SEQ Aquarium Society marine fish collecting for march

[liquidg]

This month has been nicer than February and two excelent trips of life filled blue warm water were had out of the four to get our own marine aquarium life forms as the club has done since the 1920s.

We took underwater pics and a lot of fantastic videos of all kinds of marine life in some very nice conditions for the collecting trip threads.

These are just a couple of the pics copied from the clubs site collecting trips to promote the club and show how lucky we are here in the south east to catch our own marine aquarium fish and inverts,plus catch a cray or two and spear a few eating fish for dinner as we go along sometimes.

The interacting with marine life on scuba to look or snorkel to collect is not just to make our marine aquarium hobby very cheap,but gives us an insite into how these creatures actualy live their lives to give us a broad understanding of how to keep them and acheive excelent out comes for our display tanks.

If it wasn't for clubbies adding more tanks to the hobby,toxic substances,equipment and power failures along the way our collecting trips would be far less to the places where the roughly 12 local commercial collectors go to and some that we know of and they do not,to supply the shops with unlike us,what you buy.

On average this month the water was extremely good with at best 40 metres down to 8 metres vis, 26c average water temps and with some very careful planning and watching on coming conditions and some connections at these spots to give us the exact conditions at the time and their changes helps us work out some top trips amongst conditions where you would not normally think you could get it this good.

These are a few pics from this month which included a cyclone copied over to here.

The water this day was so warm at 26c that there was no need for wesuits.

A couple of the clubbies in very early on this trip.

A slightly unusual akindinos,heaps around this year as well as many latezonatus.

A very young moorish idle just out of its transparent stage,we don't normally bother with these but when we find one in a no coral area they are very easy to keep in the aquarium.

Another semi,that a clubby brought the cake and bickies as a swap to the next meeting for this one caught for him.

A nice humbug pic,no one wanted it as with most of these unless some one is starting a tank and we don't use these for that anyway.

One of three bannana wrasse seen this month in one very easy spot to collect them,the single was taken and the pair near by was left behind,next time one of the clubbies may want another so they will stil be there,some spots we go to,very few people know of.

A few of the many millions of tube worms we have seen this year so far,no one is botherd propergating (breeding) them at the moment.

Several imperators this year are around but few to no one wants them as they are not a good idea in a reef tank.

A puffer (bloat) not happy with being out of the water,no one wanted it so it was put back,we got mark one a while back but he has a huge tank.

The smallest blue tang seen that day so it was enough of them.

A cute little volitan,lots around again especialy the zebras,we must have seen two to three hundred this month.

The smaller ocy of the two collected recently.

One of the local frogfish,only a mother could love that face.

 

[David Wilson]

Thanks for sharing, liquidg, great pictures. I'm always delighted when snorkellers explore what their own home waters have to offer, rather than seek out the most remote and exotic resorts in the world. The UK too has so much to offer the snorkeller. Like the Australian continent, the British Isles are "girt by sea", and I've already enjoyed one dip this month in the North Sea, 8 miles away from where I live in North East England. I'm looking forward to my next outing and the beauty of it is that you can enjoy snorkelling here for many months of the year rather than boarding planes and trying to cram in as much snorkelling as possible within a week's stay in some far-away "tropical paradise". We may not have the range of marine flora and fauna that you have in the Antipodes, but my snorkelling session is usually accompanied by a glorious sunrise on the horizon and the cry of the gulls overhead. Bliss.

 

[liquidg]

Sounds great david,good to see words from another ocean lover.
we are so lucky here,we never have to go more than an hour and a half from home to find virtually everything the barrier reef has to offer.
I like the sun rise or set bit,i never get sick of seeing something that has been happening more or les the same for millions of years and we get to see it the way what ever was here than saw in the same way as well,very humbling.
Do you have any pics of what you see david?

 

[David Wilson]

You are indeed fortunate to live so close to one of the wonders of the natural world. I don't have any photographs to post at the moment of my snorkelling spot, I keep forgetting my camera. In the meantime, here's one view, posted on the Web by somebody else, of the bay where I snorkel, looking towards the small fishing boat harbour and the little chapel on the hill:

 

[liquidg]

Very nice looking spot,some old world charm there for sure.
When you get some pics let us know i would be interested to see whats there.
See yah.

