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Trading in Fish


Derek

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I love buying fish. It is my addiction. I generally like to buy a fish when it is little and then trade it in when it gets bigger. There are a few fish that I have kept for a long time and still have, like my Marine Betta and my Pink Skunk Clowns.

Is it bad that I like to trade fish in?

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I don't really think it is a bad thing. In a way, stores are getting mature fish that are acclimated to tank life. So in theory, they should be hardier compared to one fresh from the ocean. I have traded in fish before when my mood has changed for the tank.

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What I want to know is how you catch fish in a 185 gallon tank? I'm trying to get a Naso vlamingii out of a 330 and am having fits and thinking a shotgun would be best (although maybe I'll try a trap first). Stupid fish even knows when to avoid a hook (caught the Flame Hawk 3 times now) even with seaweed and refuses to go near a net with food in it.

I don't really think it is a bad thing. In a way, stores are getting mature fish that are acclimated to tank life. So in theory, they should be hardier compared to one fresh from the ocean. I have traded in fish before when my mood has changed for the tank.

I think James makes an excellent point here. The vast majority of the fish we get are juveniles or subadults which ship better than larger adult fish. Growing out fish to adult size and selling them or trading them in "should" help preserve the adult breeding populations. I would like to see more people doing this.

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I actually made a trap that has been super successful. It only cost me a about $25 bucks to make. I'm more than happy to share the design with you. Maybe you'll have some ideals on how to improve it.

I took a standard specimen container and a piece of acrylic. I cut the piece of acrylic to cover the top of the specimen box. I then cut a third of the piece of acrylic off and then siliconed that smaller piece to the specimen box as well as super glued it. Super glue first, then the silicon. Once it was all dried, I drilled two holes in the smaller piece and two holes in the larger piece. I used regular trash bag twist ties as "hinges". I drilled a hole in the middle of the other side of the acrylic for a string hole. I then use a magnet to fix it to the back of the tank. This part is super important, you have to have the trap as close to the sand bed as possible, the fish will not go in it if it isn't close to the bottom. I then just take my nori clip, put some nori in it, and put it in the tank. I usually put a mysid cube or a brine cube in there too.

It took me all of 30 minutes to catch my naso tang and my flagfin angel.

Note: I still use the trap to acclimate fish, corals, and invertebrates. It is still a fully functional specimen box. It could use some sort of latch for when it closes. If the fish is strong enough and you don't have enough tention on the line they can push out.

This is what the trap looks like:

Photo+on+2012.02.24+at+22.26+.jpg

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