Catching Orchid Dottyback

[Ali]

I'd appreciate any tips or advice anyone has to catch an Orchid Dottyback. He's been in there about a year, and as I'm replacing some livestock, he seems to be aggressive towards them at night, including most recently, a sailfin tang. He was fine with everyone who was there when he got there -- but doesn't take well to newcomers. The sailfin's been in the tank for a month now, and things still haven't calmed down. Every few days, his fins look slightly worse for wear.

 

I have a 90 gallon with a large regal tang and two clowns. Everything seems fine when the lights are on. But when they're off, someone is nipping at the fins of my newcomer, a beautiful sailfin tang. Some months ago, one of them ruthlessly attacked a blue dwarf angel, who didn't make it.

 

Talking to some folks, I now suspect it's the Orchid dottyback - it turns out calling something the "most peaceful" dottyback isn't saying that much. I'd at least like to capture him to segregate him for awhile to see if the nipping stops.

 

Any ideas? I've already tried turning a 20 ounce pop bottle into a fish trap -- but no luck.

 

Thanks,

 

Ali.

[Scott_LM]

Take a bunch of 1/2" pieces of PVC and put caps on one end. Make them into a pyramid shape horizontally. Place them near the home or as close as you can get and hopefully he will adopt it. Once he is in there place a net over the front and pull him out.

 

Orchids can be aggressive, but it is normally only to fish of similar body shape. Odd that it would attack a tang. Good luck either way.

[sen5241b]

I caught a Fiji Blue damsel AND a bi-color dottyback! You heard about the plastic coke bottle fish trap? So I put a ridiculous number of these fish traps in my tank and baited them with blood worms. Walked away from tank, came back a day later and he was caught.

[overklok]

That sailfin tang is going to get really big, then he will get revenge, don't worry about it.

[overklok]

Your regal tang is the most likely culprit.