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Old 01/10/2008, 12:35 AM
carlso63 carlso63 is offline
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Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Lehi, Utah
Posts: 453
11/27/2007 - Day 18

The next task I needed to figure out was how to catch the male Banggai and get him into the nursery tank without stressing him out and causing him to drop or eat the egg clutch... and not wrecking my reef in the process...

It was suggested that the best way to accomplish this was to "stun" the fish with light. Wait until nightfall and turn off all the tank lights (including moonlights) for at least one hour. Then, suddenly turn them back on and the fish will be blinded by the light for about 30 or 40 seconds... that should give you enough time to net the fish without it even realizing what was going on.

Well, the light 'trick' worked like a charm... total darkness for an hour or so, then I flipped on the PC actinics, and the fish all just kind of "froze"...scooped the "Papa" right out:

Here he is in his new (temporary) home:




Interestingly enough, in the display Papa stayed mainly on the right end of the tank once he started carrying; that end has a Frogspawn, a few Hammer corals, a Wall Bubble, a little less flow - I guess he felt safer with all that cover...
"Mama" would stay in his general vicinity most of the time, except to feed.
Now that Papa is in the nursery tank - on the left end of the display...
Guess where Mama has now taken up residence?




When the 2 see each other through the glass, Mama does a little 'shimmy' dance - and the Papa does it right back
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125 gal Mixed Reef; 30g Sump / 10g Fuge
1134w Odyssea 15K MH / PC lighting
(3) Koralia 3s, (2) Fluval 404s, (1) MJ900
modded CSS220 Skimmer
165 lb LR / 3/4" full Plenum / 5" DSB