Rescuing large catfish from lfs
Posted: 09 Sep 2007, 02:38
Just thought I'd share what it's like rescuing large catfish. For those of you out there this method of moving large specimines works rather well...
I forgot to take my camera with me to the lfs where I rescued the cats from but my wife took about 50 pictures when I got home.
The first thing I did was make a box out of plywood that measured 76" long, 34" wide and 20" deep and lined it with pvc pond liner and put it in the back of my van.
When I got to the lfs the four cats were still in the leaky display tank so we put the water from the tank into the holding tank in my truck using a large powerhead.
With only a few inches of water left in the display tank it was easy to catch the fish
First off the top of the tank was only about 30" off the ground so it made it easy to get to the fish. I brought along a pillow case and a bed sheet along with a 30 gallon rubbermaid container to move the fish from the display tank to the holding tank in the truck.
Step one: Line the 30 gallon rubbermaid with the bed sheet, then add about 6" of water.
Step two: Drape the pillow case over the top of the catfish and wrap your hands around its pectoral fins and hold on tight, you're going for a ride!
Step three: Once you have the beast subdued lift it out of the tank and into the rubbermaid.
Step four: Once in the rubbermaid wrap the beast up with the wet sheet and take it to the holding tank now filled with 8" of water and slowly unwrap the fish untill it's free... I make it sound easy don't I Repeat steps one through four, three more times and get on the road. I should mention that I had an old sliding glass door panel to cover the holding tank, it got strapped down to prevent water and fish from going everywhere
Now the fun part, get home, drain the holding tank to a minimum, re-capture four angry three foot catfish and release them in my 800 :thumb: Sounds easy eh? Here's the sequence of catching the last of them, a 34" South American Redtail Catfish...
Here's the holding tank in the back of my van:
And here's the last cat:
Here's the first attempt, I'm not exactly a small guy and this thing took me for a ride!:
[IMG:640:457]http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f197/jstraz/032-2.jpg[/img]
The second:
[IMG:640:456]http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f197/jstraz/033.jpg[/img]
And finally got em!:
[IMG:640:456]http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f197/jstraz/031-4.jpg[/img]
Ok, so just get em in the rubbermaid
[IMG:457:639]http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f197/jstraz/034-1.jpg[/img]
I carried the container with the cat in it downstairs and slowly released it with the help of those flower power sheets it was a breeze!:
[IMG:455:640]http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f197/ ... 012-16.jpg[/img]
The end result, a happy catfish and a wet fish guy
[IMG:426:639]http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f197/jstraz/039-2.jpg[/img]
I forgot to take my camera with me to the lfs where I rescued the cats from but my wife took about 50 pictures when I got home.
The first thing I did was make a box out of plywood that measured 76" long, 34" wide and 20" deep and lined it with pvc pond liner and put it in the back of my van.
When I got to the lfs the four cats were still in the leaky display tank so we put the water from the tank into the holding tank in my truck using a large powerhead.
With only a few inches of water left in the display tank it was easy to catch the fish
First off the top of the tank was only about 30" off the ground so it made it easy to get to the fish. I brought along a pillow case and a bed sheet along with a 30 gallon rubbermaid container to move the fish from the display tank to the holding tank in the truck. Step one: Line the 30 gallon rubbermaid with the bed sheet, then add about 6" of water.
Step two: Drape the pillow case over the top of the catfish and wrap your hands around its pectoral fins and hold on tight, you're going for a ride!
Step three: Once you have the beast subdued lift it out of the tank and into the rubbermaid.
Step four: Once in the rubbermaid wrap the beast up with the wet sheet and take it to the holding tank now filled with 8" of water and slowly unwrap the fish untill it's free... I make it sound easy don't I
Repeat steps one through four, three more times and get on the road. I should mention that I had an old sliding glass door panel to cover the holding tank, it got strapped down to prevent water and fish from going everywhere Now the fun part, get home, drain the holding tank to a minimum, re-capture four angry three foot catfish and release them in my 800 :thumb: Sounds easy eh? Here's the sequence of catching the last of them, a 34" South American Redtail Catfish...
Here's the holding tank in the back of my van:
And here's the last cat:
Here's the first attempt, I'm not exactly a small guy and this thing took me for a ride!:
[IMG:640:457]http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f197/jstraz/032-2.jpg[/img]
The second:
[IMG:640:456]http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f197/jstraz/033.jpg[/img]
And finally got em!:
[IMG:640:456]http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f197/jstraz/031-4.jpg[/img]
Ok, so just get em in the rubbermaid
[IMG:457:639]http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f197/jstraz/034-1.jpg[/img]
I carried the container with the cat in it downstairs and slowly released it with the help of those flower power sheets it was a breeze!:
[IMG:455:640]http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f197/ ... 012-16.jpg[/img]
The end result, a happy catfish and a wet fish guy
[IMG:426:639]http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f197/jstraz/039-2.jpg[/img]
