How to catch a cory

[Brengun]

My corydora tank was doing its usual intermittent egg laying frenzy followed by the egg eating fiesta.

This time I managed to grab a couple of eggs and put them into another tank with only otocinclus and whiptails.
Well, the eggs didn't hatch although one seemed to disappear and I thought nothing about it.

Fast forward several weeks and there is a lone Trilineatus cory in the whiptail tank and he is shier than a whiptail. I seldom see him and if he sees me, he's gone.

This is a 4ft gravelled, planted and driftwooded tank. Any ideas for somesort of trap to catch him in cause there is no way my net is going to get near him?

[MatsP]

There are fish traps that you "bait" with suitable food - of course, the trap will not KNOW which fish you are trying to get, so if you put something that all the fish likes in there, you'll probably end up with the wrong one in the trap. Check with your LFS for traps.

I have been known to take most of the plants and decorations to catch a particular fish. On occasion, it helps to put food in to attract the fish, but it's no guarantee.

--
Mats

[Marc van Arc]

Make a scheme of the layout of the tank, then get everything out, catch the fish and put everything back according to your scheme.
I caught 25 Corys from 2 different tanks yesterday within an hour.
However, redecorating took some time (no scheme..... ).

[Brengun]

The trouble is, once he sees me he's gooonne.

I caught a reasonably easy to catch 3cm zebra plec and the tank stayed a little cloudy for two days afterwards.
The plants have food tabs under the gravel and if I bump a plant out, this plume of fertilizer comes wafting up.

The trap idea sounds good. I notice he is always at one end of the tank and briefly comes to the front when foraging for food. I am going to put a broodnet on its side and bait it every night for several hours before feeding the rest of the tank.

I reckon it should only take about a week to get him going into the net, then I will attach some string to the net and pull it upright and out of the water. Good plan?

[Bigpig]

I had a lone C.Pygmaeus in a planted tank.
The only way I found to move him was to take out everything that could be moved, including heater and filter inlet/outlet.
Then using one net to chase him into the open, and another to catch him.
It was easy once everything was out.
I then took it as a chance to give everything a good clean, and trim the plants.

[bronzefry]

I empathize. I just sold (3) breeding groups of C.aeneus at an auction. I had to remove these fish from 2 tanks: a 75 gallon heavily planted, heavily populated and a 55 gallon moderately populated, lightly planted. I started 2 weeks ahead of time and placed them in a holding tank (where they proceeded to lay over 200 eggs and eat all of them). I still didn't retreive all of the C.aeneus. I left myself with one breeding group in the 75 gallon tank.
Amanda

[Brengun]

I caught him!
Very late last night which the tank lights off and the room light on, he made the mistake of sleeping in a clump of wisteria right at the very front of the tank. I quietly took the glass lid off, grabbed a good sized net, dropped it in very softly and got it right around him before he even woke up properly.

I think he's a sterbai as he doesn't have the black spot on the top fin like the trilineatus. I put him in with the other cories and he was a little frightened at first, as he had never seen another cory but eventually he started trailing along behind the others.

So the thing I needed wasnt a better cory trap, but a whole lot of patience; not usually my strong suit.