[APD] Re: Broken strip tetra - catching fish

[Ron Barter <mistnfrost at superaje_com>]

> Date: Fri, 26 Sep 2003 22:51:10 -0500
> From: "Ann Viverette" <annv777 at houston_rr.com>
> Subject: [APD] Broken stripe Tetra -- or, what kind of fool am I?
> To: <Aquatic-Plants at actwin_com>
> 
> I was at this auction, you see, and I got these fish, even though I don't
> know a thing about them -- foolish, right? I know their proper name,
> hemigrammus ulreyi, but that's about all I've found online.
> snip

 Hi Ann,

    I had a school of nine H. ulreyi, and they posed no problems in a fairly
diverse community of fish in a 110 gallon tank. They were definetly less
"nippy" than serpaes, and particularily like to swim in the current from the
filter outflow. Unlike rosy barbs, they didn't nibble on plants, but would
eat anything I put in the tank in the way of food. In the end I got rid of
them for something more "interesting".

> I'm finding out how hard it is to get a fish out of a planted tank, so I
> want to get this right if possible.

    As for catching fish in a planted tank, my best piece of advice? Get a
bigger net. I use the common green, relatively course nets. One as large as
I can fit in the tank, and a smaller "chaser" net. Place the large net in
one end of the tank, so that its open end is facing the opposite end of the
tank. Then use the smaller net to herd the fish into the larger net, which
is quickly turned ninety degrees up against the front glass. Let go of the
small net, and place your hand up against the front glass, which usually
scares the fish into the bottom of the large net and you can then lift them
out of the tank. You'll be amazed how much better this works than chasing
the fish around the tank with a smaller net. Make them come to you.

    Some species dive for the cover of plants rather than schooling at the
first sign of the net. For these guys, I wait until the middle of the night,
and catch them in the dark with a flashlight. This worked even with Ameca
splendens, the wariest fish I ever had to get out of a large planted tank.

    Lastly, for fish that like to hide in the dark like loaches, plecos
etc., I use a foot long piece of black ABS pipe with an end cap on one end,
and a small hole drilled through the wall of the pipe at the other, with a
string threaded through it and up and over the edge of the tank. Loaches
can't resist taking refuge in these, and it's a simple matter to haul the
tube out of the tank by the string, with your quarry safely tapped in the
tube. Be sure to cover the top of the pipe quickly, else you may find
yourself aiming a "fish launcher" if they try to make a run for it (don't
ask me how I know this).

    Sorry to have gone on here, but hopefully this will help keep someone
from decimating a nicely planted tank in pursuit of a reluctant traveller.

Ron Barter
Perth, Ontario

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