finally our scavenging adventure pics!

chrisstie, I know I read further down in the post that Lifeswork has a place for the horseshoes to go. Do you think he is going to keep that many in his reef tank? I think not, he isnt stupid. As for reef caution fish and having to be careful with them. If people didnt want to monitor potentially reef un-safe fish, then they wouldnt own a single angelfish. They arent eating anything important because they are in QTs. Do you think we hastily throw whatever we catch into our display tanks?
 
And people earn respect. No one is automatically given it because of where they work. Im a stay at home mom, and when do you think I get the respect I deserve for it?
 
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And I do not feel bad for making my opinions known. There are hundreds of sources of information on natural florida species with locations, pictures, details, etc. If you have any one of these, ID's would be much easier.

I didn't say a disease would spread to epidemic proportions in the Atlantic through something you take, I said it could. Likely? No. Possible? Yes.

Why risk an animals health, your tank, and such just to see.

Life's work, by posting things here, you obviously want people's opinions. It seems like you just want opinions that agree with what you did. This is not always so.

Cowboy's, was that first comment directed at me? I don't understand...I didn't say do not take wild caught animals into your tank. I didn't say don't collect fish. i didn't say that you should not buy from a LFS that has wild caught animals. It seems you guys really like to twist my words to make me look like a bad guy. I really don't understand why it would be so hard to find out what an animal is before taking it from our ocean. Is it really too hard to take a natural wildlife book with you? Is it too much work to go back out later and get it? I mean, if you're going to take it back the next week anyway, it shouldn't be much more difficult to go out that next week to find that fish. It is not the only one and chances are you will run across it again.

I stated a while back that I have absolutely no problem with people collecting from the ocean, but I added as long as they stay within the laws that are there for our ocean's protection. If you don't know what a fish is, you obviously cannot know if it is even legal to take. That is ignorance, as stated before, that can lead to illegal and immoral acts. What if that fish you got was endangered? Again, I'm not saying that this time you picked up a fish that was endangered. But what if next time you see something cool and it is? Please do not twist these words to me saying that you got an endangered fish or that you did something illegal. this is not at all what I am saying. I am merely saying how can you keep within the law when you have no idea if what you're taking is even legal?
 
I don't usually chime in on threads like this however I have to agree with "cschweitzer" on this one.

Please tell me your taking those crabs back and releasing them! Taking one is one thing, but taking multiple and placing them in a small tank where their chance of survival is a lot less than that in the wild is just wrong.
 
This thread is going no where, and I think we should let it die. I think this is just a case of a lot of misunderstandings. There is no sense arguing over this. We are all avid reef geeks, and I feel this is nothing more than a misunderstanding of the original intent of the post.

The situation was there was simply one fish that was taken, that at the time of taking was thought to be a filefish, and ended up not being one. pixiegirl was simply asking for an ID, so she could decide what to do with it. They did not have buckets full of fish, there was simply one.

If it seemed lifesworks does not care about the wildlife, etc. That is not true, I know lifesworks personally and that is not the case. There were lots of things we had no clue what they were and were released.

We are aware of all the current rules and regulations, and we do every thing in our honest attempts to follow them while out collecting. The only way it would not be followed would be by accident, and that has only happened with this one fish.

So, instead of everyone getting offended and keeping this alive longer, please just let it die.
 
I think what has gone wrong in this thread is that some folks are expressing concern for an unidentified fish for the safety of the owner's reef tank as well as the fish and it is meant as concern, not a judgement on that person's actions.

If there is anything I have learned about stereotypical reefers? they all actually do care so please don't get me wrong here.

When I saw the horseshoe crabs I went back and unless I am misunderstanding, it seems lifeswork was able to find a spot out on the coast to find the crabs. By asking what the plans are for those crabs and asking if they know they get big, I am not judging you, I am simply asking a question.

