[Timkat4867]

*** spent all night trying to catch my holding female to strip her, but to no avail.
everytime she comes up to the surface, i try to get her and she escapes.
My tank has a lot of rock in it, so i dont know where she goes. I dont want to remove all the rock to get her, so I was asking, does anyone out there have any tricks up their sleeve that they can share on how to catch a fish? Or will i have to do it the hard way?

tim

 

[FishGeek]

The only thing that I can suggest is to leave a net in there resting on the rock and the sides of the tank. Put it in a spot where she cant really swim past it. After its in there for a while try and chase her with your hand or another net into it. If she goes into the rocks use your hand to jiggle them and she will come out.

 

[Timkat4867]

Yeah, i tried to do it that way, but the tank is so big and deep and dense with rocks,
that it makes it pain in the butt to do.

but thanks anyway.

 

[F-1]

Catch her when she's asleep. Shut off the lights on your tank and the lights in the room at night for about an hour or two until your fish are asleep. When you turn the lights on she should be sleeping and floating somewhere near the bottom of the tank. When you turn the lights on she will be barely awake and blinded by the light so she won't be able to put up a chase.

F-1

 

[Timkat4867]

I tried that as well this morning when I woke up.

the thing is, it is densely stocked with rock and she usually sleeps deep in the caves.
the only chance i have that way is if she falls asleep right in front where it is no rock work.

but thanks for the tip.

 

[F-1]

Okay! Let's get creative. Cut a piece of egg crate that will fit inside of your tank and go just above the water level. Lour her outside of the rocks with food. When she is outside of the rocks, place the egg crate between her and rocks. See if this works; if it doesn't, start removing the rocks.

F-1

 

[FishGeek]

Good idea. I was going to suggest finding someway to get between her and the rocks before she darts in but couldnt think of how. LOL

 

[Timkat4867]

Fantastic!

If i cant get a hold of an egg crate, ill try something similiar.

you just gave me a great idea.

youre the best.

thanks dude.

 

[pdub]

The technique that F-1 suggested seems to work for me. If you need to, you can move some of the rocks to one side of the tank and then just coax the fish over to the non-rock side of the tank. That way you don't have to remove ALL the rocks in the tank. (I dislike removing all the rocks)

 

[edouthirt]

Not sure if a holding female will be lured out by food... but you can give it a shot! if she is still eating... you could always try a fish trap.

 

[DJRansome]

I have read a lot of these posts since I joined, and I even posted a couple myself. In the end I think most people just remove the rocks or let the females spit in the tank. There are a couple of people who have great luck with the "sleeping" trick, but I don't have much available substrate either.

 

[houstonhimself]

I'm no ichologist but I would think like humans fish need a few seconds to adjust to different light conditions. So one of the things I like to do when I am trying to catch a particular fish is wait until the fish is swimming in an area that I can quickly get a net in between the fish and it's escape then turn the tank light off and get the net in position as quick as possible.

I also use two nets a large one and a small one.