Coldwater idea

[Shifumi]

So I live by a Salt water lake in the bay area/california, Its a man made lake that gets water from the San Francisco bay.
I currently am thinking if it would make a good choice for a Local species tank
the SG is around 20-30 so its basically high Brackish
the temperature is 50-70F throught the year occasionally being almost 80 in the summer.
Iv walked around it, so far my observations, small lake basicly a large pond
Visibility is about 2 feet after that its all cloudy, Im wondering i can find a way to check the deeper waters and see what lives there, as the lake is 30 feet deep at most, so 2 feet does not give me that great of an idea of what I can find,
so far what I have encounterd: unknown Isopod - spheramatid sp
three types of small sea anemones - about 1-2 inches across at most
two types of amphipods one looks just gray the other is black with a white strip one of them being Diadumene lineata ( not native)
3 diffrent snails : japanese bubble snail(not native), two i cant tell, one looks like a larger version of the assassin snail a freshwater snail im familiar with due to having some in the past, and the other is a whelk thats orange or black depending on individual,
Crab: unknown sp small about 1 inch and gray nothing special
shrimp, similar to ghost shrimp, probably related to them, looked to be about 2 inches in size
Worms- plenty of Nereis sp in there saw a single swimming form too , was rather colorful being blue/red
small fish darting and resting on sand bed, never got a good view of them
noticed two types of Bryozoa, both encrusting types
most of the lake is either sandy/muddy or the few rocky areas that are visible are covered in clams or barnacles or are very bare, there is little algae, though mostly at the very edge of the lake, not any amazing forms

as most of the species are small Id say this could make a nice unheated nano tank

what are your thoughts on this?

 

[GreshamH]

thoughts? Yeah, check legality prior to doing this. I have, and much of what you want to do really isn't kosher.

Collection for aquaria is subjected to CADFG regulations. There is no entry for zooplankton, thus collection is off limits. Crabs and snails have limits. Brackish areas have their own limits.

 

[Shifumi]

ok so, around here It is fine to collect life that is not in a protected zone, like say a national park or wild life refuge, AND it is not a commercial species those have limits and licences are needed.( meaning species used for food or sport)
and you have to be doing it for yourself, not like say to sell off to people ( permit needed for that)

I have an Empty 5.5 Gallon im planing on using, or i might go with a 2.5 gallon vase, been wanting to try that after seeing those amazing nano reef vases on youtube

I have kept fishTanks for a long time, and i prefer nano tanks,
Largest fish tank iv had is 2 40 Gallon tanks!

Iv mostly keep Freshwater, planted fish tanks,

however I have kept a 6 gallon nano reef before c: and i miss it a lot now
I do have a particular liking of Cnidaria

Here is a nice picture of how the lake looks,

And heres an image of Diadumene lineata that are one of the three species of sea anemones found in the lake, these ones particularly have diverse colors, iv seen none striped, striped, Red or green or yellow, bodies white or yellow tentacles

 

[Shifumi]

there is a 35 count bag limit for the sport take of many invertebrate
species

 

[Dan_P]

Collecting and maintaining local fauna, if legal, is interesting. Don't write it off as easy and straightforwards.

What you collect lives in an environment very different than what you can supply with a little aquarium. Nano tanks work in the hobby because a lot of wildlife was killed learning how to do it. There is probably very little information on the husbandry needs and compatibilty of what you want to keep. So, what you are proposing will be an experiment, not setting up a beautiful, successful show piece for the living room.

Nano systems are probably the worst way to go because you will overstock it very quickly.

You don't mention what you plan for filtration equipment, lighting, test equipment, etc.

Give it a try. If you treat the collected animals with the amount of care and attention as expensive ones in reef aquaria, you could be successful.

 

[Mock]

I would start very slowly.... But it could be fun. Start just with the substrate and the water. Try and mimic the lighting, 10k bulbs? Keep an eye on temperature. I can almost bet there is a certain time of the year that things flourish in the lake, then times where it will die back to nothing. Try and mimic the flourish times in water temp. Collect and add sparingly and you can make it work. It would be a fun experiment. for sure.

 

[philosophile]

In California it is illegal to collect from the ocean or the bay for you tank, unless you have a license, and you're collecting things that are allowed to be collected. So no, you can't take isopods, or even snails without a permit or license.

 

[AquaticEngineer]

Anemones are 100% no take for personal use in California. As is the taking of any live finfish. Basically if the fish leaves the water it's requires to be dead.

Here's a good thread where people have talked about many of the same points regarding collection in California.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2290053