Removing A Damsel

Ya it was going for the mushroom. Thanks for the help. Im going to try the bag trick.

 

LOL
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I've been trying to get mt domino damsel out for quite some time now. Virtually impossible. I'll try the plastic bag trick tho.
Damsels are reef safe. I think it's more along the lines of it was picking at some residue on the rock rather than the mushroom. Unless of course, it not really a damselfish.
What type of damsel is it? Do you have a pic?

 

this is what i want to do with my clownfish. I make that joke with every reefer in town and they scowl at me lol

 

It is a blue damsel fish. No doubt about that. I will give him some more time and watch it closely before i throw him to the lions ;D

 

I actually put a good size lion in with a blue damsel one time. The damsel would always keep at least six inches from the lion at all times. In the end, I took all of the rock out to get him out. He could see a net coming from across the room. Extremely smart fish. I couldn't out smart him with any traps with the rock in the tank.

 

I wish you the best of luck taking him out.... I once had to remove all of my rock to catch a damsel. Most lfs recommend a damsel for cycling the tank...BIG MISTAKE!!! It's a bummer getting them out.....
So, try the recommended approaches and like I said best of luck to you!

 

I prefer to use a stick of dynamite to remove damsels. Quick & works every time. Don't have to worry about what you'll get in trade when you take them back to the lfs.

 

My experience is that Damsels are generally reef safe but do cause you headaches as they bully and torment all your new additions.

As you have learned extracting them can be a serious challenge. Depending on the size of your tank and amount of live rock you might be there for a while. I pulled one out of my 180 with a couple hundred pounds of rock in it – didn’t take me long to realize I wasn’t going to net it without pulling the rock.

Not wanting to pull the rocks I used net material and tied fishing line to the corners (about 8” by 8” I think). Tied the four lines together and had one line coming out of the tank. I then fed the fish over the net for a day until he wasn’t afraid of it – then I yanked the line and the net collapsed over him and that did the trick.

 

ok its gone. i just removed the rock. wont make that mistake again.. Thanks

 

For future or anyone else curious I removed 3 damsels with the bottle trap method. Heres a video on how to make one. I used water bottles, gatorade bottles, etc... just cut the hole according to the fish size. Hope this helps.
Thanks

YouTube - How to make a fish trap for reef aquarium.