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Pet Forum / Aquaria / Marine Reef / December 2006How to catch a Damsil?
I have a blue fin damsil nearing maturity and it's beating up my dragonnet badly and my coral beauty showed up with wounds as well (although I'm not sure what happened to it). I pulled out the dragonnet, but the damsil is hard to catch. I tried floating some food with the net ready, but damsil is quicker then the hand. I see that there are fish traps. Do they work? Any other ideas? --Kurt I had a chalk BAsslet one time that was giving me fits, and I made a trap. It was sucessfull in removing the basslet. The trap I made had a pivoting door, not the typical funnel type trap. It was merely a box of clear acrylic 2" wide x 6" high by 8" long. one one end it had adoor that hinged on a piece of clea round acrylic. Placed food inside at back of trap, hung trap off aquarium rim, with pivot rod extending up out of the top of the tan, fish see and smell food, if worng fish went to go in the trap I merely closed the door, when right fish entered I justy turned rod and swung door closed. Pieceof cake. Short of a spear gun or dynamite Damsels are tough fish to catch ;-) In a web based forum, it seems to be a pretty common agreed on method to use a tiny hook and actually go fishing in the tank. I do not know if I would go to that extreme, but I just refuse to rip my live rock apart to catch a fish. And with what IU have read thehook method is very quick and effective and does not really harm the fish as long sa the fish does not swallow the hook. Hook also needs to be made in to a barbless hook to facilitate removal. <<>> <<>>I have a blue fin damsil nearing maturity and it's beating up my <<>>dragonnet badly and my coral beauty showed up with wounds as well <<>>(although I'm not sure what happened to it). <<>> <<>>I pulled out the dragonnet, but the damsil is hard to catch. I tried <<>>floating some food with the net ready, but damsil is quicker then the hand. <<>> <<>>I see that there are fish traps. Do they work? Any other ideas? <<>> <<>>--Kurt ------- I forgot more about ponds and koi than I'll ever know! > And with what IU have read thehook method is > very quick and effective and does not really harm the fish as long sa > the fish does not swallow the hook. Hook also needs to be made in to a > barbless hook to facilitate removal. Funny. The damsel definitely needs to come out, so I'll consider that. I was going to pick up a 2 litre bottle of soda and see if I can fashion a trap. And, check the useless LFS. --Kurt PS- Apparently, useless LFS is down to one saltwater tank. > Short of a spear gun or dynamite Damsels are tough fish to catch ;-) The 2 liter bottle trap caught my coral beauty and the offending damsel in about 3 minutes. He's already in my quarantine tank. I hope you weren't kidding about the fish hook. The smallest I could find was #10 and it was just too big. Although, I almost nailed a Tang. I pulled out the hook in the nick of time. However, I gave up wondering if it was a joke. :-) A smaller hook would have worked. --Kurt It's no joke, a tiny hook works best for the most aggressive fish, ie the one that will be the first to take the bait. Wayne Sallee Wayne's Pets Wayne@WaynesPets.com KurtG wrote on 12/17/2006 7:25 PM: >> Short of a spear gun or dynamite Damsels are tough fish to catch ;-) > [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > > --Kurt I kow in a lot of areas a small tiny hook is not the eaisest thing to find. SOme folks use salmon egg hooks and others use a hook which looks like a segment of a circle. You can always take a hook (as small as yu can find), and heat it with a cigarette lighter to red hot and use a needle nose pliers to reform the hook point to shank distance to a smaller dimension, and then squeeze in the barb. Heating will take the temper out of the hook which may be a problem if your trying to catch dinner or looking for that world record fish, but a one time deal on a aquarium fish it should not be a problem. <<>>It's no joke, a tiny hook works best for the most <<>>aggressive fish, ie the one that will be the first to take <<>>the bait. <<>> <<>>Wayne Sallee <<>>Wayne's Pets <<>>Wayne@WaynesPets.com <<>> <<>> <<>>KurtG wrote on 12/17/2006 7:25 PM: <<>>> Tristan wrote: <<>>>> Short of a spear gun or dynamite Damsels are tough fish to catch ;-) <<>>>> <<>>> <<>>> The 2 liter bottle trap caught my coral beauty and the offending damsel <<>>> in about 3 minutes. He's already in my quarantine tank. <<>>> <<>>> I hope you weren't kidding about the fish hook. The smallest I could <<>>> find was #10 and it was just too big. Although, I almost nailed a Tang. <<>>> I pulled out the hook in the nick of time. <<>>> <<>>> However, I gave up wondering if it was a joke. :-) A