Traps for good guys left behind.

[George S.]

Good afternoon,

 

I'm slowly moving coral and fish from a Waterbox 60.2 over to a 250 reefer. The scape in the 60.2 just didn't seem right for the 250 so I built a new scape and cycled the tank. Now that I'm moving things over I realize there are some things harder to catch than fish!! I know I have a least a half dozen brittle stars and some snails that are smaller that Id like to get over to the new tank. Any advice on what I could do to catch them? Was wondering if a bottle trap with a shrimp in it might catch them? I appreciate any feedback or advice. 

 

Thanks,

George

[YHSublime]

Are you keeping the waterbox running? Shouldn't be harder to catch then fish, tbh. Just pick them out with your hands, or they will transfer over with the rock or sand. I'm a big believer in refreshing a CUC every 6 months or so, so I'd be remis if I didn't throw out that you should also do that! 

[DaJMasta]

If you can lower the water level and remove the rocks/things a net would catch on, it should be no problem to catch them, and if they run into a rock you can always pull the rock and put it in the new tank.

 

You can also try to put food directly in the net - actually worked catching a clown goby that was going after one particular millepora frag, so I dropped it in the net and it followed...

I've also had good luck just putting in a clear acrylic trap where they like to hang out and just waiting until they end up inside it.  Works pretty well if you have a good gauge on where they stay as lots of fish don't seem to be able to see/notice that there's a wall until they bump into it.

For brittle stars I think your option is really only transferring some of the rock where they live unless you can shake them off in a bucket or something.  Any of the dips that would get them to come out also probably hurts them, so I'm not sure that's a good option (plus dipping rock seems counterproductive to me most of the time.)

[George S.]

Thanks guys. @YHSublime these guys have been in the tank for about 6 months. They’ve gotten a little bigger but are only about the size of a half dollar. As soon as I move whatever they are under they slither into the rocks. I think they are definitely night feeders. I’m not transferring any more

live rock from the 60.2. That tank is getting shut down and sold. The Reefer is already full of rock. I e actually had great luck with my crabs and snails. They don’t seem to be dying off like some folks. @DaJMastaits not the fish I’m worried about it’s the stars and smaller snails. They seem to stick to the crevasses in the rocks and are hard to find and remove. I’ll try the shaking in a bucket thing and see if anything falls off.  I don’t want to dip either for sure. I will

offer Up the scape for free once I get to that point and anyone that wants it can be if it from the riders.