There are several techniques for catching a fish out of a reef tank. None of them are perfect or work equally for all fish, and many require time and patience. I have a 330 gallon mixed reef that's about 16 months old. In the past year, there have been a couple occasions where I've needed to catch a fish more quickly than was possible with conventional methods.
I was taught a method by @Csreef that has saved me twice in otherwise frustrating situations. I have not seen this technique written about elsewhere and @GBRsouth pointed out it may be worthwhile to share. In both cases, the desired fish were captured in under thirty minutes after setup, and the whole procedure with two people took under an hour.
On the first occasion, a yellow tang decided he no longer wanted to get along with a gem after several months of peace in the same system. In my case, these tangs were not amenable to a fish trap or other methods I tried, and not separating this fish would mean the gem would not survive.
In the second case, I attempted to introduce a large Copperband butterfly, but several of the tangs were aggressive despite multiple methods to reduce the aggression. This particular butterfly is eating frozen well, eats aptasia, and is a fish I wanted to add. In order to attempt to re-establish a pecking order in the system and allow the butterfly to acclimate, I needed to remove a group of four tangs. Again, not practical to catch all these fish using more conventional methods for my particular fish with the desired timeline.
The goal of the technique is to group the fish in an area of the system where they will be easier to net out of the system. This is a two person job. First step is to determine where you want to group the fish. In my system, the front right of the display is the most open. Next, you need a few things: plastic grocery bags, some rocks, and some nets.
Once that is decided, all flow in the system is shut off. The bags are placed systematically to progressively flush the fish to the desired location. The bags are weighed down with the rocks. The bags serve two functions. They are a free form space occupier and secondly fish are scared of them and avoid them.
In my case, I begin in the back and on the left and progressively work toward the right. Once the fish are in the correct location, I use some egg crate as a divider to create a more of a structured divider. This is a versatile method, but the specifics are system dependent.
Now it's time to catch the fish. This is where it helps the most to have two people. Both people have nets, and one guides the fish to the very corner while the other nets them out.
This is by no means the best method to catch fish in every particular situation or system. It's important to exercise care with the aquascape. I have created a couple of frags in the process and needed to glue some colonies back into place, but overall minimal damage, and well worth the effectiveness of the technique for my situations.
In the case of a large system, with a need for quick results, and a fish not amenable to other methods of rapid capture, this is an option to consider.
I was taught a method by @Csreef that has saved me twice in otherwise frustrating situations. I have not seen this technique written about elsewhere and @GBRsouth pointed out it may be worthwhile to share. In both cases, the desired fish were captured in under thirty minutes after setup, and the whole procedure with two people took under an hour.
On the first occasion, a yellow tang decided he no longer wanted to get along with a gem after several months of peace in the same system. In my case, these tangs were not amenable to a fish trap or other methods I tried, and not separating this fish would mean the gem would not survive.
In the second case, I attempted to introduce a large Copperband butterfly, but several of the tangs were aggressive despite multiple methods to reduce the aggression. This particular butterfly is eating frozen well, eats aptasia, and is a fish I wanted to add. In order to attempt to re-establish a pecking order in the system and allow the butterfly to acclimate, I needed to remove a group of four tangs. Again, not practical to catch all these fish using more conventional methods for my particular fish with the desired timeline.
The goal of the technique is to group the fish in an area of the system where they will be easier to net out of the system. This is a two person job. First step is to determine where you want to group the fish. In my system, the front right of the display is the most open. Next, you need a few things: plastic grocery bags, some rocks, and some nets.
Once that is decided, all flow in the system is shut off. The bags are placed systematically to progressively flush the fish to the desired location. The bags are weighed down with the rocks. The bags serve two functions. They are a free form space occupier and secondly fish are scared of them and avoid them.
In my case, I begin in the back and on the left and progressively work toward the right. Once the fish are in the correct location, I use some egg crate as a divider to create a more of a structured divider. This is a versatile method, but the specifics are system dependent.
Now it's time to catch the fish. This is where it helps the most to have two people. Both people have nets, and one guides the fish to the very corner while the other nets them out.
This is by no means the best method to catch fish in every particular situation or system. It's important to exercise care with the aquascape. I have created a couple of frags in the process and needed to glue some colonies back into place, but overall minimal damage, and well worth the effectiveness of the technique for my situations.
In the case of a large system, with a need for quick results, and a fish not amenable to other methods of rapid capture, this is an option to consider.
