captured/random fish tank from nearby shores?

[ShagMan]

Hey guys,

I have a 29L saltwater tank that I want to put local saltwater fish, mostly young fish that can be caught with a net and some hermit crabs for bottom feeders, as well as some local rock. I'd get these from the local fishing pier/beach at a barrier island 30 minutes away. The fish would be juveniles and I'd eventually have to return the fish as they outgrew the tank and get smaller ones again, but this is free, just takes a little time. Thoughts? Am I crazy?

-Josh Murrah

 

[rwing]

fishfarmer, where did you find butterfly's in R.I.? I live on the border and never knew you could find such fish.

 

[dbman]

Only problem I can think of with local-caught species is you need to keep the tank cool enough for them; aside from that, have a great time!

 

[ShagMan]

coolness shouldn't be too much of a problem, since I'm on the Gulf Coast (Mobile, AL). Water temps right now are like, what, 75-80?

-Josh Murrah

 

[clutchcargo]

Winger,
I was diving down in Newport, RI a couple of weeks ago trying to catch fish for my new aqaurium.

I saw 4 Butterflys and 1 Blue Tang. After trying to trap 1 Butterfly for over 45 min, I gave up. You have to be patient. I'll try again next year when I get a bigger setup.

Try hanging out in shallow water 3-4 feet around rocky areas were there's lots of hiding places. Don't forget to weight yourself a little heavy because, as I learned, you float away too easily.

My attempt was at King's beach in Newport but I was talking to the guys at the dive shop and they said people were having some luck at Fort Weatherill in Jamestown too.
Good luck.

 

[Anonymous]

Diving is fun, but you all should try seining. The one I used was about 30 feet long, and we pulled it through the eelgrass parallel to shore for a while before angling in and pulling the whole thing right onto the beach. Then open it up and hundreds of fish!

The new york fish seemed fine in room temp water, but I didn't have any high intensity lights back then.

This summer I went out in Maine with a friend of mine who is a lobsterman and some really cool little fish and starfish came up in the traps. They need seriously cool water...

 

[clutchcargo]

Yup, you would probably catch a few more fish than my method of capturing fish one by one.
Where do you get a net like that?

 

[Anonymous]

Fishing tackle store, or if you're along the shore a hardware store. Sold to catch bait.

 

[fishfarmer]

I don't have a clue where my professor brought us for that field trip in RI. I went to URhIgh 'bout ten years ago

. All I remember is that we pulled a 100' seine through shallow water in a protected bay. We got a few keeper flounder, 3 foot eel, small eel, and two butterflys. One butter was 3" long and the other about 1". They were yellow and white with black markings. The 3" fish made it into my tank and was eating brine shrimp nauplii. It didn't survive too long in my agressive FO tank. I think we took this field trip in October and the water temp was around 55 degrees. I remember having to acclimate the fish for a long time.

The small eel made it into my tank well and took up residence in the UG filter. The bigger eel went in the fryer.

[ September 25, 2001: Message edited by: fishfarmer ]

 

[ShagMan]

oops, that should be 29*G*, not L

-Josh Murrah

 

[Anonymous]

You might be crazy, but its still a great idea. I've had some great tanks with fish collected off Long Island in NY. I got the best results pulling a long seine with another guy through ell grass beds. Lots of larval and small fish species. I don't know if you have eel grass down there but there probably is something similar...

 

[fishfarmer]

Dan are you talking juvenile tropicals? If so what species have you collected, time of year, depth of water, etc. I've always wanted to try some collecting since in college we seined up butterflies in RI.

 

[Anonymous]

Yep, 3 kinds of filefish, bluespotted cornet fish, baby cobia, deepwater bigeye, butterflys, "boston-bean fish", lookdowns, permit etc etc. Also sticlebacks, pipefish and all the other locals.

 

[Anonymous]

late summer, 2 to 4 feet water- some years better than others depending on where the gulf stream is that year.

 

[ShagMan]

well I'm making a trip down with my 32 quart cooler and a bucket / net to see what I can find... at minimum I'll get some rock/hermit crabs, and maybe a few local fish. The only problem is that I'm not sure if I'll be able to find anything other than juvenile larger fish, like tiny barracuda/snapper/sheepshead/etc... I don't know of a local place with underwater vegetation to get the smaller species.

-Josh Murrah

 

[White-Queen]

So have you made your trapping excursion yet? What did you end up with? I'm fascinated! Too bad I'm land-locked in Oklahoma or I would have to try something like that as well!

Angela <><

 

[ShagMan]

Unfortunately, all I really cound get with a small bait net and my hands

were tiger minnows, a baby oyster fish, some tiny crabs, and a TON of hermit crabs. A picture is worth a 1,000 words, so here:

 

[jamesw]

That's shagadelic baby!

Watch out for those crabs. They are possibly the most agressive carnivores I have ever seen. Make sure to keep small children and housepets away from the tank...seriously.

Cheers
James

 

[White-Queen]

The tiger minnow is kindof interesting, though not as colorful as you were probably hoping! *grin*

At least your tank will have enough algea eaters. *lol*

 

[ShagMan]

No kidding! Not a day after all those guys were in there (I removed 8 of them later for other tanks though) the tank was TOTALLY clean, no algea anywhere... and I *was* having a problem with the high silacate playsand I was using, causing a bloom... not anymore! The bloom's hacked down as quick as it starts, taking the silacate right out of the water.