Kengar March 13, 2008 Share March 13, 2008 (edited) For years I have been successful using a Lee's specimen cup and a sheet of acrylic to catch many different species of fish, as I explain in this post Recently, however, I wanted to catch a whole bunch of anthiases to sell, but they were just too skittish to go near the catch cup while I was standing right in front of it waiting with the sheet of acrylic. So what I came up with, which worked exceedingly well, was to use two catch cups as shown below (the figure is a top-down view) Just leave the cups in place (weighted on top to keep them from floating away) with some food inside of them and go sit away from the tank to watch and wait. Although some fish tank longer to find their way around/over/under through the gap between the two specimen cup handles, eventually they should, depending on how hungry they are. (Squirting some garlic extract into the cups also helps lure them in.) Once fish enters a cup, THEN approach the tank and lower glass/acrylic sheet into place over the cup it's in to trap and remove from the aquarium. The beauty of this arrangement is that once the fish gets into one of the cups, if it gets spooked and tries to flee, it will not likely be able to find the space between the cups but, rather, will shoot right into the other cup as they get "trapped" in the corner of the tank. (For example, the last of six anthiases I caught last night shot back and forth three times between the two cups before I was able to close off the top of the cup it was in with acrylic sheet.) I hope this helps, and happy trapping Edited March 13, 2008 by Kengar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Country March 13, 2008 Share March 13, 2008 How is the upper cup held in place? I need to trap a Sgt Major Damsel out of my tank that is too smart for a net. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FishWife March 13, 2008 Share March 13, 2008 Interesting! What keeps them from scooting out the ends of the "square" between the two cups? And, are the cups attached to the acrilic "corner" or is that a drawing of the tank? If the latter, I echo "Big Country's" question! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kengar March 13, 2008 Author Share March 13, 2008 The figure is a top-down view, showing the corner of the tank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest webshout March 13, 2008 Share March 13, 2008 The figure is a top-down view, showing the corner of the tank. Ah, ha! W. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Country March 13, 2008 Share March 13, 2008 Top Down View, I just noticed that. And I'm supposed to be a cartographer with a great attention to details. Is there a piece of acrylic laying on the top of them to keep the fish from going out the area between the cups once it goes between the handles and into the cups to eat? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kengar March 13, 2008 Author Share March 13, 2008 (edited) Top Down View, I just noticed that. And I'm supposed to be a cartographer with a great attention to details. Is there a piece of acrylic laying on the top of them to keep the fish from going out the area between the cups once it goes between the handles and into the cups to eat? Nope. just slip a sheet of acrylic down over the relevant cup opening when fish goes in. they don't go up when scared; they go laterally. Edited March 13, 2008 by Kengar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Country March 13, 2008 Share March 13, 2008 Cool, I'll have to clean out the 2 specimen cups that I have and give this a try this weekend. Just bait both cups with frozen cubes of mysis or something I guess. Wish me luck in catching that striped devil. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kengar March 13, 2008 Author Share March 13, 2008 Cool, I'll have to clean out the 2 specimen cups that I have and give this a try this weekend. Just bait both cups with frozen cubes of mysis or something I guess. Wish me luck in catching that striped devil. For fifty bucks, i'll come over and do it for you! J/K Actually, make sure the specimen cups are as clean as possible. You don't want the fish to see the plastic if at all possible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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