# Catching fish in a heavily planted tank.



## mitchfish9 (Apr 30, 2012)

I am looking put a small school of pristella tetras into my friends larger tank that has a bigger school of the same species. 

I really need ideas of how to catch them. The soda liter trick works with my rummynose tetras and my rams, but the pristellas won't even get close. The tank is so heavily planted with a huge piece of driftwood, so no amount of nets will do the job. Who has some ideas?

Thanks in advance


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## amberoze (May 22, 2012)

Maybe try to net them during a water change, when the water is low and they don't have much room to run.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2


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## Sethjohnson30 (Jan 16, 2012)

Leave the net in the tank and crack a 6 pack or throw a line in lol


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## Couesfanatic (Sep 28, 2009)

net them when you are feeding


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## creekbottom (Apr 5, 2012)

Stealth fish catching in the dark? I wanted to catch my one lone bloodfin tetra - goodluck. When it was lights out I noticed it was hanging around the top of the tank, but with some ambient light in the house from the kitchen it could still see well enough to see the net. Once the house was dark, I used the edge of a beam from a flashlight, just enough to see it moving. Caught it first try!!!


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## MikeS (Apr 27, 2008)

amberoze said:


> Maybe try to net them during a water change, when the water is low and they don't have much room to run.


That is what I have had to do, although you still might have to remove some plants.



creekbottom said:


> Stealth fish catching in the dark? I wanted to catch my one lone bloodfin tetra - goodluck. When it was lights out I noticed it was hanging around the top of the tank, but with some ambient light in the house from the kitchen it could still see well enough to see the net. Once the house was dark, I used the edge of a beam from a flashlight, just enough to see it moving. Caught it first try!!!


That has worked for me also, but only for a fish or two. Usually after the first one, they seem to wake up.


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## mitchfish9 (Apr 30, 2012)

amberoze said:


> Maybe try to net them during a water change, when the water is low and they don't have much room to run.
> 
> Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2


Unfortuentley I can not manuever a net even when the water is low. Too many plants haha


creekbottom said:


> Stealth fish catching in the dark? I wanted to catch my one lone bloodfin tetra - goodluck. When it was lights out I noticed it was hanging around the top of the tank, but with some ambient light in the house from the kitchen it could still see well enough to see the net. Once the house was dark, I used the edge of a beam from a flashlight, just enough to see it moving. Caught it first try!!!


Ya i need to try this again. But my pristellas hang out more towards the bottom so it makes it kind of hard still


Couesfanatic said:


> net them when you are feeding


Tried, they wont even get close to that net lol even when theres food


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## PlantedRich (Jul 21, 2010)

A home made net system may help. I use a lot of the netting made for wedding veils, etc. It is extremely cheap at about a dollar for a yard long X72 wide. I then attach it to a frame of whatever fits and use it either to divide the tank in half or to simply let them run into the netting and fold it around them. I also find my fish will try to hide when chased. So I put a very large net in and let them get used to it being there. Then scare them out of all but the net.


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## secuono (Nov 19, 2009)

I always end up rescaping my planted tanks...


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## ADJAquariums (Jul 5, 2012)

what i find works is cut a top off of a 2 liter soda bottle or something similar, then put the top of the bottle (or Neck) that you cut off in reverse, so the opening is inside the bottle, i usually put some food in there if i dont want to chase them in but you can do that. Depending on how large the fish are you can cut the opening at the top of the bottle larger. This is exactly what i did to catch a school of Neons as well as panda Garras. The bottle creates a sort of trap that the fish cant seem to figure a way out of, plus it doesnt cause much stress.


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## Public Alias (Mar 25, 2012)

I love the bottle trap idea. 

Last time I had to catch a neon in my planted tank it sucked! I ended up pulling out decorations one by one as I got more and more frustrated. It took almost 2 hours to catch one specific neon. 

I learned that a bigger net is a good thing. Also, instead of chasing fish, I like to slowly move the net under them, then swiftly bring it up catch them in the process. 

Planted Rich I've always wanted to try making something like your large net. I'll have to try that sometime. With a big enough net the fish would have no where to "run"


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## zergling (May 16, 2007)

You can also try leaving the net in the tank for a couple of days to let the fish "get used to it". Then net the fish during feeding time.


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## Diana (Jan 14, 2010)

Open up part of the tank, perhaps a corner. Yes, remove a few plants. Put a few floating plants, clippings or whatever. Not rooted. In that corner. 

Use Rich's nets (make several) and divide then subdivide the tank, smaller and smaller. 
Make sure the fish to be caught are in the same section where you removed the plants. The drifting plants you put there will keep the fish from knowing it is a trap. The plants hide them and they think they are safe. Eventually you will have them in that area, and Rich's net keeps them from getting back to the rest of the tank. 
Remove the drifting plants. Net the fish.


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## mitchfish9 (Apr 30, 2012)

Rich's net is a great idea, but it sucks because my tank is dirted and pulling up plants can make a mess.

I might try to leave the net in for a day, but can a fish get stuck in it at night?

And @adjaquariums I said in my OP that the 2 liter bottle was only effective for rummynose and rams. Not sure why though


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## Hmoobthor (Aug 15, 2011)

good luck...

i can't barely get my two dwarf rainbow out of my 55....they would ran across teh tank and hide under the driftwood....and dam the plants always getting in teh way

after an hour of chasing and stress, finally got them..lol


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## Crob5965 (Aug 25, 2012)

Couesfanatic said:


> net them when you are feeding



This is what I do works every time that's the one thing that they cant resist is food


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## eddie6775 (Sep 9, 2012)

I needed to catch some baby clown loaches and what worked for me was a large coffee mug. I just held it at the bottom and with slow movements 'chased' them until they hid in the cup. This was allot less traumatic for them AND myself! A calm fish is so much easier to catch.:wink:


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## Borikuan (Jun 4, 2012)

Time for a rescape...


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## EricSilver (Feb 23, 2004)

Do it at night. After the tank has been dark for an hour or two, turn on the lights and they will blinded long enough to catch them.


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## Fdsh5 (Jan 3, 2012)

I hold the net on one side of the tank and use a drum stick to herd the fish towards the net. Takes some time and patience but works every time for me.


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## beginragnarok (Dec 19, 2011)

ADJAquariums said:


> what i find works is cut a top off of a 2 liter soda bottle or something similar, then put the top of the bottle (or Neck) that you cut off in reverse, so the opening is inside the bottle, i usually put some food in there if i dont want to chase them in but you can do that. Depending on how large the fish are you can cut the opening at the top of the bottle larger. This is exactly what i did to catch a school of Neons as well as panda Garras. The bottle creates a sort of trap that the fish cant seem to figure a way out of, plus it doesnt cause much stress.


+1

I have caught my fancy Guppies and Corydoras this way.


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## BriDroid (Oct 7, 2012)

Will the soda bottle work for Plecos? I have 6 clown Plecos that I need out of my heavily planted, full of driftwood 72!


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## mitchfish9 (Apr 30, 2012)

Thanks for all the new responses guys, I still need to try netting them while feeding and maybe the dark thing again. But the soda bottle thing definitely does not work for this type of tetra for some reason, I don't know why the pristellas arent even interested. My tank is so heavily planted, that maneuvering nets in any way is very difficult. Its not going to be easy, but I will try something tomorrow and let you guys know how it goes.

Bridroid- it should work if you put their favorite food in the trap, and the hole is big enough for them to go in.


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