 

[marine girl]

nice pics liquidg . i have never seen a lion fish so small .. :cool2:
That frog fish is kinda interesting /cute lol ---do you see many of them ? i like your caption
"only a mother could love ":blinking: ..very true by the looks of him -- poor thing !! may i ask when you have finished taking these pics do they go back into the ocean or you take all for your tanks . i am sure they are all a pleasure to observe especially catching your own ! . you are very lucky to have such variety in shore dives .

 

[tridacna]

Nice pics! Not sure why you think that the Moorish Idol (Zanclus Canescens) is so easy to keep in an aquarium? It's known to be one of the most difficult aquarium fish to feed. Also incompatible with reef tanks. I hate seeing them in pet fish stores. They seldom survive more than a few weeks unless kept by a VERY experienced aquarist.

 

[liquidg]

Nice pics! Not sure why you think that the Moorish Idol (Zanclus Canescens) is so easy to keep in an aquarium? It's known to be one of the most difficult aquarium fish to feed. Also incompatible with reef tanks. I hate seeing them in pet fish stores. They seldom survive more than a few weeks unless kept by a VERY experienced aquarist.

You need to read the words a little better,it said easily kept if not caught in coral rich areas or something similar,right!!!

Personally having nearly thirty years experience with marine keeping here is not the issue I will put forward but more so ocean experience which is far longer to begin with.

Now with all pet keeping there is equipment failure and power failures as such to consider of course.

Now when you buy a Moorish idel as with most marine species from the shop there is the very important stress related internal damage time frame of 48 hours that needs them settled in an aquarium before this time expires because their adrenalin damage internally from stress and prolonged nitrate affected storage tanks before sale, these are why most shop bought marine life dies, wether they seem to feed well or not due to a very common and equally sad sequence of organ shut down, with us this does not happen.

Also if a Moorish idle is caught from a spot of near to no coral and sponge growth,which is where we will only take them from, than their food needs are easily duplicated in an aquarium as they do not get dependant on hard to produce foods, they are very easily kept on Cunjivoe and dehisced peas and a some standard fresh marine foods for a good life time.

The fish you buy is caught, how rough who knows, than held for sale normally in chemicals and very low at times salinity causing internal bacterial damage, than transported for sale and than held for sale in normally chemicals to avoid white spot velvet and so on from showing before sale and this causes heaps of damage to the fish when put in your tank and of people poking at the tanks causing significant stress as well, now with out experienced guidance you just bought a fish that will most likely be dead very soon, especially a fish that is the result of natural cross breeding of the surgeon fish ( Acanthurus) and butterfly fish (cheatodon), that’s the Moorish idle.

One of our members that was given that fish that is so healthy it’s ridicules on normal marine fish food would know that your comment is with out actual knowledge at all, just book or random net knowledge.

On our forum look at the marine aquarium discussion section and find marks 5 by 5 tank and you can watch a video of the one before this one we caught that has not died???? ,Dave has the last one after that.

Some people think that some other people know as little as they do them selves, we have herd it all before and we will hear it all again and not just on this forum, but hey, such is life.

Here this is info on us.

http://southeastqueenslanda.aforumf...w-to-collect-rules-regs-in-q-nsw-t317.htm#967

 

[marine girl]

moorish idols zanclus cornutus i found to be a very delicate to keep in a tank. most marine collecters are aware of this .i am happy to hear mark and dave have had success liqudg i think you will find on a whole alot do die
i had one sadly and it died from stress i think .... i feel they are the most graceful fish to observe in the ocean.

 

[liquidg]

True most die from stress or mainly being caught from the wrong environment to be sold and you would have no idea of this with out a lot experience when purchasing these,thats why we have virtually one hundred percent success with them,we get our own from the right spots and in the tank quickly.
The small gill plated varieties are always a headache if things are not done exactly right for them.
There are many that are a bit fussy like copper bands,chaetodons,some banner fish varieties and cleaner wrasse are all a bit similar as well to some degree,most will suffer the one out ten we call it with these and more,this means one out of ten survive in an aquarium.
There are a few with this problem and those we get our selves properly and have next to no failures rather than buy a dead fish swimming,so to speak, from the shop.