Wild-Caught Fish

[Gator98]

Hi everyone,

I'm starting a new 55-gallon FOWLR tank, planning on doing all wild-caught fish and clean up crew. I live in Florida with access to a boat, and I am a confident freediver. I always see tank worthy fish diving (gobies, damsels, filefish, Wrasse, etc.) and decided to start a local Florida tank to save my wallet from the fish store. I am wondering if anyone has experience doing this, or if there's a dedicated forum. I am not sure how to acclimate a wild fish to a tank, get eating foods, etc. The last thing I want to do is go through all the effort for the fish to die.


If anyone is wondering, here are the regulations in Florida:

Marine Life

Marine Life

myfwc.com

 

[Big G]

Awesome! A good buddy of mine did the same thing when he lived in SoCal many, many years ago. He even only used fresh seawater in his tank. As I recall, he had to add a chiller to keep the water cool enough for some of the species he collected to survive. In particular, he kept an octopus for quite awhile. The thing was incredibly strong and frequently escaped the tank. Best of luck!

 

[lion king]

You will actually be better off, while I would set up more of an observation vs a real qt, the worry of disease is from the collection and housing conditions of the collectors. Of all the species you,ve mentioned I dont thi g you'll have feeding problems. Live brine shrimp and/or live black worms will settle most. Having your tank full of pods, amphipods and copepods. Maybe even some mature rock with algae,maybe wild collected, just check for hitch hikers.

 

[DeniseAndy]

Careful in a 55g with most wrasses down there. They can get big. Sounds like a fun tank though. Good luck!!!

 

[mtfish]

Love the idea. This is basically what I did back in the 70's with a 2oo+ gallon plywood tank here in Texas. With a 55 gallon tank, you will have to be very selective of which fish to add. Angelfish will get too big. Not sure about the butterfly species that are available. In my experience, most of the Gulf and Atlantic species can be mean as heck. Blennys and gobies would be cool. There are some pretty damsels (when small) but you will need a ton of live rock. Sounds like a lot of fun.

 

[muzikalmatt]

Man, I would love to be able to do this! I hope you setup a build thread when you get started as I'd love to follow along.

 

[Nick Steele]

Where at in Florida are you? I’m in South Florida and there are plenty of fish that are amazingly colored. It would be cool it do a native tank. I know there’s also some zoa’s and anemones that are able to be taking from the ocean.

 

[Sprunt]

Born and raised in Destin FL here. My son caught wild blennies and various crabs for our previous 40 gallon tank and they absolutely thrived. Used dechlorinated tap water with reef salt for 3+ years and all the fish we housed grew well and were always super personable...especially the blennys. Swear to God we thought one of them was a human, always swam in our palm and hung out.

I'm all for it as long as the species can handle it.

 

[mtfish]

As far as collecting, get you a 44 gallon Brute and a 12 volt aerator for transport. Make sure you put a bungee cord on the top of the Brute while running the boat (ask how I know that, lol!). I would not worry too much about QT as long as you keep good water quality. Match salinity and temperature. Sometimes I miss my old tank and would do a Florida lagoon tank if I had the room.

 

[Gator98]

As far as collecting, get you a 44 gallon Brute and a 12 volt aerator for transport. Make sure you put a bungee cord on the top of the Brute while running the boat (ask how I know that, lol!). I would not worry too much about QT as long as you keep good water quality. Match salinity and temperature. Sometimes I miss my old tank and would do a Florida lagoon tank if I had the room.

I have a 55 gallon live well on the boat luckily, I'll plan on measuring salinity and trying to match in my tank. Thanks for the idea.

 

[Gator98]

Where at in Florida are you? I’m in South Florida and there are plenty of fish that are amazingly colored. It would be cool it do a native tank. I know there’s also some zoa’s and anemones that are able to be taking from the ocean.

Tampa Florida. We have a lot of reef and limestone bottom offshore, I have some diving and fishing numbers I see corals at. But I'm going to have to wait and invest in a proper light before I tackle that haha.

 

[Gator98]

Born and raised in Destin FL here. My son caught wild blennies and various crabs for our previous 40 gallon tank and they absolutely thrived. Used dechlorinated tap water with reef salt for 3+ years and all the fish we housed grew well and were always super personable...especially the blennys. Swear to God we thought one of them was a human, always swam in our palm and hung out.

I'm all for it as long as the species can handle it.

I'll definitely be on the hunt for some blennies, Thanks.

 

[jreece11]

I live in South Florida as well and collecting makes diving with my wife more fun and exciting.

The first time I tried it was absolutely humbling. I went from thinking I would get tangs to basically just trying to get neon gobies, ha ha. Caught a couple cool gobies and blennies over the years.

The nets with clear sides work best. Chase the fish towards the net. Have fun with it.

 

[Gator98]

I live in South Florida as well and collecting makes diving with my wife more fun and exciting.

The first time I tried it was absolutely humbling. I went from thinking I would get tangs to basically just trying to get neon gobies, ha ha. Caught a couple cool gobies and blennies over the years.

The nets with clear sides work best. Chase the fish towards the net. Have fun with it.

I was thinking about buying or making a DIY slurp gun to catch small damsels and other faster-moving fish. You should look into one.

 

[jreece11]

I'm pretty good at catching small fish with two nets (or with a partner). I never liked the idea of slurp guns and heard from others they weren't as effective.

Oddly I prefer a loop snare to a net and tickle stick for lobsters so tool selection isn't exactly logical, ha ha.

 

[Gator98]

That's a good tactic! I've done the same thing lobstering in the key's, I'll have to give it a try.

I also have live bait traps. I mostly get pinfish and grunt, but sometimes cooler stuff is in there as well.

 

[Shusblues]

I will let you in on a little secret. I lived in the Florida Keys for 6 years. You can find and collect everything listed on FWC’s website. Obviously stay within the regulations. I got the opportunity to get some experience and go with some whole sale dealers/divers who collect and sell. I recommend if you live in Tampa take a trip down and you can collect some of the best species. Good flower anemones and you will also find Ricordia on the deep reefs. You will need to SCUBA for that cause it’s a Easter egg hunt to find them. Also many other inverts and fish. Juvenile Queen angels and French Angels are all over the place. For the best variety take the trip fill a tote or ice chest and drive back it’s only 6 hours. Hope this helps.

 

[ReeferWarrant]

I honestly love this idea, if the fish start to outgrow the tank you can always let them go. I wanted to do this with a freshwater tank, we have chain pike that have been decimated by snakeheads and I wanted to find a way to breed them and release them into their native habitats.

 

[Gator98]

Thanks! You are absolutely right, the fish and corals down in the keys are much more colorful than here in Tampa. I go to Big Pine every summer to fish and dive, had to cancel this year with the keys closed from COVID. I am definitely trying to collect fish and coral next time I go.

 

[Shusblues]

I miss it everyday. I normally go back down once a year. Hopefully the Covid Restriction frees up soon. Pure Serenity, nothing else compares to this for me.