What 'bait' to use to trap a yellow tail damsel quickest?

[FishPersonFL]

I have a bubble trap that I load with food as bait to lure the wanted fish in, then pull him out. What is the best food to lure in a yellow tail blue damsel? He's not a little pig that devours evertything, he eats like a bird lol. And I already trapped my CB butterfly, a little file and the stupid cleaner shrimp lol. He looks at the hikari mysis I put in but is only slightly curious right now. I know he needs a few days to get used to the actual trap being in the water. But the other fish are super curious, him just slightly.

I already used it a while back to get my bully blue hippo out, so I know it works, just a matter of this guy.

TY!

 

[Thaxxx]

Don't feed your fish for a couple a few days.
He may be as hungry as he is curious by then.

 

[FishPersonFL]

good idea.. though he's getting a little more curious, poked his nose at the opening of the trap. I think more curious about the trap itself than the food.

 

[Backreefing]

Get some containers and drain the whole aquarium out. Reach in and get him . Refill aquarium. Works every time. Btw catching a demsel is like catching a mouse in a junky room .

 

[FishPersonFL]

I been trying off and on since I pposted this. It was not constand at all. I stopped for a few days b/c I was just too busy. I put the ball back in tank 3 days ago and just left it there but in a spot I wanted it to be for him to go in. Today I baited it with black worms and roggers reef food. 3 mins later of "work" he's in!

 

[Willis19]

Get some containers and drain the whole aquarium out. Reach in and get him . Refill aquarium. Works every time. Btw catching a demsel is like catching a mouse in a junky room .

Why I didnt read this post days ago? I capture my old damsel and it was hard! I took all the rocks out form the tank and I did capture it until it got tired.

 

[FishPersonFL]

Why I didnt read this post days ago? I capture my old damsel and it was hard! I took all the rocks out form the tank and I did capture it until it got tired.

you have to give fish like this at least IME 5 full days to trap. I at first tried for 3-4 days.. but I took trap out to show my tank to soemoen. I restarted a few days ago. So give AT LEAST 3 days at least for it to adjust to the trap in the water. The fish will slowly show interest. Dont waste time trying to trap in one day or the 3rd or 4th day. After that he'll go in a bit more.. and at the point he was in a full 1/2 way with tail in as well I released the trap. He stayed at that sweet spot for literlaly a millisecond. You have no time to hesitate. If you do it will take a bit of time more for him to adjust to the trap again, if he wasnt in far enoug and got out.

THis is difficult fish two in a row I got out with that thing. First was a medium size blue tang. Hardly even fit in the trap!

 

[FishPersonFL]

This is where you can find this trap. Ask them to make sure the mirror is secure in the trap. I couldnt get mine back on once it came off. I'd probably get the fish out even faster with it in there. I think if the fish sees itself it thinks it's another fish so that entices fishie to go in to guard territory (?). The trap works either way, but I'm curious to know how much faster would been with the mirror. BTW, probably coincidence, I ended up using a mix of live blackworms and some frozen food as bait when the damsel went enough in to trap.

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[William Morris]

Do you mount the trap high in the tank or does it matter?
Interesting concept with the premise being most fish will swim down when disturbed which will leave them trapped.

I have a dottyback that I want to get out of my 32G Biocube.
I had a rogue Royal Gramma and I ended up tearing the rock work down to get him out.

 

[FishPersonFL]

Do you mount the trap high in the tank or does it matter?
Interesting concept with the premise being most fish will swim down when disturbed which will leave them trapped.

I have a dottyback that I want to get out of my 32G Biocube.
I had a rogue Royal Gramma and I ended up tearing the rock work down to get him out.

I didnt think about the height of the trap. I just put it where the fish seemed to be more like to be at and that had space in front of the opening to the fish can see inside. I did catch about every other fish in the trap first (of course I never released it) before the damsel went in. But that's expected. They go in, my cbb I had to help get him out of it. **Side note alert** he started eating frozen food after that traumatic experience lol. Anyhow, the middle of the opening to mine was about 10" below water line. I dont think it will matter too much, it floats really fast to the top. Just have a place to put your fish once trapped! at least temporarily until you can get it to LFS.

 

[William Morris]

In watching the videos on the vendor website it seems the fish's instinct helps trap them. They all want to go down in the water and the trap floats to the top fast enough to catch them.

Dottybacks are lighting fast though so we'll see.

 

[FishPersonFL]

In watching the videos on the vendor website it seems the fish's instinct helps trap them. They all want to go down in the water and the trap floats to the top fast enough to catch them.

Dottybacks are lighting fast though so we'll see.

I have an orchid dback in my tank. It never got close to the trap from what I remember. He's usually reclusive in the back area of the rockwork, coming out mainly at feeding time, and then goes back. He doesnt lock up in a hole, I can see him poking in the rockwork. Anyhow, that fish will certainly take more time. You might want to put the trap more in an area lower down maybe that it's more like to be. And maybe take an airline tubing and lead him to the trap which will have a lot food in it. That's gonna be the hardest of all to get I think, but I'm sure can and will be done.