner him, but it took over a week for me to get him.
Amazing little creatures, even with everything out if your tank it was still hard to catch!!
 

november290

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When I was new to the hobby before I knew any better I added a orchid dottyback to my tank that already had a 6 line wrasse in it. The 6 line went nuts of course after the dottyback and stunned this poor fish from his flying fins of fury to the point I was able to net the dottyback due to him just kind of floating there. He recovered just fine once he was out thankfully. The 6 line was already being a bully with my clown fish at the time so the decision was made to donate him to my lfs. Plus the wife loved the orchid dottyback so you outta luck guy! So just like to OP I swear by the fish trap box. Well this crafty wrasse was having none of it. Wouldn’t go near the trap for over a week. I think I fell asleep several times with the line in my hands just sitting in front of the tank. It became a running gag in my house: “Where’s dad?” “He’s still fishing!” Well I get the crazy idea to put the orchid dottyback in a tiny clear Tupperware container in the fish trap. I figure I have nothing to loose so why not? I had that bugger caught in under a minute! First and last time I ever caught a fish using another fish as bait!
 
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Acrocrazy725

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When I was new to the hobby before I knew any better I added a orchid dottyback to my tank that already had a 6 line wrasse in it. The 6 line went nuts of course after the dottyback and stunned this poor fish from his flying fins of fury to the point I was able to net the dottyback due to him just kind of floating there. He recovered just fine once he was out thankfully. The 6 line was already being a bully with my clown fish at the time so the decision was made to donate him to my lfs. Plus the wife loved the orchid dottyback so you outta luck guy! So just like to OP I swear by the fish trap box. Well this crafty wrasse was having none of it. Wouldn’t go near the trap for over a week. I think I fell asleep several times with the line in my hands just sitting in front of the tank. It became a running gag in my house: “Where’s dad?” “He’s still fishing!” Well I get the crazy idea to put the orchid dottyback in a tiny clear Tupperware container in the fish trap. I figure I have nothing to loose so why not? I had that bugger caught in under a minute! First and last time I ever caught a fish using another fish as bait!
Never heard that one before !!
 

maginter

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a hungry fish can't resist
Are you really serious about this. It makes sense, but...... I have a black and white Clown that I need out of my tank and have tried everything. I would be open to this. What size hook????
 

saltyhog

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Early on in my reefing experience, I had a Tribal Blenny that was eating my plating montis! He would not eat any prepared/frozen foods.....only nori and my montis. I tried every way I could think of to catch him.

Finally one night at lights out I saw him go in to a hole in rock that was at the top of the aquascape and easily removed. I took the rock out and literally shook it until he fell out. Most satisfying fish removal ever for me.
 

Dave Cureton

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2 times I can think of for sure. First was removing a jerk six line wrasse that involved removing all the rock from a 150 gallon tank. Second time was a bartletts anthias that involved removing all the rock from a different 150 gallon tank due to an ich outbreak. Finally caught it when it swam into a hole in a rock and pulled the whole rock out. It was the runt of the group of 7 and the only one to survive the ich outbreak.
 

bevo5

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A couple years ago I had to get everyone out to go fallow for ich. No dice in trying to net them so I borrowed a fish trap and figured it would be easy. Man I was wrong.

I would put the trap in along with some food and run a string out and a few feet away. I got tired of holding that string so I tied it to the step ladder I use for the tank. I’d just cut the string when a fish went in. Hours of trying and retying that string. So many tries.

I finally got the last of them out. Then my tank bottomed out on nutrients and crashed.

I left the little remnants of strings tied to that step ladder to remind me why I try so hard to qt everything now.
 

Jason Scalise

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Dottyback. A real jerk to all of the other fish. A 1” fish in a 115g tank causing Massive havoc.
got it cornered near a large rock when it went inside a small cave.
luckily it tried to escape through an outlet hole and got stuck with its head sticking out.
allowed me to grab it by the lip with a tweezers and pull it out. Although difficult and took a couple of hours, I could not have planned it like that.
 

Silly clownfish

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Upgrading from a 30g to 75 g, to get my clown out of the 30, I moved EVERYTHING else out: corals, rocks, fish, shrimp, stars, and finally the water to catch that clown in about a half inch of water. I’ve had her over 22 years and never plan to move her again!
 
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