smaller hook <<>>> would have worked. <<>>> <<>>> --Kurt <<>>> ------- I forgot more about ponds and koi than I'll ever know! I had to get rid of my damsels - man that was fun. I literally took every live rock out of the tank to get them. But it was a blessing in disguise because I rearranged the rock, and made the tank look better in the process. But I like the fish hook idea! > I have a blue fin damsil nearing maturity and it's beating up my > dragonnet badly and my coral beauty showed up with wounds as well [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > > --Kurt Take a 20 ox bottle of coke and cut the tappered mouth piece off of it. Take the actual part where you drink from and stick it inside of the other side of the bottle. (This is a makeshift trap). you can secure it with a drop of crazy glue. Put the contraption aside for 2 or 3 days while you alow the fish to go hungry. Put food inside the bottle and submerge it. The damsil will go in for a tasty treat and will be unable to figure out how to escape... The trick is to make sure he is HUNGRY. Good luck > I had to get rid of my damsels - man that was fun. I literally took > every live rock out of the tank to get them. But it was a blessing in [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > > > > --Kurt i learned the hard way that the best way to not have any problems with Damsels, is to not have any Damsels in your tank. i learned the hard way that the best way to not have any problems with Damsels, is to not have any Damsels in your tank. Yeah, but they make great starter fish, the problem is then you're stuck with them.. I have never understood what a starter fish is. Is it a fish that is cheap so therefore good to start with just incase yur not dead on with things in the tank, or is it good because its hardy and takes more of a beating so its generally used to cycling a tank as well which in my opinion is not right since live rock is perfectly capable to initiate a cycle. I can honestly say I have only ever had one fish in the damsel family, a blue devil, and it was bought by my son and was placed in the one tank without my or the wifes permission. It was only a tiny little thing of about 1" length and he put it in a fishless PICO sized 2 gal tank. Looked cool but in short order it needed to come out and that presented a challenge. ANyway, with as much bad publicity with damsels I just do not see why folks continue to buy them. Its almost like they decide to spring $3.50 for a damsel instead of paying $20 for another and soon find uot that "other" fish are not gonna cut it with that damsel in there. I feel bad for allthose damsels that were good enough to endure cycling and bad habits and learning curves of new hobbyists, but its certianly not the way to view those fish. They are however very nice in their own tank if yu can handle just them and the few others that they get along with..... <<>>i learned the hard way that the best way to not have any problems with <<>>Damsels, is to not have any Damsels in your tank. <<>> <<>>Yeah, but they make great starter fish, the problem is then you're stuck <<>>with them.. <<>> ------- I forgot more about ponds and koi than I'll ever know! > I can honestly say I have only ever had one fish in the damsel family, > a blue devil, and it was bought by my son and was placed in the one > tank without my or the wifes permission. AFAIK, Damsils are considered "starter fish" because you can add them to a new aquarium w/ live rock to provide ammonia load and get the system cycled and running. They are cheap and hardy enough to survive this environment. Problem is that they are fairly docile when immature, but grow increasingly aggressive as they age and can only be kept with other aggressive species. This blue fin damsel will actually turn black over time. As for the offending damsil, I've been planning on a second tank with more aggressive fish (no corals or anemone), so he'll be my first if he survives long enough. --Kurt When I was investigating starting my reef tank I was told by one LFS that they would sell me 2 Domino Damsels for $10 to get my 29g tank cycled. I was welcome to bring them back in a month or 2 for 1/2 credit. I have to admit I was quite happy with this offer. The store owner was quite surprised when I brought them back 2 months later and exchanged them both for a pair of Percula Clowns and an anemone. The Damsels were doing quite well and were a bit larger than he was expecting them to be. We had 35lbs. of live rock in the tank, Fluval 204 canister filter, 40lbs of live sand and a Corallife Aqualite moonlight with a 65w 10K and a 65w Actinic. We let the tank sit empty for 3 weeks and there was no spike in any reading. We added the Dominos and we had all spikes as expected in 2 weeks. 