Stop chasing your fish all over the tank! Using a tiny net doesn't just stress your fish to exhaustion—it tears up your live plants, uproots hardscape, and frustrates you in the process.
In this video, I show you why small nets are toys and how using a proper, rigid, large-frame net changes everything. You don't chase fish—you guide them flush against the glass and lift them out smoothly without disturbing a single leaf.
Watch as I demonstrate this stress-free technique on fast and tricky species, including Clown Loaches, a Green Terror, and Pineapple Swords, plus the gentle way to handle Betta fish with wet hands.
In this video:
0:00 Why small fish nets destroy tanks 1:19 The right net to use (and why size matters) 2:04 Catching a Clown Loach in one try 4:06 The "flat to the glass" netting technique 4:58 Netting a hidden Green Terror without wrecking plants 6:49 Catching multiple fish at once (Pineapple Swords) 7:42 How to safely hold and transfer fish with your hands 8:36 Stress-free Betta handling 9:23 What makes a quality, rigid aquarium net
Let me know in the comments how you net your fish, and share this with a fellow fishkeeper who's tired of tearing up their tank!
Lou Foxwell, known as Father Fish, is a pioneer of natural aquarium keeping and the creator of the Father Fish Method.
His approach to planted aquariums focuses on building balanced, self-sustaining ecosystems using soil substrates, natural processes, and minimal maintenance. The Father Fish Method draws inspiration from the Walstad Method and the natural aquarium philosophy of Takashi Amano.
Before entering the aquarium industry, Lou spent 25 years as a missionary, serving a congregation of deaf worshipers. He later opened a tropical fish store, where he adopted the role of Father Fish.
His passion for fishkeeping began in childhood, inspired by his grandmother from Berlin, Germany. He went on to become a founder and original board member of the National Aquarium, where he helped shape its early development and leadership.
With decades of experience across the fishkeeping world, Father Fish shares practical knowledge on planted aquariums, dirt substrate systems, and natural ecosystem balance. He also provides plants, soil supplements, and tools to help hobbyists create thriving aquariums with less effort and fewer water changes.
All clips and images are used for illustration purposes only. Learn how the natural aquarium approach changed the hobby forever. This video explores the foundational book behind the method.
This is a net.
This is a toy.
Hello.
Come right on in.
You're it, Father Fish.
Nets. Fish nets.
As in aquarium nets.
This
is a net. This
is a toy. This
destroys tanks. This
keeps tanks safe
and undamaged.
Let me explain what I
mean.
If you use this in a tank, this tiny little net,
the only way to catch anything with it
is to be faster than the fish. You have to chase it.
You race all over the tank with it,
chasing the fish. It's going here, it's going there.
You're zipping in this corner,
that corner, trying to catch it. You may or may not.
Eventually you will because you will
Tire the fish to the point of near death.
In the process, tearing up everything in the tank,
frustrating yourself, this is trash.
Throw it away. This is a net.
Now, this one is nine inches.
This will fit easily in a 10 gallon tank in either direction.
The difference between this and the little net
is that this net is not used to chase fish.
Let me illustrate.
Here's a tank with lots of big fish in it and lots of plants.
Now what we're going to do is we're going
to pick out a fish we want to catch
and then we're going to catch it with a net without
Tearing up or messing up any plants.
Let's see.
How about the Clown Loach?
That's a tough one to catch.
There's one right in the back.
So we're going to put the net in.
You know what?
I need the other one.
I have one with a bent handle
because they don't have a lot of headroom above this tank.
So I bent the handle over.
To make it easier to use in that situation.
Let's use this one.
There's the alooch.
Right back there.
We're going to put the net in and bring it all the way to the back.
And bring it straight down.
Look at this.
Right up front.
We got him up front.
There he is.
Now we're going to try to move this.
Look what I'm doing with the net.
I'm pushing the plants to the back.
Dropping it between the fish
and the glass and I have two
of them. Well one got out. Okay
that's a very hard fish to catch.
And we caught it in one. One try. Let's do it again.
We're gonna scare him up to the front.
Here he comes. And then move move the net.
We're gonna go after the one. Move the net.
So we're trapping them against the glass
and then get them going to the back and just lift it up.
Easy peasy. That's a nice, simple, clean,
stress-free way to catch a fish. So notice the
tag. Nothing has been disturbed. Nothing torn up.
We didn't go through a big lot of chasing.
We just dipped the net down. We basically got them up to the front
and then trapped them against the front glass.
You see I've got the handle in the back.
So I can press this right up flush to the glass
and that frame is straight it's not bent so that
when I push it right up against the glass it's flat
the whole frame is flat against the glass
and so they can't get out this way or this way
or this way or this way they have to go back
and what they do they go into the bag
which they cannot see so it makes a really effective way
to trap a fish. Let's try one more.
There's a green terror. Let's get the green terror.
Now the green terror does not want to come out to the front.
He wants to stay hidden. See, there he
comes. So we've got him entangled up
in the hose here. There we go.
Trapping. See how he's trapped?
So we have the glass which gets them scooting to the back
and then when I bring the net up I twist
it so it comes out easily
and we have a green terror right there.
So it's a simple, clean,
Very effective way to be able to get a fish out
of the heavily planted tank without disturbing anything.
But you must have a big net.
You cannot do it with a little net.
And it's hard on the fish
because you're stressing the fish with a small net.
You're chasing it, driving up its fear factor,
causing it to dart and dash and hide,
making it increasingly difficult,
frustrating you, frightening the fish.
Take the little net, use it in a betta bowl.
Your hand works better,
but you can use it in a betta bowl with a fish that
that moves very slowly that's fine in a little tiny bowl
with a little tiny net but don't try
to use a little tiny net in anything
and any kind of big fish tank let's do something else here
okay here we go i have
in here two pineapple swords there's one
that's the female and there's a male
Let's catch.
Two fish out of a tank full of fish get the net
in the back of the tank and then find the fish
move the net slowly toward them they're
both over here we've got one we've got two
they're both in the net one
two there they are now there
are three other fish in here
make sure if you touch a fish your hand is wet put him back
We'll put him back. I wanted to show you how I do this.
I'm flipping him onto my hand and then
closing my hand around him so he can't jump out and hit the floor.
And then releasing
I don't squeeze it, I just hold it in my hand with my fingers closed.
Then I've got two more here.
Let's get both of them. One, two, there they are. Let's put them down.
Here, now we could put these in a bag at this point
and bag them up to ship them out, but
we're going to move them into this thing.
Okay, so we targeted two specific fish in a tank full of fish.
We were able to use the bait net to be able to catch them.
Let's do something simple.
I want to get this betta out of here.
Now usually with a betta, you can use your hand.
Because they don't move around much and there he is.
Snug as a bug in a rug, he's not going anywhere,
he's not in any danger, he's perfectly safe,
I'm not squeezing him to death.
We're going to put him in here and then let's get this one
and put it in here.
Stress-free moving fish around.
And we just moved both of those bettas.
Switch tanks we did.
So this is out. This is in.
I have these for sale.
They are available in our store.
They're a nice, hard-frame net.
There's nothing flimsy about this.
It's a very rigid frame, a rigid handle.
So they're not going to bend all up.
You can keep square and flush,
which is really important to be able to do.
You see, that's a perfectly square, flush neck.
There it is.
