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how to catch young yoyo loach

5678 Views 8 Replies 9 Participants Last post by  staypuft
these guys are super fast, very very smart and can squeeze into any crevasse. cant seem to trap or catch them and they are getting big, almost 3 inches now and starting to get more and more aggressive as they get older. I need to separate them. so my gbrs can spawn in peace. any ideas?
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There are do it yourself fish traps on the old interweb you could try. What I do is use a piece of window replacement glass (home depot carries them, they has various sizes), I'll feed them in a corner then slip the glass into the tank and corner them then net them. If your tank is heavily planted it takes a couple of "dry runs" to get it right.
Use 2 nets and remove any decor.
If you don't mind moving some plants, just clear out part of your tank and use the biggest net you can find. Pinnig fish against the surface usually makes them a lot easier to catch too, since most cannot see what is directly under them (aka your net)
You might try draining the tank down to a few inches and then using 2 nets.

Still took a ton of patience and care not to stir up too much murk to see, but this worked for me last time I had to catch a bunch of Y. sidthimunki.
Bottle traps are way easier. Cut off the top couple of inches of bottle, remove the cap, and shove it into the rest of the bottle backwards to make a funnel. Add food and set it near where the loaches hang out. Bottle traps work on just about anything that can fit in, aside from gudgeons (they hover right back out) and long-antennae pistol shrimp. They work wonderfully well with most bottom-dwellers, especially ones that like to go into holes.
I had to empty the tank all the way down to the glass. They burrow very well, very fast as well as hiding well under any sort of cover.

Try the fish trap as suggested by Betta, let us know how it works!
Use a bottle trap as already suggested or you could take a plastic bag and make a noose with some heavy fishing line (thicker line for rigidity) and make a little sack trap, bait it, and when the target goes into the bag, pull the line and seal it in. I have used both tactics on these very fish and khulis.
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