Using livestock from the beach???

[QualityReefer82]

I have heard for the 2 years I have been in the hobby, that you cannot bring home livestock to put in your tank. I live in massachusetts and the beach is right down the street. I only want to get hermit crabs snails and maybe some small fiddler crabs. Why is it that you cannot bring small crabs and snails home? i would put them in a small tank for a couple days to acclimate.

 

[billdogg]

Where you are they will all be cold water critters. They may last a few days or even a month or two, but will ultimately be doomed in a standard (tropical) reef aquarium.

If yo would like to do a temperate (cold water) marine system, they will do fine, although it may or may not be legal to collect in your area.

 

[QualityReefer82]

But other than them dying off in a month or so they should not harm my other inhabitants?

 

[bluewater921]

you can do it but i would not trust it IMO .. i work with a collector in the florida keys .. if you dont know what snails your picking up can cost you alot in corals .. some snails will eat them .. same with hermits ..

 

[QualityReefer82]

thank you

 

[Palting]

Look up PaulB and his tank. His tank is over 40 years old. He collects bottles from tide pools (in LI, NY!!), full of mud and critters, and puts them in his tank. He also regularly nets ghost shrimp and whatnot from around his boat in the marina, and also puts those in his tank. If that doesn't reassure you that it's OK to do so, I don't know what will .

 

[Cloudburst2000]

I have heard for the 2 years I have been in the hobby, that you cannot bring home livestock to put in your tank. I live in massachusetts and the beach is right down the street. I only want to get hermit crabs snails and maybe some small fiddler crabs. Why is it that you cannot bring small crabs and snails home? i would put them in a small tank for a couple days to acclimate.

Well, a large reason not to do this is because you have to have a special permit to collect animals. The fines are huge if you are caught collecting animals without the proper permits. Also, unless you have a cold water tank, any animals you collect in Massachusetts will die.

 

[Cloudburst2000]

Look up PaulB and his tank. His tank is over 40 years old. He collects bottles from tide pools (in LI, NY!!), full of mud and critters, and puts them in his tank. He also regularly nets ghost shrimp and whatnot from around his boat in the marina, and also puts those in his tank. If that doesn't reassure you that it's OK to do so, I don't know what will .

PaulB also has the appropriate permits and an appropriate aquarium to keep the livestock he collects. The OP does not have either. You cannot stick a cold water species in a tropical tank and expect anything other then for them to die.

 

[Palting]

PaulB also has the appropriate permits and an appropriate aquarium to keep the livestock he collects. The OP does not have either. You cannot stick a cold water species in a tropical tank and expect anything other then for them to die.

As far as I know, PaulB's tank is like our tanks, a tropical tank. I don't know what his specific temp is, but it's probably somewhere between 76-80F. From what I know about PaulB, he doesn't even check his temp or his parameters.

Permits? Really? For discarded bottles and mud from a tide pool, and ghost shrimp from a marina?

I came from Hilton Head last month. I just scooped up a trowelfull of mud from a tide pool, put it into a plastic container with some water, and transported it to Ohio where my tank is. No coral from a reef, just mud from a tidepool. I must be very, very irresponsible. Someone arrest me .

 

[reefergeorge]

You don't need a permit for your own tank. Just make sure it's not a federal park.

 

[OodleyBoodely]

I think here in Texas, you can collect snails, shrimp, fish, ect but you have to have a fishing permit. You might want to see if that applies there, too, just to be safe.

 

[J2T]

I think here in Texas, you can collect snails, shrimp, fish, ect but you have to have a fishing permit. You might want to see if that applies there, too, just to be safe.

Same here in Florida, if you have a saltwater fishing license you can collect for your own private use but there are restrictions on specific species as well as the number of certain species.

 

[bluewater921]

Same here in Florida, if you have a saltwater fishing license you can collect for your own private use but there are restrictions on specific species as well as the number of certain species.

yes you can in fla ... recreational here but there is a bag limit on what you collect .. when i am working in the keys for my friend im covered under his ML and RS endorsements which we still have limits .. on inverts corals are touch and go due to sub straight limits and you cant harvest any hard corals only softs . less then 1/8 pre polyp on rics and 1/4 pre 10 polyps on zoas .. n dont ever try to harvest in a state park period ..

 

[fishgate]

When we go to the FL beaches you can find all types of cool fish in the surf. Last time we went, we collected a few and put them in a small aquarium in our rental for a days and then let them go back into the surf.

 

[bluewater921]

fishgate thanx for the catch and release ..

 

[michaelr]

I have heard for the 2 years I have been in the hobby, that you cannot bring home livestock to put in your tank. I live in massachusetts and the beach is right down the street. I only want to get hermit crabs snails and maybe some small fiddler crabs. Why is it that you cannot bring small crabs and snails home? i would put them in a small tank for a couple days to acclimate.

i know when it comes to li sound, there are tropical species of fish here. im assuming there are a few in MA too. ask Paulb, hes caught (cant remember if he kept a few) tropical fish up in the water. its all because the fish get sucked into a current then get dropped off right here. they survive in the summer but then die off in the winter. sooo if theyre gonna die anyways you might as well get them

 

[J2T]

yes you can in fla ... recreational here but there is a bag limit on what you collect .. when i am working in the keys for my friend im covered under his ML and RS endorsements which we still have limits .. on inverts corals are touch and go due to sub straight limits and you cant harvest any hard corals only softs . less then 1/8 pre polyp on rics and 1/4 pre 10 polyps on zoas .. n dont ever try to harvest in a state park period ..

yep, state or national park is bad anywhere mmkay

 

[immokalee98]

fishgate, I'm a native Floridian now living in Michigan. If I were to catch a fish or two while I'm home diving, do you know of any shops down there that will ship my fish to me?

 

[TX..r33f]

here in TX i go down to G-town and the reef club collect sexy shrimp, snails ext: people have also found cool blennies.

 

[Reeferz412]

I just got back from south beach and picked up from the shoreline four pieces of beautiful dead coral exoskeletons weighing at about 20lbs. I am currently letting them sit in the sun in my backyard. I also caught a lionfish with my baseball cap lol but I released it (about 3 in). My old mans colleague has kids and they are always in the keys and they pick up crabs and conches and throw them in their tank. One of the kids thought this crab was cool and it took out all of his fish in his tank (all fish he caught and put in his tank). So, just know what you are dealing with.