I have spent the past two weeks trying to catch a 5-6" Kelberi bass in my 120 gallon mata mata tank to move into my new 180 gallon. I removed the large driftwood, plants and kept large nets in the tank so the fish would get used to them. I did frequest large water changes......NO DICE. Hundreds of attempts but the fish became quickly conditioned to fear my approach and retreated into the rock maze set for the turlte.
Now in my book glass and huge rocks are best left to themselves but the set up for the Mata required both a platform and steps to get there in my deep tank. I removed some of the rocks during water changes but I did not want to risk pulling 15x 20-30lb rocks out and then back into the tank.. I caught the first bass the very first day and believed I would get the bugger eventually. Tried 20 times yesterday. No dice. I actually began to comtemplate using a trimmed fish hook and catch it using line and hook.
Last night before bed in the dark tank I caught a glimpse of odd motion in the tank. One Barred SD and the bass were IN THE NET butting heads up against it......( I have seen the SD do this many times) I quickly popped the canopy.....they panicked and dove deeper in the net. I grabbed the net and freed the SD. Into the big tank Mr. Kelberi went.....Two weeks trying to catch a fish and the bastard caught itself!!!!!!!!!!
Now in my book glass and huge rocks are best left to themselves but the set up for the Mata required both a platform and steps to get there in my deep tank. I removed some of the rocks during water changes but I did not want to risk pulling 15x 20-30lb rocks out and then back into the tank.. I caught the first bass the very first day and believed I would get the bugger eventually. Tried 20 times yesterday. No dice. I actually began to comtemplate using a trimmed fish hook and catch it using line and hook.
Last night before bed in the dark tank I caught a glimpse of odd motion in the tank. One Barred SD and the bass were IN THE NET butting heads up against it......( I have seen the SD do this many times) I quickly popped the canopy.....they panicked and dove deeper in the net. I grabbed the net and freed the SD. Into the big tank Mr. Kelberi went.....Two weeks trying to catch a fish and the bastard caught itself!!!!!!!!!!
