I Recently got a 33 inch gator gar out of my 400 gallon tank,I have read that pillow case works well getting large fish out of tanks. Too that a would say that I would never try again because first of all it is almost impossible to keep it open to get fish to swim in,I finally took an old pond net cut of half and tied pillow case to net with rope.My tank is 36 inches tall so its hard to reach the bottom even on a latter .when the guy got home with him he had marks on his body from the Pillow case rubbing against his body.In the past I have always used heavy duty plastic bags,the large ones that they ship feeder goldfish in,they are clear so they do not spook fish and the opening stays open while guiding fish in.than once the fish is in the bag close it and let water out till you can handle weight.I hope this will help people not to make the same mistake I did.Just to repeat myself I have used plastic bags many times mostly to catch arowanas and they never had a mark on them.
Pillow case VS Large plastic bag
- Thread starter noelsfishland
- Start date
I wouldn't risk using a plastic bag with any fish over 20". Just seems too easy to puncture, especially with the strain of the water weight... I had to move my 220 gallon aquarium (30" high) several months ago, and I had very little trouble getting my 30" silver aro out, after I removed the decorations and lowered the water level. It just took a little bit of patience. I also didn't leave it in the pillow case during the drive to the new location. I had all my fish in two large trash cans, which worked quite well for me. After I finished setting up the aquarium, I just transferred them again with the pillow case, and none of them had any signs of damage.
It was not left in the pillow case during transfer and is a much larger fish than a silver arow plus it has large teeth that were getting stuck on the pillow case as I tried to get in and out of net,plus the six inches makes a big different when you can not reach the bottom of tank, I do not keep any decorations in with my large fish as they can get messed up if they spook and they are a magnet for dirt.I have always used large plastic bags in the past.Like I said I drain out most of the water before putting in a container for transfer.as far as patience goes he got more spooked with every miss and more agitated and started thrashing from one end to the other,also I took half the water out so it would be easier to catch and less water on the floor.this is not my first barbeque moveing large fish
