wild collection in tampa bay?

[Jay Fortay]

Hello all,
My buddy and I went collecting today in the bay, we got some stuff for his new tank which is turning out to be a tampa bay biotope experiment. We caught all sorts of shrimps, pods, pipefish, seahorses, and most of all hermits. I was wondering what would be safe to add to my reef or frag tank. The hermits are not blue legs, or scarlets. They are a brownish cream color with some spots of darker brown. I was wondering if they are as reef safe as the other forms of hermits, or if I should just not bother putting them in my tank. also, I would like to mabe try to put a couple of the pipefish in my reef. I am very experienced in reef keeping, but really know nothing about the safety of these creatures in relation to my curent captive creatures. can I quarantine them or medicate them or something to make them a safe addition? Thank you in advance.

 

[Jay Fortay]

BTW as We have already collected these specimen, this is somewhat of a time sensitive question. Thank you.

 

[sanababit]

dont put anything in there if you are not sure, better if you can find a book with illustrations or post a pic of them so we can id them, as for pipefish, they need a calm tank with non agresive specimens and you need to cover the intakes on pumps or powerheads because they get sucked in pretty easy and you get the idea of what happens to them....

sana

 

[romanr]

Those hermits are OK, I think. Are they the ones that go 100 mph? If they are then they are mud and grass dwellers. The pipefish and seahorses are cool but if you have any fish in the tank that are normal eaters then the pipefish will have a hard time getting some food. If you have a thriving pod population and plenty of rock then the pipefish should be OK. Best thing I ever got in tampa was a purple short spine sea urchin and some mud with all kinds of worms and stuff in it. Oh and the nassarius and cerith snails come in handy.

 

[romanr]

BTW, where did you go? I usually end up in St. Pete Beach/Fort Desoto.

 

[dwd5813]

be aware of the bag limits. i believe no more than 20 total animals can be taken at a time in any combination of species and there are varying limits for different things. be sure to check out the FWC regs. before you go out again and be sure you have a FL fishing license.

 

[elegance coral]

The seahorses are most likely pygmies. If they're only about an inch long that's what they are. They are VERY hard to feed and keep healthy.

You may want to listen to dwd5813. I got a ticket for fishing without a license and I didn't even have a fishing pole. They told me that if you collect anything in more than 4' of water, you need a license.

 

[dwd5813]

there's also a new rule change going into effect soon, found on the fwc site.
http://myfwc.com/Newsroom/09/statewide/News_09_X_MarineLife.htm

 

[dwd5813]

current regs, as near as i can tell.

http://www.myfwc.com/RULESANDREGS/Saltwater_Regulations_recharvestmls.htm

 

[andrewkw]

I'm on vacation in florida catching a few blue jays spring training games. I went to the beach yesterday and saw millions of mangrove pods. Just washed up on the beach that will certainly not grow there. I wish I could take them back. Also saw a big conch. You guys are lucky you can just go and collect these critters with a simple license. The sand here would also look very nice in a tank

 

[chimmike]

IIRC, seahorses are illegal to collect.

just FYI for future, I wouldn't post on here telling where you go and what you catch/keep. FWC does watch these boards.

The pipe fish will survive if you have pods/amphipods. shrimp might survive a little bit.

The brownish/whitish hermits haven't been carniverous on me yet.

Watch for snails. There are some that you can plainly see in the sand, they're kinda bigger, with a black 'snout' thing like a nassarius, but those are carniverous and will eat your other snails.

 

[Jay Fortay]

thanks for the info guys, my buddy is a commercial captain so licsence is no issue. I will check on bag limit though. As far as the "man" checking the boards. I am a native Floridian with a long history of fishing with a liscence, and a member of CCA. Thanks for the heads up on big brother though.

 

[andrewkw]

Those snails are whelks.

 

[ibmgeek]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14715366#post14715366 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by chimmike
IIRC, seahorses are illegal to collect.

just FYI for future, I wouldn't post on here telling where you go and what you catch/keep. FWC does watch these boards.

Who said? Seahorses/Pipefish are included under the species list, so you can take them.


Regulations

 

[elegance coral]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14722449#post14722449 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ibmgeek
Who said? Seahorses/Pipefish are included under the species list, so you can take them.


Regulations

Just a heads up on the link above. They state that you can collect shrooms, coraline algae, zoo's, and other critters that live on LR. You just can't collect the rock they are attached to. This is one of the things I got busted for. I had a small rock covered in green sea mat (zoo's). I didn't even think about it being a LR.