Changing Tropical Reef to Temperate FOWLR?

[billsreef]

The gunnels do range south to LI, so you might find some in NJ. Might need to dive and look in somewhat deeper (cooler) water for them. With things like the flatfish, porgies and anything else considered either a commercial or gamefish species, you need to be aware of open seasons and size limits.

 

[scuba-al]

Update: I caught that darn Asian shore crab after it moulted and ... sacrificed it. I know that I shouldn't release it (invasive species) sooo... it's shrimp food now. I took out all the bladderwart (aka fuscus) because it was seriously starting to wilt and die despite daily air exposure. One piece of Ulva is still thriving *knock on wood*. Also the silverside died, they're amazingly delicate. No wonder you never see live in bait shops.

As for the skimmer.... I'm contemplating over it and thanks for the tip!

f Native pipefish? Yeah. However, they're extremely delicate and (according to my friend) never survive in captivity for any appreciable times so I will not be trying them

Thanks for the compliment! The mud snails (actually a type of nassarius snail!) have a propensity towards going to the top, I'd say that at any one time 1/4 of the snails are towards the top but are never completely OUT of the water. Otherwise, they're in the rocks and are buried in the sand. There's a few whelks (small species, not knobbed whelks)/nerites and they plow through all sorts of algae and never leave the water.

As for the gunnels... I have a SCUBA license. Based on pictures I've seen on NJ dive sites, there are no gunnels but if I really look... They're beautiful otherwise!

(In pictures) I have seen horseshoe crabs (grow to 2 ft long and are threatened); frilled anemones EVERYWHERE; little gobies and minnows; the aforementioned game fish... blah.

When I get back from Florida, I'm going on a seining/snorkeling trip for some stuff in Sandy Hook Bay, I'm a budding marine biologist. Will update more pictures when I get the stuff.

 

[billsreef]

The trick to pipefish is keeping them fed. No worse than Seahorses. So that means lots of dedication to feeding

For the Pholis, try areas with good mussel beds. Something ocean side such as along a jetty at one of the inlets would be a good place to look. Otherwise, if you find yourself coming up to LI for any reason, I can take you diving at Ponquogue bridge...can pretty much guarantee a few gunnels there. Saw several nice ones last weekend.

 

[scuba-al]

I think that I would be okay with pipefish it's just that I travel frequently and I don't necessarily trust my family in terms of frequently feeding the fish.

Avon, Belmar, and the Shrewsbury Rocks (boat necessary) have some nice mussel beds in NJ, the first two will need mask and snorkel, Shrewsbury Rocks are risky as there's a lot of fishermen (the arch nemesis of divers). I'm going to the beach sometime this week so I will keep it updated. Sandy Hook has one good jetty but it's a national park so I shouldn't be taking stuff.

And I must ask: what makes Pholis so great? I imagine they're easy to feed (worms, crustaceans, small fish) and they look great. But besides that, is there anything else? Does anyone have experience keeping them? Thanks

 

[billsreef]

I can understand not trusting family to keep up on feeding a pipefish

Pholis are just a neat looking eel like (but not eels) fish. Worms and small crustaceans like amphipods and the like are indeed the trick to feeding them. I have gotten them to eat frozen foods as well, but that tends to take a bit of time. They are pretty mild mannered, so can be kept with anything that won't try and eat them

 

[AquaticEngineer]

What do you have stocked in them? (Pictures if you can, I need some additional ideas and inspiration)

Heres a link to my photobucket of cold water tanks and one of the more recent pictures.
http://s246.photobucket.com/albums/gg100/Stuwobbe/Coldwater%20tanks/

Thanks

Barnacles need to be fed otherwise they starve at cold temperatures this takes quite long.
In winter when plankton levels are low they are more or less fasted.

Build and inline auto feeder and it will solve a lot of the feeding problems. I did mine for under $60 total.

My tank is ~65 F, that's about 18.33 C. Pholis gunnellus aren't native to NJ and no place offers them up for sale... It's a shame, they're beautiful

And if your looking for gunnels, I'll let you in on a little secret
Ribbed Gunnel (Pholis gunnellus)

The trick to pipefish is keeping them fed. No worse than Seahorses. So that means lots of dedication to feeding

See above Auto feeder is your friend.

