here's a fun one: what fish do you rate hardest to catch (and how did you?)

[Sk8r]

Title says it.

My short list of fish I will NEVER let into my tank again:

1. dottyback. Canny, scrappy, learns every technique after one try. I finally moved enough rock to herd this rascal into a corner and got him netted, after devastating half my tank.

2. ghost eel. After he ate 300.00 worth of fish, this reef safe but will-not-eat [ha!] specimen required me to move all rock out to catch him.

3. rabbit fish. Again, will not be trapped, too big to net, will not sleep in the open or I could have had him. I ended up having to move rock [wearing leather gloves under my over-the-elbows, because this guy is venomous]. I did get him netted.

4. blue velvet damsel, aka satan. I sold the tank with this fish in it [4" long and fast] and let the new owner catch it as he broke the tank down to move.

[landlord]

Coris Wrasse (Green) - This dude was a ninja. He would simply just tunnel in the substrate like a mole to avoid capture. After removing all liverock from a 29 BF I finally found him after sifting the sand.

--landlord

[stuccodude]

wrasse, had too remove a couple hundred pounds of live rock to get him, he would not allow any new fish.

[jcpatella]

Flame Angel. Not as quick as the blue damsel, but much smarter. He would effortlessly make me look like an idiot.

It took me and my wife 3 hours, and we had to take out ALL the live rock.

[delsol650]

Lineatus and mystery... couldn't catch them easily like other wrasses.. had to remove 150lbs of TBS live rock and basically tear the whole tank to get them out.

[sk8rreefgeek]

blue tang wedged into rock. don't even bother

[sick1166]

one product to help quinayldine

[dendro982]

Cleaner wrasse - had to remove all LR and hardware.

[TKByrnes]

half black angel!!!!! he would kill anything that went into the tank (2 niger triggers!! and believe it or not a foxface!!) took 4 hours and destroying my 75 to catch him!!!

[AMIFL]

Lemon peel angel. Had to catch him with a small fly hook. IMO, not a bda way of catching larger fish. I've caught everything from grouper to clown fish with the small hairline hook. The smaller the better. Its nice too because you don't have to demolish your aquascape.

[AquaKnight407]

Small panther grouper. Holy hell one of those things is fast avoiding the net. He would literally be on the other side of the tank as soon as the net touch water on that side. Had to remove most of the rock and I got lucky, predicted his next move, and he launched right into the net.

[Sk8r]

I'll tell you a funny. I had a sump-diver, a stonogobiops nematodes, who is shorter than his typed name and cigar shaped. He got into the pump chamber of the sump, and I spent two hours trying to catch that fish in a plain 10x10 inch transparent box with NO way out he ever used.
He returned to the tank and I put a guard over that escape route.

[SparkPlug]

were about to breakdown our 29gal as we are moving.
it took me 5sec to catch the clown and 4hrs to catch the flame angel...... i don't have words to describe how much the little F'er ticked me off.

still have a sixline and a Jawfish to get out....

not looking foward to it.

[MTB]

Chromis. They are fast and can fit in some small holes in live rock.

Diamond Goby. I tried for over 12 total hours dismantling my tank and still haven't caught him. I may have to fish him out with a small hook and a piece of mysis.

[usmc121581]

I would say all fish once established. As soon as I bring a net or anything to catch them near the tank they scatter. Now if its a cup they know its food so they beg.

[sscherin]

It has the be a wrase..

1 hour, removed all rock and had to sift the sand..
I only caught it when he was to tired to swim away anymore.

[HPD Turbo]

Coral banded Shrimp, I have tried EVERYTHING to cach him, I am not gonna mess with my AS.

Edit: AS=Aquascape

Sorry.

[Pmolan]

Satan

LOL I know all too well.

[Sk8r]

That is Satan---such a fish she was!

[Regan]

Bicolor Pseudochromis. Had to remove all contents of the tank and at the end I could have sworn he was laughing at me.

[Sk8r]

I got a wrasse out [fairy filamented] simply because it was a greedy-guts. I fed in the net for days. Nope, you couldn't get food in that tank except in the net. And I worked it closer and closer to the glass. For days.

One day Mr. Greedy went in. But I didn't spring the trap. Fed him that way another day. Great. He's really smug. He knows the trick and food happens. I always hold the net very still. And I'm very patient. This is a fish that LEARNS how to get food and I'm about to use his fishy intelligence against him.

Next day I rotated the net sharply against the glass. He freaked and dived hard---into the net material. I had the net against that glass in a heartbeat, and he was caught.

I'll say I lifted him out very, very carefully not to let him make a break for it or he'd have learned about that trick and never forgotten it.

If you chance to buy him---you can't use that trick. Lol!

[ACBlinky]

Neon dottyback. Nastiest, smartest little beastie I've ever tried to catch. I didn't even both trying to leave the rock in the tank - we removed every last rock and pebble, and still had a heck of a time netting him. Small, wily and fast little fish. And evil to boot! Never, ever again.

[Waxxiemann]

I had a heck of a time with an oversized foxface one time. I nearly got spiked about 10 times. But 45 minutes later and a lot of broken corals and fallen rock, I got him.

[Mr31415]

Yellow tang.. Took me 4 hours. But the worst is a dragon wrasse....

[steven_dean17]

The worst fish to catch IMO is............the one that's in the tank that should have never been there in the first place. I should be shot for not reading about it on RC first.