Easier to train fish than me

[KittenFishMom]

I have been trying to catch cory fry in a planted tank on and off for weeks now. I am not good at it.

They skip out of the net as I try to lift it out of the water. They dodge the net and swim into the back of it while I am trying to catch a different fish. They make a fool out of me and my net.

Next I tried a water bottle trap. You know,  you the top cut off and turn push it into the bottle.  This is great for a lot of fish. The betta in the tank is usually the first one in after the treat. (I will put him in a different tank while I am catching fry in the future). Because frightened cories put out deadly toxin, you can not take you eyes off the bottle trap once you set it. You can catch several at a time, but once one freaks out and stirs the fish food, you must grab the trap and empty it and rinse it and start over. This takes a long time.

So I decided to train the fish instead of me. They are smarter than me, so it should work better.

I leave the bottle trap open and in the tank. Everytime I feed the tank, I put the food in the bottle part and place the opening top of the bottle just inside the opening of the bottom of the bottle and weight both pieces with small stones. The fish can enter through the funnel, or next to the funnel and leave as many times as they want. The trap stay in the tank, so they are very calm when near it. When using the trap to catch the fish, you just push the top in farther to set the trap. You still must watch the trap, but you empty it less often because the fish stay calm much longer. They come back to the bottle after you empty it much faster too because it means food, not something new and scary.

Now the only problem is the betta has taken to sleeping in the trap, just in case food might appear while he is not looking.

 

Edited April 27, 2023 by KittenFishMom

[nabokovfan87]

On 4/26/2023 at 9:27 PM, KittenFishMom said:

So I decided to train the fish instead of me. They are smarter than me, so it should work better.

Have you tried using a specimen container? It's an easy way to get some stubborn fish as well as difficult to net ones like plecos, hillstream loaches, and potentially corydoras.

Toss a bit of food in there and let them go into the container. Beware of shadows across the tank spooking them as well as vibration. Then, simply close off the end of the box with your hand or a net or a sheet of plastic, and gently lift it up.

 

Corydoras also like shade. Just something to keep in mind.

[Lennie]

I feel your pain. I found success by dropping the water level so low, and removing everything in the tank lol. they are super fast, and my sterbais are thicc. Wouldn't imagine them to be this fast ngl.

 

On 4/27/2023 at 7:27 AM, KittenFishMom said:

Now the only problem is the betta has taken to sleeping in the trap, just in case food might appear while he is not looking.

this is funny 😄 

I love bettas and how weirdos they are.

[KittenFishMom]

@nabokovfan87 I am planning to make a 2 liter bottle trap for the 55 tank. It is full of cory fry. Thanks for the tip about shade and shadows and shade. I will add an IAL to give them shade and keep them from seeing my approach.  I will put some freeze dried tubifex worms in the bottle toward the back with the opening ajar so they can escape and get use to the trap for a day or 2.

I have specimen containers, but my hand is no where large enough to cover the opening.

@Lennie When I drained most of the water out of a tank and was trying to net cories in shallow cloudy water, 2 of the 3 died do to they toxins building up in a dip in the substrate.  My I work very hard to keep their stress level very low.

Yes, this betta is very clever. He has me completely figured out.