6 months later we migrated to one of our 75 gallon tanks and made the 29 a Molly only tank. My anemone was almost a victim of the Fluval intake. We got a foam filter for it after this incident. A 2nd anemone managed to commit powerhead-icide. Just when I thought this was too far out of the way to reach he decided to climb the live rock and jump for it. Now that we know to feed Chip the Chocolate Chip Star twice a week we haven't lost any more anemones and the P. and O. Clowns are happy. OK. Its late and I'm rambling again ... Back to the point. I wouldn't have even considered cycling the tank with Damsels until it was suggested by the LFS owner. If it wasn't for the fact that I wanted the clowns and anemones I would probably still have them. Enjoy, Greg > > I can honestly say I have only ever had one fish in the damsel family, > > a blue devil, and it was bought by my son and was placed in the one [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] > > --Kurt I am not for using damsels to cycle a tank. Why? There is other means to do it without using a fish that in all probability no one is going to want to keep afterwards. You had live rock, that was sufficieint to initiate a cycle all by itself so wsa the live sand. <<>>When I was investigating starting my reef tank I was told by one LFS <<>>that they would sell me 2 Domino Damsels for $10 to get my 29g tank <<>>cycled. I was welcome to bring them back in a month or 2 for 1/2 <<>>credit. I have to admit I was quite happy with this offer. The store <<>>owner was quite surprised when I brought them back 2 months later and <<>>exchanged them both for a pair of Percula Clowns and an anemone. The <<>>Damsels were doing quite well and were a bit larger than he was <<>>expecting them to be. We had 35lbs. of live rock in the tank, Fluval <<>>204 canister filter, 40lbs of live sand and a Corallife Aqualite <<>>moonlight with a 65w 10K and a 65w Actinic. We let the tank sit empty <<>>for 3 weeks and there was no spike in any reading. We added the Dominos <<>>and we had all spikes as expected in 2 weeks. 6 months later we <<>>migrated to one of our 75 gallon tanks and made the 29 a Molly only <<>>tank. <<>> <<>>My anemone was almost a victim of the Fluval intake. We got a foam <<>>filter for it after this incident. A 2nd anemone managed to commit <<>>powerhead-icide. Just when I thought this was too far out of the way to <<>>reach he decided to climb the live rock and jump for it. <<>> <<>>Now that we know to feed Chip the Chocolate Chip Star twice a week we <<>>haven't lost any more anemones and the P. and O. Clowns are happy. <<>> <<>>OK. Its late and I'm rambling again ... <<>> <<>>Back to the point. I wouldn't have even considered cycling the tank <<>>with Damsels until it was suggested by the LFS owner. If it wasn't for <<>>the fact that I wanted the clowns and anemones I would probably still <<>>have them. <<>> <<>>Enjoy, <<>>Greg <<>> <<>>KurtG wrote: <<>>> Tristan wrote: <<>>> > I can honestly say I have only ever had one fish in the damsel family, <<>>> > a blue devil, and it was bought by my son and was placed in the one <<>>> > tank without my or the wifes permission. <<>>> <<>>> AFAIK, Damsils are considered "starter fish" because you can add them to <<>>> a new aquarium w/ live rock to provide ammonia load and get the system <<>>> cycled and running. They are cheap and hardy enough to survive this <<>>> environment. <<>>> <<>>> Problem is that they are fairly docile when immature, but grow <<>>> increasingly aggressive as they age and can only be kept with other <<>>> aggressive species. This blue fin damsel will actually turn black over <<>>> time. <<>>> <<>>> As for the offending damsil, I've been planning on a second tank with <<>>> more aggressive fish (no corals or anemone), so he'll be my first if he <<>>> survives long enough. <<>>> <<>>> --Kurt ------- I forgot more about ponds and koi than I'll ever know! greg.wade@gmail.com wrote on 12/20/2006 12:59 AM: > Now that we know to feed Chip the Chocolate Chip Star twice a week we > haven't lost any more anemones Don't count on it :-) Wayne Sallee Wayne's Pets Wayne@WaynesPets.com > Don't count on it :-) Isn't that the truth! I'm wondering if any of you managed to see my next post on Stars and Clowns and Anemones. It sure didn't take long for me to have to eat these words. Greg > > Don't count on it :-) > > Isn't that the truth! hehe yep :-) Wayne Sallee Wayne's Pets Wayne@WaynesPets.com greg.wade@gmail.com wrote on 12/21/2006 9:55 PM: > I'm wondering if any of you managed to see my next post on Stars and > Clowns and Anemones. It sure didn't take long for me to have to eat [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] >>> Don't count on it :-) >> Isn't that the truth! |
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