The best way to catch SAE out of the fish tank!!

[wasabi8888]

One of my friends taught me how to fish out the SAE. Catch them when the lights go out. They usually lie still at night. Use a torch to see where they are and scoop them up. I have tried using this method and it works very well

[benny]

Jeffrey,

I've split this out as a separate thread as I think a lot of members will find this information very useful.

Thanks for sharing.

Cheers,

[wasabi8888]

No problem.. I thought most people should already know.... i am always the worst in such type of knowledge....

oh.. better attrbute the above to Sunnydaze... he is great with ideas like this....

on a side note, he also thought me how to remove protein from the surface without skimmer... but that's a separate discussion together.. PM me if anyone wants to know..

[aquanatix]

Interesting information regarding removal of the pesky SAE!
Somehow it didn't go very well for me as recommended...it somehow depends on how planted your setup is. They tend to hide in hard to reach places hence even at night with a torchlight removal via net isn't really an option as they still scuttle around the tank when environment is slightly disturbed. Anyone else here has success removing their SAE via wasabi8888's method?

[sunnydaze]

No problem.. I thought most people should already know.... i am always the worst in such type of knowledge....

oh.. better attrbute the above to Sunnydaze... he is great with ideas like this....

on a side note, he also thought me how to remove protein from the surface without skimmer... but that's a separate discussion together.. PM me if anyone wants to know..

Thanks for the acknowledgement Jeff. This method has never fail me, best if you can do it about 1 hr after last light. They usually sit on plant sprouts at mid to upper water level. Every couple of months I will pull this stunt to remove an old SAE from the tank before introducing another very young one. Adult SAE are lazy buggers.

[hebi]

hey sunnydaze, im curious what you do to the old SAE, give it to LFS or you have extra tanks to house it? the oto in my tank is also getting lazy and messing up the gravel badly.

[wasabi8888]

hebi

you don't want to know what he does with it....

[Puffer]

Well...I would be curious to know My big fat bugger has become a big bully, chasing away the smaller SAE and cardinals during mealtimes.

[trident]

Anyone tried using Transmore to knock them out first before catching them?

[o2bubble]

My 6 now 4 SAE (2 jump to death) never seen to bother other fishes and active at nibbling at algae. During feeding time for my cardinals however, they do take a quick bite

[Marrow]

I have made fish traps that were succesful more times than not for catching siamese and chinese algae eaters. If there is interest and this has not already been discussed I would be happy to provide details. I fear being redundant or stating the obvious.

[Quixotic]

Hey there Marrow, welcome to AQ! No worries, just post your methods here if it is not too much work.

There may have been previous discussions before, but the threads may have been inactive for too long and subsequently, lost deep in forum. And some members do not use the search functionality very often, so they may have missed out on some good discussions.

Your methods may differ (slightly or significantly) as well, so no harm posting it.

[joeyttk]

I have quite a heavily planted tank too. I catch my SAE within the first 5-10 minutes of my morning light (which is at 6am). They are quite slow in the morning (when they first awaken by the lights). They will be swimming around slowly to find food and it is easy to just scoop it up.

Interesting information regarding removal of the pesky SAE!
Somehow it didn't go very well for me as recommended...it somehow depends on how planted your setup is. They tend to hide in hard to reach places hence even at night with a torchlight removal via net isn't really an option as they still scuttle around the tank when environment is slightly disturbed. Anyone else here has success removing their SAE via wasabi8888's method?

[Shadow]

yes the easiest way to catch SAE or any fish is in the middle of the night or very early morning when they are sleep, turn on the tank light and catch them they usually still blur when the light is on.

[Verminator]

I've found a method, problem is its not very practical and i only used it due to the fact i was spring cleaning my tank. I removed every plant/rock and left it with bare substrate and the fish in. Then got one big meaty net and scooped them up Net was like 10" square hehe. No fish got away, not even my SAE.

As i said, not very practical if you want to keep your set-up as it is, which is what most people would do. I'll try the lights out method next time

[RHX]

What i did was to catch them in the middle of the night. I will have very dim exterior lights on so i can see the tank but not bright enough to awaken them. Then I'll use 2 nets, one large one & a small one. The Large net will be stationary in the tank & the small net is to slowly & gently chase the sleepy sae in to the big net. When it's in the big net the small net is also used to block the large entrance of the large net to prevent the sae from slipping away.