Bottle trap empty

[idris]

I've had a bottle trap in my tank for a couple of days. Firstly to temporarily rehouse my fish whilst I do a spot of rescaping. And secondly to prove to myself that I still have some Ottos and Amanos left.

For the first few months they were in the tank I'd see The Ottos and Amanos all the time. As I introduced more fish (see signature) they spent more time hiding, but I'd occasionally see shrimps and the Ottos could sometimes be spotted on hte glass after lights-out.
I've not seen an Otto for a couple of weeks or more. And no more than 3 shrimp at any one time.
(There are more than enough places for them all to hide but I have recently had a spate of unexplained deaths, but have seen no dead Ottos or Shrimp.)

The bottle trap has been in the tank for a couple of days, and has been bated with a medium sized algae wafer, a slice of blanched courgette and some shrimp food. Nothing has been caught.

Any thoughts on catching the critters, or at what point I assume they're dead and re-stock?

 

[idris]

Actually I've just spotted that the bottle trap has done more harm than good as it's killed a Neon

 

[foxfish]

Did you make your own trap?
I have made & successfully used traps before.
Anyway I tied a piece of string around the neck to make it easy to check & only set the thing at night time, checking every morning & removing until re baiting & replaceing every night.
I caught about 100 shrimps but the device never caught the last few!

 

[spyder]

Traps should be set, light's turned off and checked 2-3 hours afterwards. In a larger tank with fewer occupants to capture maybe 2 traps, 1 in each front corner would help.

I find them reliable for catching cherry shrimp and oto's seem to get caught by them too.

 

[foxfish]

Absolutely - so make sure you get up at 1am 3 am & 5am to check your trap

 

[idris]

The trap was home made.
I'm Pretty sure the Neon that died was in the trap for less than 2 hrs.