Dumb Fish

[myhunprotectsme]

I have a reef ready 75 gallon that I recently cycled. I put 8 small damsel fish in (like the pet store guy said) and then decided to cycle it with lalo live rock as well.. and I wish I had never put the damn damsels in there. I cant get them out now and they are so voracious that I am afraid to put any other fish in the tank because they are just mean! My boyfriend even tried spearing them after all my traps failed... luckily that didnt work either (but was quite amusing to watch- I dont think the fish were EVER in danger.) Then I developed a large cynobacteria farm (yuck) and now have a bunch of snails and hermits cleaning that up... it has just been a huge pain.
I wish I would have waited and used maturation fluid or black mollies or something....
I have an under tank trickle filter, ozonizer and euro-reef skimmer hooked up and will be hooking up my calcium reactor and in line UV sterilizer as soon as I get a chiller.

Still.. any idea's on getting the fish out without having to completely remove the rockwork? I tried using a plastic bottle and hanging it in the tank and putting mysis in the end.. but they wont swim in it... I tried that 3 times each with different designs, tried using a series of nets....

[baron902]

Damsels, the ultimate menace in a reef tank. Been there and learnt my lesson. Fortunately, I had only one to deal with, a Beau Gregory. Use a clear glass bottle instead of a plastic one, about 6 inches long and 2 1/2 inches in diameter. Tie a string around the top, use one that has threads so the string won't slip off, and let it lay on its side at the bottom of the tank. You have to be ready to pull the other end of the string which hangs outside of the tank to get the bottle to the surface if the fish goes in. Don't pull too hard, might end up breaking something. The fish would tend to swim to the bottom of the bottle more so than to the top in an attempt to escape, so take it easy. I tied a piece of raw fish to a small rock and placed it in the bottle. Good luck!

[brody98]

You could always barrow a friends lion fish for a day or two :)

[KillBill75]

True That!

[saladen]

i did the same with my tank in florida only i used chromis.
only way i was able to get em out was by stripping down the reef. still have one of em since hes just too clever to fall for tricks. when i brought everything to st louis i was tempted to get rid of him but there just wasnt any time..
anyway when i stripped the tank down to get em all out, it turned out to be a good thing. everything bounced back nicely.

[vacationhit]

I just put one Damsel in my 250 gal. tank he looks so nice blue and yellow.
It was my bigges mistake ever, he like to beat up other fishs now.
I will remove him now but I know this is not easy. I was catching other fish with my net.
Just put your net for minimum 2 gays in the tank so the fish know him and try to :nut: catch the fish the same time you feed him. The fish will be watch out only for the food and you will get him easier. If you have no luck don't feed the fish for 3 days and then try it on more time.

[brody98]

Ya damsels suck. The last time I started a tank out I used green chromis, They seem much more docile and tend to school.

[KillBill75]

I also have blue green chromis's, and they are great. The colors they exhibit under the new XM 15k bulb is awesome.