Aquarium For Long Island Sound Creatures

[Dan_P]

I am setting up an aquarium to keep Long Island Sound creatures, focusing on those inhabiting the shoreline. I am looking for some hints, do's & don't's, and aquarium set up examples. Thanks

 

[MIKE NY]

I would give Paul B a PM on what species are hardy and legal to keep as well the conditions and foods they would need to survive.

 

[peteyboyny]

i would give paul b a pm on what species are hardy and legal to keep as well the conditions and foods they would need to survive.

+1.

 

[duromega]

welcome to ManhattanReefs

I would give Paul B a PM on what species are hardy and legal to keep as well the conditions and foods they would need to survive.

+1

 

[e.muehlbauer]

You would want to keep the salinity lower than that of a reef tank. Your biggest problem long term would be keeping the temperatures low enough in winter. While some local inhabitants like Ilyanassa snails and killifish can survive with year round warmth, most, like hermit crabs, will need that cold winter for more than a few months survival.

 

[Dan_P]

You would want to keep the salinity lower than that of a reef tank. Your biggest problem long term would be keeping the temperatures low enough in winter. While some local inhabitants like Ilyanassa snails and killifish can survive with year round warmth, most, like hermit crabs, will need that cold winter for more than a few months survival.

Thank you for this! I had planned to measure salinity where I plan to collect over a couple tide cycles to get a feel for the salinity. With regard to temperature, would you recommend keeping aquarium water below, say, 75 F during the summer?

Thanks!

 

[KathyC]

Thank you for this! I had planned to measure salinity where I plan to collect over a couple tide cycles to get a feel for the salinity. With regard to temperature, would you recommend keeping aquarium water below, say, 75 F during the summer?

Thanks!

Welcome to MR


You will need to run a chiller on the tank year round to keep the temps where they belong for the local native creatures. Best to do research on what those temps are before you start for both winter & summer seasons.


You will also need to do your homework prior to taking species out of our waters due to the laws protecting some by size & species...including things like sea grass that is illegal to collect. Some animals grow large as well and many are not very colorful.


If you mix our local creatures with anything that is NOT native to this area, you should never re-release it back into our waters as it will introduce bacteria and possibly parasites that can harm our native species. So be prepared to keep - for as long as it lives - anything you remove from our waters.

 

[Dan_P]

Thank you for the pointers. I am fully on board with doing my homework before bringing wildlife home. Any suggestions on key resources for things like temperature requirements and what is illegal to collect? Thanks.

 

[Yani1133]

I did the native tank for a year it was pretty cool, but after catching a few wayward tropicals i slowly converted to a full reef. Check out your fish and game site for fish regulations on what you can keep at what sizes. For example i wanted a flatfish and couldnt take small summer flounder but in nj it was legal for me to keep a tiny windowpane flounder. Your setup completely depends on the fish species you want to keep. Many summer bay residents you could catch in a seine net are extremely tolerant of salinities and are more than happy at room temp all year. And in august you can come across some awsome stuff, lookdowns, jacks, shrimps, and butterflyfish. I had my 70 set up with killifish species, sticklebacks, sheepshead minnows, mullet, silversides, and inverts with algea i picked and it was easy to care for and looked great. I kept silversides and mullet(best sand sifter ever) in my reef for months at 80 and had no issues, besides not having a lid(they love to carpet surf)My cleanup crew for my reef is still black mud snails and grass shrimp from belmar and they have no issue at 80f temps and 1.026 salinity.

 

[Yani1133]

http://www.ct.gov/deep/cwp/view.asp?a=2696&q=322740&deepNav_GID=1647 . Can hunt around here and if questions shoot them an email. In nj they got back to me within a day and were very nice about it.

 

[Dan_P]

Wow! You just made me very impatient to set up the aquarium. Thanks for the details. I really need them.

 

[oh207]

Welcome to MR and good luck with the setup.
I recall reading about a few folks from the local reef club (LIRA) on the forum did a collecting trip in Long Island. Try a search on here for collecting trip and checkout the details.

 

[Dan_P]

Good lead, thank you.

I searched the forum using the terms "LIRA collection trip" and found eleven interesting threads. Some had pictures and now my level of impatience to start the aquarium just went up even further.

I did not find any specific details yet on the LIRA collection trip but plenty of references to it. I will keep looking longer.

Thanks again!

 

[Dan_P]

Thanks for the lead. I took a quick and it looks like what I need.

 

[oh207]

Can you share some details on your interest to setup a system for local creatures? I don't think they are that good to look at compared to reef fish.

 

[e.muehlbauer]

I would suggest collecting from bays connected to the sound rather than from the sound itself. Bays have far greater temperature ranges, and bay fauna will adjust more easily to temperature extremes. If you do so, don't worry about summer temps...just rely on ambient conditions. Winter is more problematic. I used to keep a local Peconic bay tank, in a room that was basically unheated in winter. Room temps in winter would go into the low 50's, sometimes 40's. Tank temps were stable at around 60 or a little less. That seemed good enough. I don't think you would have legal issues with most inverts, except for blue rabs, maybe clams and oysters. You wouldn't want blue crabs anyway...you wouldn't be able to keep anything else. Lots of fish are unregulated- all the killies, silversides, gobies, even blowfish (but they are massive nitrate factories). Stay away from gamefish- all will be illegal. Even oyster toadfish have regulations now.

 

[Affordable Aquatic]

I see you're in Connecticut. Why not pay a visit to the Norwalk Aquarium. Most of the facility centers around LI sound creatures. At least that way you can see the diversity that's out there and decide whether it interests you before you go collecting.

 

[Dan_P]

Can you share some details on your interest to setup a system for local creatures? I don't think they are that good to look at compared to reef fish.

Happy to share my motivation.

I love reef tanks and they are a delightful challenge to establish and maintain. My wife and I spent many hours looking at ours. From this experience, I developed a fascination for marine life and creating marine habitats. This time around, I wanted to create a habitat for near shore creatures. Caring for and observing these local but drabber species will make a fascinating hobby for me.

I will post pictures when I get the tank set up.

 

[Dan_P]

I would suggest collecting from bays connected to the sound rather than from the sound itself. Bays have far greater temperature ranges, and bay fauna will adjust more easily to temperature extremes. If you do so, don't worry about summer temps...just rely on ambient conditions. Winter is more problematic. I used to keep a local Peconic bay tank, in a room that was basically unheated in winter. Room temps in winter would go into the low 50's, sometimes 40's. Tank temps were stable at around 60 or a little less. That seemed good enough. I don't think you would have legal issues with most inverts, except for blue rabs, maybe clams and oysters. You wouldn't want blue crabs anyway...you wouldn't be able to keep anything else. Lots of fish are unregulated- all the killies, silversides, gobies, even blowfish (but they are massive nitrate factories). Stay away from gamefish- all will be illegal. Even oyster toadfish have regulations now.

Thanks for these choice tidbits of information! This will save me a whole bunch of frustration in aquarium care and collection.

 

[Dan_P]

I see you're in Connecticut. Why not pay a visit to the Norwalk Aquarium. Most of the facility centers around LI sound creatures. At least that way you can see the diversity that's out there and decide whether it interests you before you go collecting.

Hey thanks! This is very good advice.

I visited Mystic and Norwalk aquariums several times already. Both are very good and provided me with plenty of ideas. I must say though that the forum members have given me a lot more practical information.