How to capture a peppermint?

My wife keeps buying feather dusters and I have a peppermint shrimp that keeps ripping them to shreds. Now I have been tasked to move the little bugger to my daughters tank, and get a cleaner.

I have tried the inverse top soda bottle trap method, the PVC trap method to no avail. I am baiting the trap with a small piece of raw table shrimp and I have caught just about everything else other than that shrimp! He hangs out at the door but will just not commit. I have tried not feeding for a day or two and I feel I am just punishing his tank mates.

Any suggestions short of removing all the rock work?

 

yes. get him to swim to the top. do you have any flake food that will float? usually peppermints will swim to the surface to snatch them of off. its is much easier to scoop him up once he is swimming up. If not. scare him into a smaller rock. then quickly pull that rock out. ususallly they wont swim away rather stay in that rock thinking they are still hiding. good luck.

 

my pepps barely come out of the rock and if they do, it's usually at the bottom of a large pile of rocks, which they can quickly dart back into...

Can you put the feather dusters in a fuge or overflow or something?

 

I had mine stuck in the skimmer section of my fuge.

To get it out I just stuck my hand into the fuge near it and waited. It eventually came out to investigate and jumped up to clean my hand, then I popped it into a waiting mason jar I put in there. They don't come willingly.

 

Leave a small net in the tank. Put some food that you've found your peppermint likes on the sand close to the net. Once it goes for it, put one hand in the tank towards it. It will very quickly shoot backwards into the net. Use your other hand to pick the net and the shrimp out.

 

After the first feather duster became dinner, I put the second in the sump until I catch the shrimp. This small fact doesn't sit well with my wife. At least it's safe there for the time being.

 

I will try the mason jar and net ideas next. I just tried the flake food trick and my clowns ate but the shrimp stayed put. You can see that he wants to come out but he knows something is up. I tried some pellet food in the net but my watchman got that.

 

Tie a piece of that table shrimp to a string. Place it near the hiding spot. When it
comes out to get the shrimp, slowly pull the string so it has to get further from
the hole. Do this until it is out in the open and snatch it.

Jack

 

Good Idea.

 

Sounds promising..... Will try that after lunch.