locally collected

[Kresnahw22]

Idk if this has been posted. But I was wondering if there are any fish or inverts that are reef safe near gulf shores/ orange beach area. Also are there any regulations for it to.

[MAD-MAX]

I set up a Gulf shores 29gal water and sand system yesterday ,the water is cristal clear .salt is 0.23 .
collecting wouldn,t be any different than catching bait fish ,except you are not going to give them certain death.
I also moved to the area this week moving and reseting up my 75 with new live sand and Instant ocean reef crystals,
lost most of my corals BUT HERE WE GO AGAIN...
I,m going to try to keep the 29 stocked with local gobys and pin fish!!!

[MAD-MAX]

Check this out..
viewtopic.php?f=17&t=5646

[Kresnahw22]

Thanks what do u have in ur systems

[MAD-MAX]

Just a couple of corals and rock...i,m going to collect some critters soon...

[Kresnahw22]

Watcha got planned to catch

[AuroraDrvr]

It's pretty easy to collect most things, if you have the know-how. In Florida, there are very strict collection guidelines you need to follow, and you'll need a FL SW Fishing License. In Alabama, it's a little looser, you'll need a SW license, and follow EEZ guidelines which really only limit collection of Octocorals (Gorgonians, but NO seafans).

In either state, the only corals allowed to be collected are Octocorals (up to 5 colonies), mushrooms and zoas. Anything else, don't touch, it carries a very large fine and possibly imprisonment. Rock and sand are also illegal.

Anemones, sponges, algae, fish, shrimp, crabs, snails, etc. are fine to collect. In Florida there's specific bag limits.

[Kresnahw22]

Thanks for the help on regulations. But what species are reef safe.

[AuroraDrvr]

Gobies, Tangs, Seabass, Jawfish, Wrasses, Damsels, Cardinalfish, Clingfish are all Coral safe.
The most common fish you'll see are gobies, damsels/sgt. majors, blennies, tangs and probably some butterflyfish.

IMHO leave the damsels and Sergent Majors in the ocean. They're really not ideal community fish.

[Kresnahw22]

Is there a link on these fish including diet, tank size, etc. Also what Ab inverts

[AuroraDrvr]

Not really. The species we can find here in our area aren't really collected for the aquarium trade, with the exception of a few tangs, blennies and angels.

[Amphiprion]

Well, if you've identified the collected fishes and their scientific names, you can always use fishbase to learn about diet and/or food items (quantitative vs. qualitative, respectively), as well as max. recorded size. You can usually use that, in addition to observed behavior, such as territoriality/demeanor, as well as activity levels, to basically extrapolate minimum tanks sizes. Local fauna isn't really kept often enough on an amateur scale for there to be too terribly much info available on their particular care needs, short of the major stuff that can be obtained elsewhere.

[Kresnahw22]

Thanks for all the help.

[Kresnahw22]

Ok so here is my plan. When late spring early summer begins I won't to head to the beach and collect some turtle grass and mantatee grass to make my 55gal and local seagrass setup. I've read I need a six inch dsb with mud and sand. I was also gonna add some live rock. For fish I won't the local pinfish some gobies. The invert will include the small white hermit crabs some algae eating snails if I can find any maybe some decorator crabs and the small shrimp u can catch in the grass beds. The lighting for my tank will be 385 power compact will that be ok. So is the stuff I listed all legal and ok to collect.

[AuroraDrvr]

The seagrass can only be collected if it's washed ashore, which can be quiet tricky to determine if it is viable or not. IMHO, turtle grass really needs a >10" bed. The rooting structure on it is very expansive, and 6" may not be enough.

If you must have the look of Turtle grass, you may consider Tape Grass (Vallisneria americana). It is very close looking to turtle grass but has a much more compact rooting structure. The only drawback, it's more of a brackish plant, and will need to be slowly acclimated to full saltwater, and likely will never thrive at anything about 1.021 salinity.

385 power compact. As in 385 watts?