There are many folks who haven't grown up in florida or aren't familiar with what is in florida's waters and truly honestly wouldn't know about the sizes, requirements etc of such animals and it is only out of concern for our tanks at home and the wildlife that I ask these things. One of the issues is I don't know a lot of you guys (yet, I hope we can get to meet irl on these trips and at the LFS) so I can't truly know whether or not any of you are marine experts or just really excited enthusiasts who are willing to take a chance.

I'm not a marine bio expert but have grown up around\stepped on accident enough on stupid horribly painful things like horseshoe crabs where I grew up that it was an honest concern of mine. I also really get annoyed when I see them being sold by online vendors. Unless you set up a tank for that kind of creature in mind they just don't really live long at all.

I also think asking for ID here is actually a good thing and mentioning QT is a good idea too because we don't know what is out there- fish collected in the wild for the business... well places that quarantine them and\or treat them I feel are really doing the job well because otherwise its on us to do it to make sure we aren't pulling up some scourge of the ocean lol. But I think it is a good idea to remember it can go the other way around as well.

An example would be things like the Brazillian pepper tree or any other non native plant\animal brought here that has just bred like crazy and messed with the eco system. Who knows what we are introducing into the atlantic and\or gulf. Unlikely as it is.

I dont see this thread has to die, but perhaps refocus on the positive points to the posting of fun pictures and getting IDs on things that are hard to get! I think I am going to order a book or two about local florida fishes - they are very difficult to ID if they aren't a popular reef fish so I will hopefully be armed with something like that on the march 3 outing.
 
I completely agree, and thus the importance of a QT tank.

If you can find a book about local florida fishes, let me know I would definately like one.
 
BTW horseshoe crabs are also sold by quite a few LFS around town not just online vendors. I believe they are like any other creature, you need to make sure you have the right stuff before trying to care for one.

Good Job steering this thread into the right direction also.
 
i dont think it has to do with the solely on the concern for the qt or the fish in particular. it has to do more with the mentality that has been displayed. i mean it is very easy to understand that taking an animal home finding out it wont live or mingle well with your setup and driving it back to be "responsible" is in fact much less responsible than finding out what you saw then going back later. i wont even touch on the horseshoe crabs...
 
Then here is a pic I took.

untitled.jpg
 
I fully agree.

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9279275#post9279275 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by sytanek
There is no sense arguing over this. We are all avid reef geeks, and I feel this is nothing more than a misunderstanding of the original intent of the post.
Click to expand...
 
I think that it should be noted that this is not just an Orlando fish thread, but the RC website for the Orlando Reef Caretakers Association club. Some of the club's main objectives is education regarding the environment and conservation. Therefore, when posts conflict with club members' views or the philosophy of the club itself, those members will post their own thoughts and opinions.

Please do keep in mind that collecting is a great deal of fun and I don't believe anyone is taking exception with that. But nationwide, campaigns are being launched to educate people about the potential problems associated with returning wildlife from tanks back into the wild. Even creatures collected from local waters, once introduced into a tank with non-native species, are exposed to diseases and parasites often not found in the local waters in which they were collected. Rereleasing these creatures back into local waters after being exposed to non-native species can also release disease and parasites our local fish have no immunity to or that there is no local control for in the wild. Please don't take this as "bashing" but instead as a forum to educate and share opinions and knowledge.
 
Very well said, and probably the least offensive yet most informative post yet.

Just an FYI to help clear this up, we all agree with what you posted and would never return something because he didnt get along with other stuff. What was meant was the fish that is the subject of the conversation is still in a qt tank and had not been introduced to any non native species. This is also a one time occurence, but could stand to be a guideline for others if at some point collecting they happen to end up at home with a fish that isnt what they thought it was.

I know me and my wife are very interested in coming to this months meeting and becoming members of orca, along with lifesworks and others. I dont think there is one person who was involved in this conversation that doesnt care about these issues.

I think sometimes peoples opinions come across as offensive on here, most likely because no single post can express what a person is trying to say.
 
ORCA is an extraordinay club! I think you'll be very happy to be a member. We look forward to meeting you all and talking tank! Marcye
 
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