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I fairly easily caught 4 out of 5 of the yoyos in my 55g but the 1 I've spent 5 days now trying to get. I've tried to sneak up on her with a net, chase her into the net, bait the net, and set up bottle traps with frozen squid chunks in them. She just won't be caught and tearing this tank apart would be a huge job which would take months to get it back to how it is. I'd probably have to pull all the substrate in order to get the huge base on the large piece of driftwood buried again and there are over 4" of eco complete throughout the tank. That would require uprooting and replanting all the aquatic clover coating the bottom along with the big sword and crinums which have no doubt spread their roots through the whole tank. I caught the other 4 in less than an hour with 1 net. Such a difficult little yoyo loach.

The remaining Yoyo is possibly a bit net shy by now just forget it for a few weeks if you can. I had a lot of trouble catching a fish in my Betta tank and in the end I just left the net in the tank and at feeding time made sure some food was in the net and just left it alone then one day the fish just swam into the net to have its usual feed bingo one caught fish.

I can remenber practically pulling down a 4ft for one small BN never again.

Have a look in [link=My Profile] http://www.fishprofiles.com/forums/member.aspx?id=1935[/link] for my tank info

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Betta 11Gal Desktop & Placidity 5ft Community Tank Photos

Keith

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I have used a plastic breeder container to catch elusive loaches and pleco's. I simply put the container in the tank and the fish began chillin in it & bingo moved fish. I might just have been lucky in the past with it but give it a try. I didn't have to put food in it but might be a good option as well. I suppose you can use a class or plastic cup if you don't have the container like I do. GL

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Welcome to the Calilasseia Patent DIY Fish Trap.

Required: one plastic soft drinks bottle - the kind with a conical neck.

Remove stopper. Cut neck of bottle off the main body. If necessary to accommodate a wide bodied fish, cut the apex of the conical neck off leaving a hole just wide enough for your target fish to enter. Ensure all edges are trimmed smooth.

Insert the narrow end of the conical neckpiece thus prepared into the main body of the bottle. Secure in place with a couple of plastic clips (some screw-adjustable airline clamps of the traditional kind are ideal for the purpose).

Gently lower the trap into the water and allow to fill. Leave on the bottom of the aquarium overnight. If desired, trap can be baited with some sinking catfish pellet or other appropriate food.

Choose size of soft drink bottle appropriately - small ones will be suitable for constructing a trap for small fish species (e.g., Corydoras habrosus while a 2 litre bottle may be more appropriate for a good sized Clown Loach.

As a refinement, check if the opaque black plastic used in bin liners is aquarium safe. If it is, turn the trap into a nice homely cave for your Loach to colonise (ha ha).

When removing the trap to check for occupants, a quick hand placed over the entrance will suffice prior to removal.

Experiment with different sized bottles and apertures. The beauty of this being that it's cheap - every time you buy a bottle of soft drink, use it for a new test design instead of throwing it away. You'll soon become proficient at building DIY fish traps that work well, and save a fortune in equipment costs into the bargain - some people sell traps of this kind and the money they charge for what is, in effect, the gizmo I've described above is obscene.


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

That's what I meant by bottle traps. I've got several soda bottle containers but so far all I've caught is 2 sparkling gouramis, 5 shrimp, and a ram. No yoyo. I've already covered most common traps from trying to get crabs and unwanted critters out of my saltwater tank. It's proving not to be so effective for yoyo loaches.

For bottom dwellers, you need to make your trap more like a cave. Hence the suggestion of using bin liner plastic to darken the interior, provided of course that bin liner plastic is aquarium safe. If you can find an opaque black plastic wrapping that is food safe for human use, then that will DEFINITELY be aquarium safe - after all, a food-saf material has to be tested to ensure ti doesn't leach ANYTHING into its surroundings in order to be passed thus, at least here in the UK. Once your YoYo Loach discovers you've given it a nice cave to occupy (and one that's nice and dark inside the way it likes it) then trapping it may be somewhat easier, and it'll hopefully keep out all those middle and top swimmers that otherwise seem to like your traps.


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

Have you tried a dark bottle/container with some rocks in front of it.

Have a look in [link=My Profile] http://www.fishprofiles.com/forums/member.aspx?id=1935[/link] for my tank info

Look here for my
Betta 11Gal Desktop & Placidity 5ft Community Tank Photos

Keith

Near enough is not good enough, therefore good enough is not near enough, and only your best will do.
I VOTE DO YOU if not WHY NOT?
VOTE NOW VOTE NOW