Sam1214328
New
Looking to stock my tank with some fish that I catch is there anywere in nc that I van catch some nice colorfull fish any help will be gratefull
Where in north carolina is a good place to catch nice colorful fish to stock my tank
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fpsndiver
Contributor
Well, that is an interesting question. The answer is relatively easy, but of course, it depends on the size of your aquarium, and what fish you're after. You can get little beaugregory, cocoa damsels, Spottail Butterfly, wrasse, etc often time near shore. There are several shipwrecks in NC that can be reached from beach diving that have some of those fish. Huron in Nags Head, General Beauregard in Carolina Beach, Fanny and Jenny at Wrightsville Beach, Oriental on Pea Island, etc.
If you have a boat, you can start on the ledges, and move out from there. You need a slurp gun, a net, gatorade bottles with vent holes in the lid, and some 5 gallon buckets with aerators to keep them alive. The shipwrecks offshore tend to have denser populations, of course, each shipwreck is unique, as will be the predominant species or their abundance.
Collecting tropicals, which is something I used to do 15 years ago, is not something I participate in anymore. I'm content capturing them on video now. Hope you have some luck, but from the sounds of your question, you haven't been diving off NC.
swampdawg
Registered
get yourself some baby sharks,an octopus,and plenty of crabs....nothing more fun than a predator tank.
fpsndiver
Contributor
Looking at the join date and post count, I'd expect nothing less. Sounds like another new PADI Instructor, and a reminder about why I had been absent from message boards for so long. This isn't Florida.
EDIT: Also, do people tell you that you should not pick up those fossil teeth that you
hunt for "weekly off Venice Beach?" Maybe you should buy them on ebay from a fossil distributor. Of course, I have Megaladon, Hemoprestis, and other fossilized sharks Teeth too, and I find the aforementioned statement (in bold) to be as utterly hypocritical as your original post. That is all.
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Take videos or pictures. They will last much longer and the tropicals will be there for others to see. Not to mention they could multiply and make baby fishes and we would have more to see. Catch all the lionfish you want though.
Safe diving!
Capturing most tropical SW fishes is much more difficult than is generally understood. Bringing them up from even 30 feet can damage or kill them from gas bladder expansion, and keeping them alive and healthy on the boat and successfully transporting them back home afterward presents its own problems. If you are not bringing them home that same day, maintaing them properly can be difficult. There is also the question of appropriate sizes and species. Many will grow far too large for the average tank, and many species are incompatible or just not good aquarium inhabitants. You have to have a solid grounding in SW aquarium keeping and be familiar with the species you will be attempting to collect. You also need the proper equipment. Slurp guns are not very effective, and most nets are unsuitable. I've collected SW aquarium fish for many years, and I speak from experience. You have to know what you are doing on several levels. It's not easy.
Most of the Gulf Stream tropicals from the Carolinas north are juveniles that die as northern waters grow cold in winter, so the whole captive breeding issue is irrelevant in this case. Very, very few are able to establish self sustaining populations in these waters.
Most of the Gulf Stream tropicals from the Carolinas north are juveniles that die as northern waters grow cold in winter, so the whole captive breeding issue is irrelevant in this case. Very, very few are able to establish self sustaining populations in these waters.
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