Fish collecting - How to safely transport?

J

Jfoster33702

New member
Will be diving in the Keys multiple times over the next few months. I have been thinking about trying to collect a couple of fish for my tank. The question is - say I catch some at 9am, and dont get home till 9-10pm. I was thinking of converting a small cooler into a carrier. I could provide power to it as well to run a small powerhead, or an airstone. This would also help me regulate the temperature. I also thought about partitions that would both separate the fish, and also add a sort of anti-slosh.

Any suggestions?

Yes, I know it would probably be cheaper and certainly easier to just buy one from the LFS - it's just something I would like to do.

Jeff
 
12 hours isn't a super long time... The more water you can carry/use the better. An airstore would probably be a good thing too.

Just make sure what you take is legal.
 
Here's the regulations I think: http://myfwc.com/marine/Regulations/FWC_REGS_SPREAD_JULY_2005.pdf

If it was me I'd get a battery powered airstone from the tackle area of Walmart and either a styrofoam insulated bait bucket or a cooler if it's for bigger fish. If it's an air conditioned car don't leave it really really cold for the entire trip. If you brought a couple gallons of water and did partial water changes you could keep even keep invertebrates happy I think (probably overkill even) - now you've got a mobile dark-water pico reef! =)
 
a friend of mine is in marine and fisheries - aussie fish police.

you might want to give your local a call and find out the specifics for the area, alot of regulations are for fishing not capturing.
 
How are you going to attempt to catch them? slurp gun?
I have collected before and it's not as easy as it sounds, anyway good luck. Couple of suggestions, once you do capture a fish make sure its a good healthy specimen, you didn't injure it attempting to catch it and it's on the list of species that you can keep. Next thing is getting it from the water into your transport container, I personally do not like putting a specimen in a bag to hold while I go on, usually once captured it goes directly into the container for transport, keep the fish in the dark it will reduce stress. Keep some spare batteries for your air supply, might keep a bottle of Hydrogen Peroxide handy as well (when added to water it releases it's additional oxygen bond). Once you get home with the fish plan on QT'ing if for a month or so to make sure it's ok and that it doesn't give your tank anything.
 
Thanks for the info. Yeah, I'm prepared for possible frustration :)

I will also be looking for other interesting critters, crabs, nudis and such. Its going to be a couple of months before we leave though. I'll let you guys know what I find.

Thx again
Jeff
 
The middle of June (date unconfirmed) to Islamorada area.
July for mini-season - Big Pine Key
August for a week on normal vacation with the family - Key Colony Beach.
 
It would be great to have you - but these are trips that I was invited on and I don't own the boat :(

I have a feeling that I'm going to try to squeeze in another trip or two this summer as well. I'll keep you posted.

Jeff
 
I'm renting a pontoon and taking it out to the Pensacola area for some shallow dives next week. May do some collecting of a few critters. Anyone want to come along?
 
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