And I must ask: what makes Pholis so great? I imagine they're easy to feed (worms, crustaceans, small fish) and they look great. But besides that, is there anything else? Does anyone have experience keeping them? Thanks

The one I have in my tank I caught myself during a -1.7 tide he is about 12" now. Mine takes food right out of my hand and will eat anything from shrimp to dried nori.

 

[billsreef]

And if your looking for gunnels, I'll let you in on a little secret
Ribbed Gunnel (Pholis gunnellus)

I need to bust Kevin's chops on having the wrong species name. Pholis gunnellus is my local species of gunnel

See above Auto feeder is your friend.

Indeed

 

[AquaticEngineer]

I need to bust Kevin's chops on having the wrong species name. Pholis gunnellus is my local species of gunnel

I was just giving you guys a link to Divers Den that shows that you can purchase temperate water gunnels from Japan.

It very well could be Pholis Gunnellus in all of these locations. I've found distribution maps that say it occurs only in the Atlantic, and then others that show it occuring in the Pacific.

I've caught 3 different species of gunnels here in Oregon, and of those 3 species I have found at least 10 different color or pattern morphs.

Check out this link to fishbase.org to get more details on gunnels.
http://www.fishbase.us/identification/SpeciesList.php?genus=Pholis

 

[billsreef]

Everything reliable I've seen on Pholis gunnellus points to it being strictly North Atlantic in distribution. Also being in the southern part of it's range, temps in the mid to high 70's are too warm for the species to tolerate. There are however several Pholis species found on the Japanese coast, some of which to range far enough south to expect they would tolerate the temp range that Diver's Den suggests.

http://www.fishbase.org/summary/Pholis-gunnellus.html

 

[scuba-al]

Update: I added two hermit crabs. Some Ulva is dying, two pieces are left. Went to Sandy Hook a week and a half ago to get some fish, all I caught whilst seining were killies (Fundulus heteroclitus) and silversides (M. menidia). I took two killies home, they're practically indestructible
The two killies stick to each other and I see them more and more each day, especially around feeding time. Some stray pieces of red/brown algae were floating around, I "planted" those in the sand bed, I'll see how those do
I'm currently planning a dive trip in September with a friend, so there's another opportunity to collect stuff from the Shark River Inlet, which has more life than you'd expect (spider crabs, a few anemones, fish, fish fish, fish, loads of starfish, and sea urchins). I need more algae... I need new lights.
Pholis from Maine, you say? http://www.gulfofme.com/proddetail.php?prod=LS2806
Mwahahaha! $20 a pop plus overnight shipping = a rather expensive fish buuut I may possibly be getting a northern red anemone (genus Urticina) so the shipping won't seem so outrageous http://www.gulfofme.com/proddetail.php?prod=LS2209-23
I need to read into these creatures more. As for the Japanese gunnel, the bioload would be INSANE (a 1 foot long fish (granted, eel-like)) in a 28 gallon? That doesn't fly

As for plumose anemones, they're pretty and white and non-photosynthetic. You know what I'm thinking of doing on my next dive trip I'll do my best to keep you updated as to new livestock and my algae garden in the sand bed.

 

[Al]

Here's an interesting cold water reef / diy project:

http://www.jonolavsakvarium.com/blog/index.html

 

[scuba-al]

I just saw this and yes, that^ was the link which made me seriously consider changing to temperate reef! I really loved the algae, but unfortunately not too much is left (browns, reds, and one piece of ulva are thriving). The fish are alive still but the tank is somewhat dull, only two small fish are there. I need to go collecting again -_-

 

[ranafrg4224]

Local Tank

Local Tank

Hello! Are you still collecting for a local tank? Ive had success with a local tank in the Brick/point area for about 5 years now. I just went out to the canal and scored some nice specimens! I have a 75 gal. bow front and am running an Aqua top 550 canister. I also built a protein skimmer that is very effective. I'd love to compare notes. email me at wsorren@live.com

 

[AquaticEngineer]

Hit me up any time I keep a large temperate system with west coast species.

There is also a facebook group of temperate and coldwater keepers you should check out

www.facebook.com/groups/coldwaterowners