Catching fish in an African Cichlid Tank?

How the hell do you guys and gals catch your cichlids out of a rocky tank?

 

@Broder - Two nets and a bunch of patience. You'll find things a lot easier if you don't set off their fight or flight response until they are caught. This is not always easy, but cichlids are generally quite brave once they get to know you.

 

Thanks Jack. Mine just hit the rocks as soon as a net touches the water. Guess there is no easy way.

 

Well if you have a spare tank, wait at least an hour or so after switching off the lights and then you should have better success with catching the fish whilst they in the sleeping mode. The trick is that the one you want to catch aint under any rocks....

What is the size of your tank and how much of rocks do you have in there?

 

Thanks @fishcrazy. Lotsa rocks, and they do sleep in the rocks.. I'll take a quick pic. The othe issue is the type of tank. I have limited access through the front hatch.

 

I've though of fish traps, but they'd be hard to bait? Anyway, I'm trying to catch females that are mouth brooding, so not eating..

 

I have found that If you leave a net in the tank for a few days the fish become accustomed to it. Not sure if it will work but give it a try. I having the same problem at the moment.

 

@Broder that is a really awesome looking tank mate. What type of rocks and substrate are in there?

 

Nice tank Broder. Eish boet. Best to take out the rocks and use a bigest net that can go in your tank. Or let nature takes it cause. There is enough rocks for fry to hide. I usely cant put the rocks back like they was. So little rocks for me in my tank.

 

Thanks Michealvdb. It's sandstone from the beach and gravel from a dam around here.

I think you're right Ebrahim. Will give Fishcrazy's lights out method a try, and if that doesn't work, I'll leave things as they are.

 

Nice Tank!!!

 

Starve them for a few day then use a new with some fbw in it. Let them come to u rather then you go for them. Once the fish you want enter your net to eat. Fish it out qiickly

 

I mean use a * net

 

Hmm... Interesting. Will give it a try. Has this worked for you before?

 

My tank is heavily planted. I also have very large driftwood. I have try the net with fbw method on my angelfish before with great sucess. You need a whole cube of fbw to be place in your net. While the fbw floats in your tank, hold the net just underneath the fbw at an angle and wait for the fish you want to catch to come into the net and eat.

 

The only drawback is that you may catch more fish then you intended. Lol. Anyway you can return the rest that you dun intend to catch

 

hi you also want to be extra careful as a female can drop her fri if stressed out and you don't want that with hungry malawis around.

 

I'll just have to find a good tasty food that the Malawis can't resist. They don't touch bloodworm.