local collection

[cheezischrist]

does anyone collect livestock down the any of the jersey shore's? like from tide pools or anything? if so, what is often found, corals, macro's , verts? what is common, and where are good places? i'd like to try a localized setup, just having a hard time finding information

 

[toad2169]

I have collected many times...we have plenty of micro, pipefish and seahorses and a lot of fish. Nothing really for coral though.

 

[cheezischrist]

do you have any luck keeping them?

 

[toad2169]

Yes i did have a little luck...kept some hermits for awhile and a few fish which later became bait. I did catch a lookdown right down the street from me and i donated it to the jenkisons aquarium.

 

[Whitebird1]

This i have done and can offer some advice. Make the tank like a fish only set up. Use only local sand and rocks or use dry dead reef rock. Point is do not count on the bacteria that runs our reef, southern tropical ocean is not compatible with northern Atlantic organisms. Now is the time to start collecting,
Shark River Bay is a good start. Advice, collect NO Snails!! There are threads on this if you dig a bit deeper.

 

[cheezischrist]

Any suggestions farther south? And why no snails? Parasites like the ones the ebay nassarius carry?

 

[Whitebird1]

Almost any Bay will do for collecting.
Follow the links for Snails.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1928963
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?p=17877201#post17877201

 

[cheezischrist]

i went through that but not as bad, after getting those same snails off of ebay...100+ live nassarius snails for 18 bucks shipped seemed like a no brainer...whoops lol.kept getting poison ivy it seemed after havin my hands in the tank..was blaming my corals, till i seen either that thread or a similar one on here.
i no longer have that problem, as that old system was turned off, a gallon or so of peroxide dumped in, and a blanket thrown over it for 2 weeks trying to fight the mutant briopsis i had....wich only got worse ....killed every single thing in my tank except the damned briopsis.

 

[Whitebird1]

Hate snails.
Heres a couple cool critters collected locally

.

 

[cheezischrist]

whats the last pic?

 

[Whitebird1]

Spotfin Butterflyfish, Chaetodon ocellatus, cool but not Reef Safe. Feed them the bearded black mussels found on the rocks in the bay, just crack the shell first.
Do a search on RC about local fish or collecting, there is a thread that pops up each summer with a lot of good info.
Gregory

 

[cheezischrist]

thanks man

 

[toad2169]

I agree with Gregory, there is a lot of nice stuff out there just watch what you take and do some research. I will probably go out and do some collecting this weekend or next week and could let you know what I find.

 

[cheezischrist]

i wanna try to get down the shore soon, but i'm also an hour and a half away from the closest i think, i could throw a rock at philly though lol. and i'll probably end up in atlantic city, wildwood or cape may. maybe long beach island

 

[toad2169]

I'm just north of lbi and it normally only takes me about 45 mins or so to get out to cherry hill area. I havnt been collecting down in a/c or cape may area but the water should be a few degrees warmer so might be a little better.

 

[Whitebird1]

Found these threads
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=809546&highlight=collecting+wild