Collecting your own frags from ocean for transplant to your tank?

[JollyReefer]

jon are you in florida? All you need is a recreational license to collect certain macro algae, a good number of various fish & a "few" soft corals. Any thing else , the FWC officers frown upon this big time.

Not in Florida. But that's great information. Thanks!

 

[Jizu Puentes]

Just come to Florida, get a fishing license then go down to the keys or Miami. For most things besides sps you can collect 5 per person per day. The hardest part about the keys is finding an area that isn't protected.
http://m.myfwc.com/fishing/saltwater/recreational/aquarium-species/

 

[UM Aquarium Club]

I have to disagree with several comments hear that state that collection of things like coral / inverts / fish are illegal. Every state and country will have different rules regarding wild collection of marine species. As other people have mentioned there are a number of areas which you are able to collect different types of aquarium fish, certain types of corals, or other marine inverts. Ethics of marine collection for aquariums can be debated but there is no reason that personal collecting for an aquarium is more impactful to a local environment than purchasing online or from a store. Unless all coral / inverts / fish in your tank are maricultured or aquacultured collecting your own animals allows you to know what methods they were collected with as well as ensure that there is not mortality occurring in the process of collection -> sorting -> shipping etc. As a club in South Florida we collect a number of marine fish and invertebrates for our tanks and our members tanks and follow local collection laws as well as possess fishing lisences for these collections. We make sure to keep everything safe and usually have collecting fish or others in a tank within a couple hours of collection whereas if you're purchasing from abroad it could be weeks between initial collection to reaching your tank where a number of these marine organisms will die due to disease, stress etc.

 

[tangtime]

Just come to Florida, get a fishing license then go down to the keys or Miami. For most things besides sps you can collect 5 per person per day. The hardest part about the keys is finding an area that isn't protected.
http://m.myfwc.com/fishing/saltwater/recreational/aquarium-species/

Unfortunately they are having issues on the keys with something killing off coral.

We should be protecting as much as possible.

http://www.flkeysnews.com/news/local/environment/article209447494.html

 

[JollyReefer]

Unfortunately they are having issues on the keys with something killing off coral.

We should be protecting as much as possible.

http://www.flkeysnews.com/news/local/environment/article209447494.html

Please feel free to refrain from touching the reefs if you believe that's the right thing to do. Reasonable minds may differ. This thread wasn't meant to be a political or ethics platform. Conservative approaches to legally collecting a couple wild coral frags will have a negligible effect on the reef.

 

[DSC reef]

Please feel free to refrain from touching the reefs if you believe that's the right thing to do. Reasonable minds may differ. This thread wasn't meant to be a political or ethics platform. Conservative approaches to legally collecting a couple wild coral frags will have a negligible effect on the reef.

Since when is a news story political?

 

[tangtime]

Please feel free to refrain from touching the reefs if you believe that's the right thing to do. Reasonable minds may differ. This thread wasn't meant to be a political or ethics platform. Conservative approaches to legally collecting a couple wild coral frags will have a negligible effect on the reef.

Nothing political here.

Posting a factual news article about what is physically happening right now on coral reefs in the Keys and spreading around Florida.

 

[jda]

If you are a resident of some countries/states, you can collect some things for personal use. YYMV depending on location - most of the people in the countries around the Red Sea, Mexico and Caribbean will collect some of the abundant stuff like snails, crabs, ricordea, sea fans, etc. Florida has ever-changing laws, but you can collect abundant things there as well - a decade ago, you could not leave the state with anything.

If you are vacationing in the coral sea, indo or fiji, you can go out and collect with collector and they will keep, bag and ship your stuff. We we did this, there was no scuba and most everything was in less than 3 meters of water. You get a mask, snorkel, saw, bag and some instructions. It can take a few weeks for stuff to heal up a bit and get shipped. There are no magic or secret collectors - this is like any other business that if you buy a lot and get a personal relationship (go and see them and buy them a beer) then you get the good stuff just like the retailers who take the time to go to the South Pacific do.

 

[JollyReefer]

Since when is a news story political?

Did you really just ask, "Since when is a news story political?" Nearly all news is political. See, e.g., www.foxnews.com, www.cnn.com, www.drudgereport.com, www.msnbc.com.

 

[JollyReefer]

If you are a resident of some countries/states, you can collect some things for personal use. YYMV depending on location - most of the people in the countries around the Red Sea, Mexico and Caribbean will collect some of the abundant stuff like snails, crabs, ricordea, sea fans, etc. Florida has ever-changing laws, but you can collect abundant things there as well - a decade ago, you could not leave the state with anything.

