Gone fishin' (in my tank!)

[harris611]

Had to share this with the board since no one was around to see it.

I’ve got a 110 g reef tank that’s been up for about 9 mo. I also had an orange spotted gobie who’s sole mission was to get a huge mouthful of gravel and go on bombing runs over my coral. I quickly realized my mistake and tried everything I could think of short of tearing the tank apart to get him out – tried netting at feeding time, DIY fish traps, big siphon hose. Nothing worked and I feared I would have to unglue all my rocks and coral to get him.

Then I tried one last idea. Went to a fly fishing store and bought some #14 size trout hooks and 2# test leader. For a week I actually “fished� in my tank trying to catch him and not my other fish (quite a trick) with half a Formula One cube as bait. I would also point out that my tank is in the lobby of my office! Got a few odd stares to be sure. But, believe it or not, at 4:25 pm yesterday I added one orange spotted gobie to my stringer!

For all of you concerned for the fish, I clipped the barb on the hook to remove it without damaging his mouth and he is now happily swimming around at my LFS.

DING DONG THE GOBIE’S GONE!

Harris611
:smokin:

[zep]

I once had a MEAN psuedo in a reef that killed all the fish that were in before it. After hundreds of attempts to remove it I finally added a rock grouper to the tank. The grouper ate the pseudo after about a week and then i did the same as you to remove him. Man, what a fight! Like a small bass! Well, you know what to do with the small ones... catch and release!