Collecting your own????

[Ayesha97]

My boyfriend happens to live right off of the Delaware bay. This past weekend we took the boat out and collected some creatures for my tank. I scooped up a bunch of macro algae (not sure on the type, its brown with thick branching), a rock crab,a bunch of shrimp (I think they are called grass or glass shrimp), snails (VERY TINY! black shells and when they move they have a long tube that sticks out) and a bunch of small pods and other tiny critters.

Has anyone else had luck with collecting stuff themselves. We checked the shrimp for visiable parasites and didn't see any. Before the above addition I just had hermits, an urchin, and an emerald crab in the tank. I realize that the potential to introduce pollutants and foreign parasites is very high (so please be kind....). Are there any suggestions on future collections? His mom has a 100+ tank and we have done many runs for her tank in the past and she has not had a problem.

Also, does anyone know of a good guide that can be used for the identification of some of the buggers that I found?

 

[JG]

I have collected periwinkle snails since I live on the NH seacoast. They have been in the tank since March and seem to be doing fine. I did have them in qt before the main tank. From there they went into a tank that was being cycled. No problems yet. They seem to do a great job on the algae and it sure beats $2.00 per snail at the fish store.

 

[BillyZ]

My first comment is to be sure you check your local laws carefully! Some areas have very strict laws on removing live creatures from the water. I know you said you've "been doing it for a while" but you may simply not have been caught yet if there are laws against it in your area.

Your already aware of the potential for pests and parisites. As far as identifying, any good book used for aquarium identification should help. I would also strongly recommend you NOT collect anything you don't recognize. There are many reasons why you shouldn't with the biggest two being if you don't know what it is and therefore don't know what it needs to survive, it may simply die. Secondly, not knowing the creature, it may devistate everything else in your tank either by simply being aggressive or toxic.

 

[flatzboy]

I went to the bahamas 2 weeks ago and found three flame scallops. I cleaned out an empty salsa jar and put them in it and filled it up with water. They all survived in there for about 7 hours. I have them in my 10gal. qt tank. I am gonna leave them in there for another 2 weeks just to make sure they are ok.

 

[Guest]

I always collect stuff for my tank. Everything fro mmacro for my tangs, to anemones and porcelain crabs. Just remember all the stuff in the LFS most of it anyways is wild caught. From the ocean the majority are thrown into foul holding tanks. So all in all its the same idea.

 

[BillyZ]

Yes, many LFS critters are wild caught. But many are also tank bred. Either way, that doesn't change the fact that there are conservation laws in effect in many places designed to keep our beaches and oceans healthy.

I'm not arguing any sense of morality of whats right or wrong. I'm simply stating the fact that many areas have laws against collecting wildlife from the oceans. Collecting wildlife in spite of, or even in ignorance of the laws can land you some hefty fines.

 

[Guest]

Oh I was just mentioning the whole wild stuff bringing in parasites my opinion on it at least, and yes it is good to check to make sure its legal.

 

[JG]

Yep - always check ! Around these parts people collect and eat periwinkles.

 

[fishfreek]

I went to the bahamas 2 weeks ago and found three flame scallops. I cleaned out an empty salsa jar and put them in it and filled it up with water. They all survived in there for about 7 hours. I have them in my 10gal. qt tank. I am gonna leave them in there for another 2 weeks just to make sure they are ok.

Your darn lucky you didnt get caught. I know when we was in the bahamas for our honeymoon it was made very clear that removal of any live creature from the water would result in a very stiff fine

 

[flatzboy]

Yeah they didn't say anything until we got back to fort lauderdale and they just have if you if you were bringing anything back and I said nope! We took a 17 passenger sea plane over because we were staying at Atlantis. The name off the flight was chalks airline. We flew right into atlantis.

 

[Ayesha97]

Thanks for the warning BillyZ, I'll have to check into that. Its good to know that I'm not the only one who has gone out searching for my own critters.

 

[flatzboy]

Your definately not alone. Me and my family are going out this weekend to get some livesand I live on the gulf side of florida. We are setting up a 75gal. reef tank so we will get our own sand and during the cycling it will kill off any bad stuff. We are getting off siesta key beach you probably havn't heard of that but it has one of floridas best beachs and the sand is pure white. We will get it in about 20-30ft. of water so it will be pretty clean!

 

[Guest]

20-30 ft?? Thats gonna be a head ache, I got mine right where the waves broke for my nano reef. Its really tan though, the white looks best IMO. Good luck!

 

[flatzboy]

We got our own dive gear. My mom and my brother are the ones that will be going down so it will save me a head ache. I have know Idea what there gonna put it in because you can't drill holes in a bucket because the sand will just pour out. But maybe it will sink without holes in it. Who knows?

 

[Guest]

A new trash can would work, assuming you can fit it on the boat... (if your using a boat) Then just bring it up in 5 gal buckets. If you drill holes on the buckets bottom it will allow for water drainage and the sand will stay in. Some will come out but not enough to matter. Then just get your amount then remove it in buckets from the trash can, into ur tank. Ive done it with sand and water.

 

[flatzboy]

Our boat is 22 ft. so there should be enough room. Thanks for the tip!

 

[ReefLady]

JG - hello, neighbor!

I've collected some things from the NH seacoast (macro mostly), but it has never seemed to fare well in my tank/refugium/sump. I always thought that it was because of the extreme temperature difference. I've never dared to try actual live 'critters', though.