If you are vacationing in the coral sea, indo or fiji, you can go out and collect with collector and they will keep, bag and ship your stuff. We we did this, there was no scuba and most everything was in less than 3 meters of water. You get a mask, snorkel, saw, bag and some instructions. It can take a few weeks for stuff to heal up a bit and get shipped. There are no magic or secret collectors - this is like any other business that if you buy a lot and get a personal relationship (go and see them and buy them a beer) then you get the good stuff just like the retailers who take the time to go to the South Pacific do.

That's really cool. Thanks!

 

[DSC reef]

Have you decided where you going to collect from?

 

[tangtime]

Did you really just ask, "Since when is a news story political?" Nearly all news is political. See, e.g., www.foxnews.com, www.cnn.com, www.drudgereport.com, www.msnbc.com.

It’s only political if you make it.

facts are facts.

How about contacting the governing body of whatever country you are going to try and get coral from instead of asking on a fish forum. Nobody here knows the exact regulations, and can only offer “advice”.

 

[JollyReefer]

Nothing political here.

Posting a factual news article about what is physically happening right now on coral reefs in the Keys and spreading around Florida.

Your post was politically motivated by your interest in conserving the Florida reef. This thread has nothing to do with that issue. This thread requested replies about people's experiences with transplanting corals from the ocean into their tanks. Conserving the reef and people's experiences transplanting corals from the ocean into their own tanks are two separate topics.

 

[tangtime]

Your post was politically motivated by your interest in conserving the Florida reef. This thread has nothing to do with that issue. This thread requested replies about people's experiences with transplanting corals from the ocean into their tanks. Conserving the reef and people's experiences transplanting corals from the ocean into their own tanks are two separate topics.

Wow, ok. Take the blinders off man.....lol

 

[JollyReefer]

Wow, ok. Take the blinders off man.....lol

Where am I wrong?

 

[Flexin]

Maybe it's time to close this down.. This thread is not an example of what this forum is about. And it's not the topic.

 

[JollyReefer]

It’s only political if you make it.

facts are facts.

How about contacting the governing body of whatever country you are going to try and get coral from instead of asking on a fish forum. Nobody here knows the exact regulations, and can only offer “advice”.

First, and most importantly, I didn't ask for advice! OMG! I wouldn't seek legal advice in a reef tank forum. I merely asked to hear about people's experiences.

Second, you don't speak for everyone here. There very well may be people on this forum who have experience with this issue and are willing to share with the rest of us.

 

[tangtime]

Well since corals actually come from and grow in the ocean then we put them in our tanks. Even the frags from the lfs, coral farms, wholesalers came from, guess where? The Ocean!

Yes! You can take coral from the ocean and then put in your tank.

 

[UM Aquarium Club]

For any sort of wild collecting I would just check the website of the governing body in the area. Most places, especially in the US, will have a list with what you can collect, sizes/number of polyps and make it easy to understand what can be collected. Keeping up to date on regulations and not collecting anything restricted or out of the size/polyp limit is just a part of responsible collecting. If theres any question about whether something is allowed its always best to shoot and email or make a call and find the most up to date info. Usually theres a fair amount of equipment or DIY stuff depending on what you collect. We usually use seine nets, or handheld nets for some things and find good patches of seagrass or dive in areas specifically for certain things. In my opinion the best rule for collecting is to decide what you want to collect ahead of time and not collect other things because they're "cool" or you had to have them. Thats how you end up with stuff you don't need / can't care for. Look through a guide of species in the area you want to target and figure out what areas could be best to collect this.

 

[coezy2]

My wife an I are in the Florida Keys right now! We have a nice bunch of fish and inverts that we collected Legally when we bought our 7 day recreational fishing licenses! We have been doing it for years! Friends we stay with actually collected commercially for many years. We have been checked every year coming out of the water so Florida Fish and Game are doing a great job! We have flower anemones, a few zoo polyps( Only 5 per person) , plenty of turbos, a few emerald and decorator crabs, Atlantic blue tang, beautiful young queen angel. Sooo.. yes you can collect legally and get some really nice critters. Our friends run a hookah diving boat so you don’t need to know how to scuba. They take people out to catch fish, go fishing or just enjoy the water. Last dive had a big nurse shark swim up beside me to see what I was looking at under a rock!