Unethical?

AJsTank · Mar 3, 2014

Is it unethical for me to not want to rip apart my 400 gallon tank and get a spear gun and get my Kole Tang out? It's been 2 months and he's killed 12 fish. I've had it with him and I want him out.

I found one for $260 that is 6 inches long that I could spear him with. I know where it sleeps and I know I can get him out this way. I've tried trapping and catching him and it's not working. I've never had this much hatred for a fish (other than my six line wrasse). haha

I tried building a giant gate and boxing him into the end of the tank with egg crate but he's too fast and too quick. Any other suggestions? If not, I'm going to harpoon him.

returnofsid · Mar 3, 2014

Given the fact that you've exhausted so many other options, Nope, not unethical at all! Fire up the BBQ!

Reefing Madness · Mar 3, 2014

Ya gotta get the rock outta the way. 2 xlarge fish nets. You stay at him, they do wear down. And I've seen lots of people tear out their hair because of one fish. SEll him, no reason to keep one fish thats whoopin everyone else.

AJsTank · Mar 3, 2014

I've had Kole Tangs for the last 14 years in all my tanks. This one is WACKED. There is something wrong with it. Every night it goes into convulsions and completely goes crazy. It killed my 10 inch Gold Flake and it's trying to kill my 8 inch Fox Face and 11 inch Naso. This thing is only 3 inches. You should of seen my 2 Anthia's, their intestines were completely hanging out like nothing was wrong because they got swiped.

mcarroll · Mar 4, 2014

Hook and line will do it...go for a #3 fly-fishing rig as a good size.

Bait with a little piece of mysis or whatever he likes that is meaty enough to hook.

-Matt

Palting · Mar 4, 2014

Harpoon the murderer. Death sentence is an ethical choice.

GHill762 · Mar 4, 2014

try fishing for him like mcarroll said

Koaboy · Mar 4, 2014

Can you eat 'em?

revhtree · Mar 4, 2014

Me and my friend used a barbless hook and caught a big foxface out of his tank. Literally caught him in less than a minute! Fish was just fine. :)

mfinn · Mar 4, 2014

I felt the same way before. It may seem too cruel to some, but when it's in your own tank, it's different.
Especially when it's killing everything else.
I had a pair of hippo tangs that suddenly found out my zoanthid collection was a food source. I tried everything I could think of to get them out.
Fishing for them, traps, help with nets at feeding time, searching at night. Nothing worked. I even tried a cheap BB gun ( at a desperate moment).

I ended up tearing down the tank to almost the last rock to get them out.

mfinn · Mar 4, 2014

When I tried the fishing line and barbless hook, I was able to catch every fish in the tank except the tangs. I tried for 3-4 days.

tuna_bullet · Mar 4, 2014

I must admit I used a bbq squer on a domino before just mean as hell and could not catch him...........he is longer with us...................

TheAcroholic · Mar 4, 2014

Gotta do what you gotta do. If one fish is taking out the rest, then take out that fish.

rocklgnd2b · Mar 5, 2014

I've eaten tangs in Hawaii when I lived there, perfectly fine. Taste good actually, of course they were wild, not sure how clean you're tank is haha... Try to fish it out like they said

mcarroll · Mar 5, 2014

mfinn said:
When I tried the fishing line and barbless hook, I was able to catch every fish in the tank except the tangs. I tried for 3-4 days.

It goes very fast in my limited experience, so have enough (very) temporary holding facilities for all your fish. Buckets are usually fine for this timeframe.

With a little technique to keep some of the wrong fish off the hook and some holding facilities for the "false" catches, you should still have your target fish in no time.

If they are really in denial of the hook, let them go hungry for a feeding or two...should supply any additional motivation required.

-Matt

TriggerThis · Mar 5, 2014

Deff not

miamiangler · Mar 5, 2014

If you can find a clear fish collecting net that helps , you can find them in dive shop here in south Florida . don't feed your fish for a few days . but leave the net in the tank for a few days so the fish get used to seeing it. then after a few days when it is hungry put food into the net and you should be able to catch him . that's how I catch my fish ,but hook and line will work also !

Snook65 · Mar 5, 2014

mcarroll said:
Hook and line will do it...go for a #3 fly-fishing rig as a good size.

Bait with a little piece of mysis or whatever he likes that is meaty enough to hook.

-Matt

This definitely will work. I've had to do this many years ago with a blue damsel that was set on killing everything. I think I used a little squid as it is tougher for them to rip off the hook.