How to catch a wrasse?

[justin1977justi]

I have a wrasse in my 150 tall that never bothered any of my snails or hermits in my other tank. Once my 150 was set up, I moved him over there and now he nocks every snail of the rock and class and picks at it. The hermits hide under all the rock. I am trying to get him out but he is too fast for me. I have tried turning the lights out and using a flashlight but he just hides under the rock and I have tried the fish hook but he wont go anywhere near it even with his favorite foods on it. What else can I do?

[gallivanmk]

Separate him to one side of the tank with a barrier and it might be easier to catch. Otherwise, you are probably going to have to remove everything.

[outta names]

You can buy or make a fish trap and catch him. I bought one and caught mine in two days, sometimes it takes them a couple of days to get use to the trap before they will go near it. I used garlic pellets to bait mine.

[anydarnthing]

Is he the type of wrasse that buries himself in the sand or are you running a BB? If he does just watch him to see where he sleeps in the sand, I just look under my stand and look at the bottom to see where he is sleeping then stick a container over the area and try to catch him that way.

[justin1977justi]

No. He no longer sleeps in the sand. He did when I first got him but now he has one small hole in the rocks that he sleeps in.

[Rijinals]

Those fish traps are pretty effective! Otherwise, looks like a rod a hook and a worm for you!!

[JRod]

I just caught two wrsses a solarensis and whipfin.

I placed a net in the tank close to the glass and fed there everyday for about 4 days, and when the fish where there, I'd snatch them up. Takes about 3 days for all the fish to get used to the net, so this method takes a bit of time.

[justin1977justi]

Ok. Thanks. I have a net hanging in the tank right now so that he will get used to it. I will start feeding by it also.

[Stile2]

I used a similar method, but after leaving the net in the tank for 3-4 days and feeding next to it I didn't feed for two days. Little guy was so hungry that he would have braved anything to get to the food. Snatched him right up!!

[Ish Wish]

A method I have used to catch a wrasse was to bury a closed end tube into the sand. The tube was originally supposed to be his house but when I needed to catch him I just waited for him to go in his house and then just covered the open end with my hand and remove the whole tube.

Another method I have used to catch a 6-line wrasse was to use a breeder net that I attached fishing line to. I loaded the net up with mysis shrimp and lowered it halfway into the tank. This is similar to using a net but you can move a little farther away from the tank so the fish is not as suspicious.

[bureau13]

If he's one of those aggressive wrasses that gets very excited by food, he'll be easy to trap simply by baiting it. There are a number of threads about DIY fish traps (you can use a 2 liter soda bottle pretty easily) but I bought a "fish corral". I got my flame hawk this way...put food in trap, put trap in water, wait about five seconds for hawk to go for the food.

The tangs took a little more coaxing, as did the mama clown. The damned male clown, which is the bane of my existence right now, will NOT go in there. I'm starting to hate that fish.

I had a small-tailed pencil wrasse that I only saw about once every 3 days, and he never showed much interest in food, although he'd take a bite here and there. I dreaded trying to get him out, but it appears he's gone and died somewhere and saved me the trouble. Too bad though, I thought he was coming around...

jds

[Serioussnaps]

Drain the tank to about an inch left.

[phishlet]

Here's the best way I have found to catch a whole lot of different fish.

Go buy one of those clear plastic small land hermit/small reptile cages with the plastic top that has a clear door on top. Put a few chunks of live roc in the cage and then put a fair amount of frozen food under the live rock (the live rock will hold the food down and keep it from floating away) and put the cage in the bottom of your reef. Let the cage fill with water and keep the door propped open. You can do this with a rubber band or brace it against something. After a couple days fish will start swimming into the cage to eat the food and then they often get disoriented. Then you just shut the door on top and you caught your fish.

[justin1977justi]

Draining the tank is out of the question. I will remove all of the rock before I do that. I will try feeding by the net and see if I can catch him that way. If it doesn't work then I will try the 2 liter bottle.