The fish I'm trying to trap has my number

[salty joe]

I made a typical sliding trap door trap to remove a checkerboard wrasse. He'll barely stick his head in to get food. If the food is in the back of the trap, the wrasse looks but won't go in. Meanwhile, my blue ring angel who's too big to fit tries to get in. The wrasse really does seem to sense that it's a trap. I got it as a little bitty juvi with a false eye. It's never seen a trap before in my tank and the door on this trap has not been lowered. Yet the checkerboard is clearly spooked by the trap. Smart fish I guess -kinda mean too. He harassed a pair of diamond gobies to death.

 

[Ranjib]

how long since the sliding trap door is been in place? It takes couple of weeks sometime for the fishes to get used to and enter (for me it was a black cap basslet)

 

[vaguelyreeflike]

Some of my trickiest fish were caught with full blue lights on, a clear fish bag with no writing and fully submerged with food inside the bag. As soon as theyre in the bag, either tilt it up and out of the water or grab the end of it to close it. Doesnt work every time but i always try lol. Can work better if they will eat with your hands visible

 

[Susan Edwards]

Some of my trickiest fish were caught with full blue lights on, a clear fish bag with no writing and fully submerged with food inside the bag. As soon as theyre in the bag, either tilt it up and out of the water or grab the end of it to close it. Doesnt work every time but i always try lol. Can work better if they will eat with your hands visible

explain more how to set this up. I have 6 staghorn damsels that I need to trap. They ignore the trap I bought and won't go inside. Biggest regret with my new tank was adding them because, hey, super big tank, not too many fish. What a mistake. I could have sent them to the lfs a year ago!

I have some 20x14 baggies. Or do you need something thicker

 

[vaguelyreeflike]

explain more how to set this up. I have 6 staghorn damsels that I need to trap. They ignore the trap I bought and won't go inside. Biggest regret with my new tank was adding them because, hey, super big tank, not too many fish. What a mistake. I could have sent them to the lfs a year ago!

I have some 20x14 baggies. Or do you need something thicker

I find any bag works as long as its hard for them to see, so no ziplock edges or labels on it. I let the bag fill with water under the surface and i throw their favorite food into the end of it, dropping a tiny bit outside the bags entrance so they can find their way in. If you want you can fast them for a day or two to make it more effective

 

[bnord]

have a 180 and have used a box trap to catch up an overgrown vlamingi, obnoxious fox face and file fish who needed medical attention
every other fish in the tank could have been caught
except a mistake CB cinnamon clown I should never have added
Meanest SOB in the world, bites me through surgical gloves, and does sand clover the tank

Just sits a stares at the food in the box

left it in there for a week,

grrrrrr

 

[exnisstech]

You may already be doing this but it helped me (using an inverted 2 liter bottle trap) by not feeding for a few days then the only food offered is in the trap. Of course it wasn't perfect as I had a blenny that figured out how to travel in and out after eating but I did eventually catch the fish I was trying for.

 

[ikaros70]

Second not feeding for a few days.
210 gallon with lots of rock work.
Whenever I had to catch a fish, I didn’t feed the tank for a few days and that usually worked.
I just use a standard acrylic box style fish trap

 

[Susan Edwards]

I find any bag works as long as its hard for them to see, so no ziplock edges or labels on it. I let the bag fill with water under the surface and i throw their favorite food into the end of it, dropping a tiny bit outside the bags entrance so they can find their way in. If you want you can fast them for a day or two to make it more effective

thanks. will try this!!

 

[Eienna]

I need to create a shirt with that thread name. I'm dying laughing - KNOW THE FEELING!!

 

[AlexG]

Since checkerboard wrasses sleep in the sand at night watch to see where the wrasse buries itself. Get a couple of large nets and put them over that area of sand and slowly/gently scoop sand from the bottom with a net and keep a net over the top of the sand. Ideally the wrasse leaves the sand and goes straight into the net. I have done this a few times with success. However wrasses sometimes can travel a ways under the sand or go out of reach.

 

[salty joe]

Hey, thanks for all the advice!
The clear bag trick is really clever but this wrasse is very skittish. If I put anything-hands, scrub brush, anything in the tank, he's gone.
I don't think I can get him from the sand because it's a big and deep tank with a lot of obstructions. Great idea though.
I think my problem might be the trap is too small. It's been in for a week. I made it from a cutoff whiskey bottle. I bought a big jar of pickles with about a 4" opening, I'll make the bigger trap this weekend.
Meanwhile, my red coris wrasse has gone missing for the last week. Never saw any major hostilities. Just little 'I'm the boss' demeanor from the checkerboard. No biting or chasing. I'm bummed, I was looking forward to watching the red coris transition. He was doing so well since last March. This hobby...