SEQ Aquarium Society marine fish collecting for march

[marine girl]

yes i agree with you on that.liquidg i hate going into those aquarium shops and seeing fish looking like there on ther last breath . Is there not a policing in place where the DPI check these places /people out ? Have you seen some frehwater tanks in those shops they are the worse by my observations . of seeing fish in the tank dead or over crowded
i found the citrenellus chaetodon was also very fragile in that family!. .
Good to hear you guys have it down fine pat it seems . so do you have any idea what the ratio for death is for comercial collected fish to the hobbist collecting in our oceans then going to the aquarium shops or where ever in the world . i would think it would be high ? how many tanks do you have , and how long have you kept any one fish that you have collected yourself ?

 

[liquidg]

I won't go into any issues with commercial collection of marine species because if there was any great interference to their practices than the price of marine aquarium fish and inverts would go through the roof and put them out of the reach for hobbyists that can not catch their own.
We collect our species around them at times and have worked with them for years many years ago and what and how is done by them is known very well but to overly downgrade any of their practices would unduly affect others wanting to get into the hobby and afford a fish or two for their hobby.
There are a lot of fish in the shops that were imported as well, now they are shockers, you don't want to know the losses and treatment styles for them.
What we do is hated by most of the shops as we drop their profits ever so slightly because we do not buy every thing from them.
As for the commercial collectors, a few are once club members and are reasonably friendly and we swap adventure stories so no matter how rough some maybe or may not be they are important for the hobby, but its good we in the club do not have to rely on them.
The government has done exact studies on human interference to aquarium species on the barrier reef which is the planktonic dispersal life blood to the east coast and human interference equates to less than one percent.
Most aquarium fish species matter virtually not at all to the ocean mechanisms but they matter to us hobbyists and that to us is all that maters.

If any one is interested in how or anything really on marine fish collecting and much more,we have an info link.

Links to surf cams,weather,SEQ dives & snorkel sites,how to collect & rules & regs in Q & NSW

See yah.

 

[marine girl]

one percent hey i am amazed with that -i would have thought it to be much higher .good news all round . well we look at our fish like babies really ..very upsetting when one dies
oh i have seen enough in shops to turn my toes up makes me so sad and angry all in one !! i remember once making a guy remove a fish he did not care by what i could tell. was so blazie about it ... well the toxins would effect the other fish also then we as customers are efected . vicious cirlce really and we are none the wiser .. comercail guys as .club members ? kinda strange , . did you realize they wre collectors ? or were they workingyou guys to find your tops spots.. that would tick me off well and truely especally if you have spent all that time protectting these areas from misinformed collectors to find pros coming in and wiping them out :blinking:.. so after all your time collecting what is your favourite fish? and what have you found to be the most difficult to keep
thankyou for the link .
:cool2:

 

[tridacna]

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.

Links to surf cams,weather,SEQ dives & snorkel sites,how to collect & rules & regs in Q & NSW

I have kept marine fish for over 30 years. I have a 500 gal (2,000 liter) tank and have not lost a fish in the past 10 years. I live die and sleep reef and FO tanks. I have been active in this hobby for a long time. I've worked with and at several of our larger public aquariums in the US and know a little about keeping tanks. Please do not lecture to me about how little I know about fish-keeping.

Some fish are excellent specimens for keeping in a tank. Many are not. The Moorish Idol (not "idle") is one of those fish often grabbed by ignorant noobs who are assured by people like you about how easy and compatible they are. They are not. They have one of the highest mortality rates of any fish kept in a fish tank. This is not an issue of where they were caught and kept but simply finding the right diet. Which is bloody impossible.

Please get off your horse and remember that your (really poorly spelled and misinformed) post is read by many who may actually believe you nonsense and thus result in more fish mortalities.

Bottom line: If you want a fish that looks similar but is much hardier, get a Heniochus Butterfly. Does equally well in reefs and FO setups.

 

[marine girl]

hi tridacna
thankyou for the heads up on the Heniochus Butterfly have seen these fish before ,very nice
. i will keep that in mind for my next fish to maybe add in the future. i do agree with you on the moorish idol. as i said previously, such a graceful fish , but very fragile best to be observed in the ocean !
i come onto this forum to hopefully learn and share knowledge and maybe make some friends with like minded folk along the ways . i have found Liquidg's posts to be very informative and intersting reading ! and enjoy the pics also .
i think maybe he is a little blunt an forward with his opinions by what i can see on some posts here , i would say because he is so very passionette about the ocean ! nice to see that.
as far as his spelling there are many poor spellers out there!! as long as we are understanding his words that should not be an issue.
i have sent you a PM please read when you get a chance .
cheers