Netting certain fish

Today I decided to switch all of my fish from my 29G to my 55G since they were starting to grow and I just finished establishing the bacteria in my 55G.

I successfully netted all of my fish except the Clown Pleco. This one ended up becoming a real struggle for me, and I accidentally cut him with my net (I think this was me, since I didn't notice the cut before, but it could have been from aggressive fish).

I have treated the water in his new home so he should heal up and the aggressive fish in the tank, the red-tailed black shark, is now dead. If the Pleco was being nibbled on, it should cease now.

My main question here: is there a way to net a fish like a Pleco easily? These guys just suck onto the side of the tank so I had a really hard time doing this.

Side note, I didn't kill my RTB shark, it jumped out of a bucket when I was out of the room filling up a different bucket with new water. I didn't notice for quite some time that it had died. My fault for not putting a lid on that bucket, unfortunately.

 

Since you're moving all the fish over, you can lower the water level in the 29 gal to a few inches to help catch him.

 

You can lower the water and remove decor to make it easier, then if the fish doesn't want to let go, use a clean hand and scoot them into the net or towards the net.

 

Plecos can be tough. You could take decor out, turn off all lights and leave the room dark for a bit. When you fire up the lights it may cause him to become disoriented and give you a chance to net him...

 

A warning that the pleco can shred your net with its spines.

I had to solve how to transfer a 13" common pleco some months ago.

My first idea was to put a pitcher into the tank, guide the pleco around until he chose to hide in the pitcher, then swiftly swoop him up and move him over. This worked twice - from the tank into the tub, and from the tub back into the tank. Problem was, he lashed in the transfer and drenched my kitchen from floor to ceiling.

When it came time to rehome him, he would no longer go anywhere near the pitcher. I had to do something new. I learned to catch him by hand.

I used this guy's technique at the 5:45ish minute mark. If you watch the whole video, you'll see one done with a bottle similar to my pitcher method.

 

What I have done ( but on a small scale ) is use a water bottle to trap my baby pleco's.
You can probably get a larger one with a bigger opening ( like one of those juice bottles ) and stuff it full of the food they like.

I had to catch 60 + baby plecos so you can imagine how hard it was. But after 2 weeks ( each bottle full I would put in to an awaiting new breeder in the tank ) until I got all of them to take to the lfs.




I've also done this with snails and RCS. Worked like a charm every time with no stress