Reef Discussion

[Buddy]

So my Cleaner Wrasse has been living in my weir for a couple of months and recently my Yellow Watchman decided to join him. It is a nightmare trying to catch fish in there so I decided to try and be smart about it so I came up with something to do the job.

My corner weir is 2ft deep x 200mm x 200mm with 3 pipes inside it. With no access from above because of the hood you can imagine how hard it is trying to catch a fish with a net.

So what I did was get a spare bit of pipe of about 40mm diameter (diameter doesn't matter too much) and 150mm long and put a cap on one end. I drilled a small hole through the side of the pipe as close as to the open end as I could. I used a few meters of fishing line, tied it to the pipe and lowered it in the weir so it was sitting flat. The other end of the line just hung over the front of the tank.

We all know fish seek somewhere every night to sleep and with the pipe being the only enclosed space, they only had one choice. After dark I checked that there was a fish in the pipe and pulled it to the top of the weir before the fish even knew what was happening. Two nights later and both fish are back in the tank!

I have a weir comb and egg crate around the weir so I am not sure how they got in there but at least I know next time it will be pretty easy to get them out.

 

[ezza]

So my Cleaner Wrasse has been living in my weir for a couple of months and recently my Yellow Watchman decided to join him. It is a nightmare trying to catch fish in there so I decided to try and be smart about it so I came up with something to do the job.

My corner weir is 2ft deep x 200mm x 200mm with 3 pipes inside it. With no access from above because of the hood you can imagine how hard it is trying to catch a fish with a net.

So what I did was get a spare bit of pipe of about 40mm diameter (diameter doesn't matter too much) and 150mm long and put a cap on one end. I drilled a small hole through the side of the pipe as close as to the open end as I could. I used a few meters of fishing line, tied it to the pipe and lowered it in the weir so it was sitting flat. The other end of the line just hung over the front of the tank.

We all know fish seek somewhere every night to sleep and with the pipe being the only enclosed space, they only had one choice. After dark I checked that there was a fish in the pipe and pulled it to the top of the weir before the fish even knew what was happening. Two nights later and both fish are back in the tank!

I have a weir comb and egg crate around the weir so I am not sure how they got in there but at least I know next time it will be pretty easy to get them out.

Sheer genius. When my fish did it, it took me at least an hour with a tiny net to get the darn thing. Your idea is brilliant.

A vague idea I considered is to have a similarly sized piece of egg crate or whatever sunk to the bottom of the compartment when setting up the aquarium, shape it to fit around pipes and attach an acrylic rod or something to give you a handle. A ring to attach a string to... Then if a fish goes in, you simply lift the base via the rod so the fish has nowhere to go but up and out.

 

[Wrangy]

I find drastic measures can also work...

 

[Buddy]

Using a small barbless hook and fishing line crossed my mind!!

 

[holly]

I got desperate and used a wet dry vac. I haven't figured out a better way other than draining most of the water out and scooping with a small net...

 

[Buddy]

Sheer genius. When my fish did it, it took me at least an hour with a tiny net to get the darn thing. Your idea is brilliant.

A vague idea I considered is to have a similarly sized piece of egg crate or whatever sunk to the bottom of the compartment when setting up the aquarium, shape it to fit around pipes and attach an acrylic rod or something to give you a handle. A ring to attach a string to... Then if a fish goes in, you simply lift the base via the rod so the fish has nowhere to go but up and out.

I was thinking of a similar device but the problem is that after a while the weir gets little growths and other things that would block the egg crate from being able to lift up smoothly or at all.

I got desperate and used a wet dry vac. I haven't figured out a better way other than draining most of the water out and scooping with a small net...

Yeah draining it and using a net was what I always did too and it was a pain!