Does anyone catch their own fish?

[Dtackett]

I wouldn't suggest collecting from a populated beach lol I was living in fort myers and went snorkeling off the keys with a few friends and started collecting. even doing it all legally became a pain between fish and wildlife stopping us and checking everything (not knowing what half of it was) and the tourists standing there watching and bugging us. was a pain. my buddy had an educational collection license (don't remember what they called it) so he was able to collect corals and fish I wasn't for the tank in his classroom (marine science class, he was the teacher) and once they started seeing those it got ugly.

basically, do it in an area without tourists, and don't collect with someone who is collecting for a different purpose... it almost screwed us both over because they were accusing him of collecting corals like staghorn and elkhorn for me when they were for a growout program he was running.

 

[Humblefish]

Back in the day I had a "Florida tank" filled with specimens I brought back from there. Mostly unimpressive looking gobies, blennies, damsels, wrasses. Once or twice I brought back a Porcupine Puffer. Every now & then I got lucky and scored an angel or tang.

I quickly discovered a lot of these fish grew to be enormous in a short period of time, and also didn't play nice with one another. So you'll want to QT, identify, research, etc. before placing any of these fish in your DT.

Also, make sure you are on the up-and-up with regards to Florida collection laws. I have read nightmare stories about people being charged with felonies due to illegal collection in Florida. We're living in a crazy country that's been dumped on it's head.

 

[Pfisherman]

I would love to catch my own fish or grab a frag of something, but I'm in Illinois. I would think that anything caught fresh would be much cleaner than something that has been through a long chain of custody.

 

[262836292]

We do cold water (better viability) bottle dives up here in RI during October / November. We see lot's of trops that do get carried up in the gulf stream and then die off in the winter because they can't get back to warm water. Never thought of trying to net them but interesting idea. I did scoop a bottle with some grass and later found a seahorse to be hanging on to the grass. Unfortunately I wasn't into SW yet so had no way to keep it.

 

[Crystalsreef]

Living in Florida it is not unusual to snorkel in the southern part of the state and see any number of tropical fish that seem like they would be great tank specimens. On our recent trip to Sebastian (about an hour south from us) we saw angels, damsels and tangs. Reviewing the FWC regulations it would seem by and large they are legal for harvest with the obvious bag and size limits. Understanding quarantine would be imperative what other gotchas can be foreseen in capturing wild fish for housing in a DT?

I have 4 clingfish, a tube anemone, and a total of 4 frillfin gobies. I just moved the gobies back to their own tank because they seem to have an eye for red things. First, one went after a cocoworm i added, then just this morning one ate one of my firefish gobies. Seeing that this morning, as soon as i got home i had to tear my reef down to remove the meanines.

 

[Singlefin]

Better to have a friend that collects. It's not as easy as they make it look.

 

[joshkirkland83]

Better to have a friend that collects. It's not as easy as they make it look.

I cant even catch my fish in my tank.

 

[Montium]

Pay close attention to the size rules, the lower and upper limits. On the small size what looks like it will easily be over the minimum can often be quite short. Most people only see the common fish and there are quite a few interesting ones out there that are shallow. The deeper you go, the more interesting they get.

 

[Rjramos]

Pay close attention to the size rules, the lower and upper limits. On the small size what looks like it will easily be over the minimum can often be quite short. Most people only see the common fish and there are quite a few interesting ones out there that are shallow. The deeper you go, the more interesting they get.

Well, you can catch some interesting fish in about 12-15ft, on a beach dive/ snorkel if you have the lungs down here in south Florida. Even on rock piles and jetties that aren't even 100 yds from shore. Not uncommon to see juvenile French and Queen Angels, Atlantic Blue tangs, gobies, coral banded prawn, etc. Blue leg hermits and Astraea snails ankle deep. Zoanthids expose on low tides on the cut jetties. The rock beauties do stay on outer reefs as well as cherubfish( Pygmy angel) and wrasses( Spanish/Cuban hogfish), skunk cleaner prawn. One thing is for sure, we don't have the abundant variety of reef safe fishes from the other side of the world. A hand caught fish brought straight home and quarantined is by far healthier and easier to adapt to tank life than any other wild caught brought from far away. Now, captive bred, that's best for everyone but not every species yet! Mysteries.[emoji4]

 

[G_Sanab922]

These types of threads normally pop up every so often lol. Agree with everyone on most. And also that FWC will check you frequently and some times wont even know the species themselves. But how can you blame them there's hundreds of species out there. Which is why you should do thorough research before collecting anything.
Especially in south Florida. One thing I haven't seen mentioned is that there are certain parks and boundaries where you cannot collect Marine Aquarium species. For example, John Pennekamp Nat Park, Biscayne Bay and many more, and some don't realize how big these parks/sanctuaries are. So please do your research before going out there. I've been boating/fishing for many years and always double and triple check. If in FL, don't hesitate to contact FWC. They are very helpful and will answer any questions you have.
Personally I've collected a little but haven't been out on the boat lately. For the Caribbean Biotope I'm doing now, I've got my fish from KP Aquatics. They collect down here in the upper keys. I highly recommend them to anyone. Recently got a Mated pair of Neon Gobies, great little fish!

 

[Montium]

FWC has a color flip book now with size charts, so they are less likely to not know what you have. Local marine enforcement, not so much. With them it's best to be confident in what you caught. True about the parks but I have been collecting so long that they don't even enter my thought process anymore and at the depths I'm collecting at, I'm well outside of state boundaries, unless I need angels or cuban hogs. Wrasse Bass, Bank Butterflies, Cave Bass etc tend to be 8 miles or more away from shore here.