Catching a Firefish

[hippolad]

Hi everyone
trying to catch my firefish but his so darn fast.
Had a bad bout of Whitespot in the tank, caught all my fish and put in hospital tank with copper apart from my Firefish and an Azure Damsel. Would love to get these and leave the tank fallow for 72ish days but just can’t catch them last two.
Already stripped down the whole tank around new year time, all fish coppered and tank rebuilt with new sand but used my original rock and bang about two months later had whitespot again. Have since researched and now know my mistakes . Would love to catch these guys without taking all the rock out again. One thing that I have rectified is I was running without a uv filter and have now bought a TMC p2 110w ultraviolet steriliser so hopefully even if I don’t get the last two fish out my tank will be in a better position to combat the whitespot. just so you know my tank is 1.3 m x 1m deep (700lts) so a pain to work on.
thanx for any input

 

[Timfish]

Good luck! If yo can quickly scoot the rock they use into a big net that's the esiest way I've found. But once they spook it can be a real side show trying to catch them in a net.

 

[Rmckoy]

Good luck ….

I think besides removing every rock and draining the tank these are both close to the hardest fish to catch

 

[Townes_Van_Camp]

Last time I caught one, I fed the tank and waited for him to be as far in the open as he gets. Then slipped the net over the entrance to his burrow. He swam right in.


Pure luck and it will never happen that way again.

 

[Rusty_L_Shackleford]

I accidentally caught my purple firefish yesterday trying to trap a peppermint shrimp. Stuck a glass jar in the tank and squirted some nano frenzy in. Came back a few minutes later and he was freaking out because he couldn't find the opening. Just a thought.

 

[hippolad]

Thanx for your advice but I've given up trying to catch them. I've finished copper treating my fish (except the two elusive ones) and in the final stages of setting up a 110w uv sterilizer to help with the situation. Have inspected all fish and all look clean from ich even the two in the tank. I know it's still in there but hopefully will not get out of control now I have the uv sterilizer and fish are in a better place (health wise)
Fingers crossed

 

[doubleshot00]

Where does he hide? Yu could set up a fish trap right outside its burrow.

 

[hippolad]

Well that's a thing I've noticed. Since removing most of the other fish the Firefish is so much braver he doesn't have a designated bolt hole anymore, he's just out there. If I go in with a net he's gone in the nearest hole but most of the time he's out in the water column. It's actually nice to see him so confident.

 

[hippolad]

Oh and I have had a trap in there for months (thanks to my good friend Martin Lakin, thanx bud) Caught my other fish with it but these last one's ain't interested in it. Tried baiting it with all sorts (not the liquorice type) but they're to smart.

 

[Rocktron1]

What type of trap did you use?

 

[hippolad]

Not sure of its name but it was an acrylic box about 10 inches by 7 with a drop door at one end activated by a pull cord. The whole thing stuck to the side glass with magnets. A great trap

 

[Rocktron1]

Have you tried the old school bottle trick? Cut top off, reverse it,Shove some food in, then hopefully they swim in small opening and can't get out
Worked for me

 

[hippolad]

That's a great idea but giving up now, thanx for your idea though, gonna use that in the future.

 

[Tired]

Have you considered microfishing hooks? They're small enough for firefish, and you can get a pack for a few bucks. Carefully press down the barb with needle-nose pliers, and you have a safe enough way to catch a small fish. Potentially lower stress than chasing 'em around, too. I've caught 1.5" sunfish and 1" gambusia on those, so assuming your fish are bigger than that, the hooks should work.

If nothing else, it seems a shame to put all your other fish through copper and then immediately re-infect them again.

 

[hippolad]

Tired, thanks for your reply
wow tiny fish hooks, never thought they would be available that small but my wife would have me sectioned if she caught me with a hook and line in my fish tank.
all fish back together now in the main tank. All look to be spot free but I know it’s there but hopefully knocked right back and fish are stronger to shrug it off, hopefully.

 

[Makara23]

Firefish would be absolutely the hardest fish to catch from my tank too, thank goodness I've never had to. They're slim and can bolt to any crevice.

Next time try the lights-out method. A few hours after all lights are out, and with rockwork removed, you can use a red light or blind it with a flashlight while netting it. The sudden white light will buy you a few seconds of it being disoriented.

But do worry that if it gets spooked, it might jump out of your tank.