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To catch a fish in a heavily planted tank
>Date: Wed, 10 Oct 2001 17:30:02 -0400
>From: Dan Resler <resler at liberty_egr.vcu.edu>
>Subject: Re: SAEs eat Christmas Moss
>
>On Wed, Oct 10, 2001 at 09:05:00PM +0800, Loh Kwek Leong wrote:
>> So I decided to take the SAEs out.
>
>To me this was the most intriguing comment in this message - in my
>tank this is very difficult (read: almost impossible) to do without
>first pulling up all the plants in a section (1/4 to 1/2 of the tank)
>and then using 2 nets to "herd" the SAEs into the open area. And SAEs
>are the easiest ones to catch ... fish with a little more intelligence
>are really impossible to catch. At least in my tank - a 90g.
Heh, heh, anyone who has ever try to catch a fish in a
heavily planted tank would know what you mean, Dan. But in my case,
it was a piece of cake. You see, when I tore down my moss wall,
I also did a complete revamp of my tank. My new aquascape
consists of only 2 plants, Glossostigma as a carpet plant and the
christmas moss as a background. It really was quite easy to catch
the SAEs in such a tank where there are no plants to obstruct the net.
But if you have to catch a fish in a tank congested with plants, I
would advise you use a trap. Just take any plastic bottle and cut off
the top quarter. Make triangular cuts and fold them inwards. The bottle
becomes a trap where the fish can swim in easily but would find it
impossible to swim out. Put in some bait. I use food pellets with
great success before. Put in some stones to weigh the trap down and
just leave it somewhere convenient in your tank. The trick is to
position the trap horizontally in such a way that the opening is somewhere
just above the substrate. It's easier for fish to swim into a trap if they
don't have to swim vertically downwards into it. Believe me, it works.
The last time I laid a trap in a heavily planted tank to catch a Chinese
algae eater, I caught numerous shrimps and small fishes within a few
minutes. The CAE took a longer time. Before it finally went in, I had to
remove the trap several times to let the other fish and shrimps out because it
was getting so crowded inside.
Contrary to what you said, it's actually easier to catch an intelligent fish
if you are using a trap. This is because once the trap is laid and baited,
almost every fish will be trying to get inside. The stupid ones will take
a long time to find the opening into the trap whereas the smart ones will
figure it out in no time.
Loh K L