Jamie Posted June 4, 2008 Author Share Posted June 4, 2008 Yep, they're all from around here. most of the livestock is from Manzanita, because my family has a house there, but there are a few things from farther north and south. The plumose anemones are from Olympia, WA. -Jamie Link to comment
kingwintergreen Posted June 4, 2008 Share Posted June 4, 2008 Jeramai, wow, that was quick, thanks... Jamie, FYO... I simply don't want to see you get into some serious trouble-- If I am right about current OR law, collecting from or even just digging around in seagrass beds could land you a massive fine. Some of the critters you have or are seeking can only be harvested with a special permit (in the case of the urchins, for example) and some not at all-- the tunicate you have (or had) is invasive and even removing it is a huge violation of state law. You have a great set-up going and I applaud your creativity, but I suggest you check ODFW before further collection. Good luck... There is a broad, indefinite moratorium on "seaweeds" in OR-- and all intertidal and nearshore flora is administered by the Dept. of State Lands, not ODFW. You could possibly acquire a permit for "personal use" from them, but that would noneless be distictly different from what you have-- and seagrasses could still be specifically protected with or without one. The urchins and other likely aquarium specimens such as snails (all snails) are presently listed as "Developmental Fisheries" and indeed require a special permit, and are best acquired from a Japanese seafood market. I am a biology student and have to check this out regularly prior to all of my field work. Again, be careful.... Again, I dig your new set-up. Link to comment
Jamie Posted June 4, 2008 Author Share Posted June 4, 2008 Are you absolutely sure about that? Here is a dircet quote about collecting regulations, from ODFW's website: "Species - All other marine invertebrates (urchins, chitons, snails, shore crabs, anemones, sea stars, and similar animals): Daily Limit - 10 in aggregate; SHELLFISH LICENSE NOT REQUIRED * May be taken by hand or hand powered tools. * Unwanted marine invertebrates must be released alive." link: http://www.dfw.state.or.us/MRP/shellfish/regulations.asp This is from ODFW's current shellfish regulations, I see no reason why it would be incorrect. I also looked up the Dept. of State Lands, but i couldn't find and info on coastal collecting. Could you direct me to their website? It would certainly be interesting if there was conflicting information. Thank you for your concern, too. I don't want to be breaking the law. Still though, I'd like to see a website/ regulation book that specifically says what you can and cannot take. -Jamie Link to comment
jeremai Posted June 5, 2008 Share Posted June 5, 2008 Regulations will continue to be fuzzy until there are a TON of people who start collecting. I say, do what you are doing. No reason to change until they get their act together, imo. Link to comment
Jamie Posted June 5, 2008 Author Share Posted June 5, 2008 That's what I'm thinking. I have one source that says it's okay, so if anyone trys to get me in touble, I can just say, "but ODFW says it's okay" and I doubt they'll be able to do anything. Still, a little unnerving... Link to comment
jeremai Posted June 5, 2008 Share Posted June 5, 2008 lol, that's why I love NR - we aren't afraid to break some laws if it means an awesome tank. Hey Jamie, what's the story with the xanthos and lighting? I know they are photosynthetic, but do you still feed them as often as the rest of the anemones? I have an 18w PC fixture collecting dust, wondering if that would be sufficient with regular feedings. I'd rather not have to pop a 150w mh on this tank. Link to comment
Jamie Posted June 6, 2008 Author Share Posted June 6, 2008 I feed the elegantissima's once a day, or sometimes every other day, with just plain mysis, and the xanthos catch some of that and eat it. Every five days or so, I feed the xanthos a bigger meal of chopped silversides. So, they get food every day, but the substantial meals are less often. Not all xanthos are photosynthetic; if you've got a white one you'll probably have to feed it more often. But from what I've read, all the large nonphotosynthetic anemones only need to eat every four or five days to a week. I guess maybe that has to do with the size of the anemone, or maybe just the size of the meal... not sure. I just generally go with the, "if they look hungry, then feed them" rule, you'll be able to tell pretty quickly if they're not getting enough food - shrunken tentacles, don't open up as much, etc. But yeah, I think that'll be enough light, just as long as you think it's bright enough for viewing. I don't know if that'll be enough for kelps and higher light alga, but anemones won't care. It's possible that xanthos could lose some of their green coloration without light, so you might want to consider that, but as long as you feed them they'll still be happy. And yeah, metal halides are definitely not necessary, you'd probably just get tons of aglae. My bulbs, oddly, do not say the wattage on them, but I think that they are 18 watts each, and each fixture (one on each tank) holds two. In tank news, the leak is fixed!!! Actually, it wasn't really a leak at all... that tank's seams were fine, it was just that every time water surged over into the back, a little poured over the side of the sump and flowed down between the wood and the side of the sump, leading to confusing carpet wetness and wood warping (accidental alliteration... ). I just sealed up the area that water was going over with silicone, and the problems all better. -Jamie Link to comment
Jamie Posted June 25, 2008 Author Share Posted June 25, 2008 Sorry it's been a while. I was busy vacationing in hawaii . I may post some underwater pics from the trip, but not right now. I didn't end up going to the eelgrass flats, the weekend was too busy. The next huge low is the 4th of July, and I will be going to the beach, but I don't know if I'll be going to the flats - they're an hour south down the coast from my beach house. We'll see if my parents are up for it. anyways... I decided to take some night pics of my cw tank (led flashlight for illumination) and got some pretty good results! I also caught a glimpse of my illusive porcelain crab filter feeding (awesome invert, by the way), who I had not seen since he went in the tank. I've gotten a lot more algae growth as the tank matures, but fortunately, most of it is pretty macro algae. I've gotten something similar to hair algae, but more attractive to look at, on the rocks, along with some fluffy red hair algae, a red macro, a very thin green macro (ulva maybe?), and some others. The pods are loving it, they're just everywhere. I think the fish may have washed into the sump again, as I have not seen them since I got back from Hawaii. I suppose they could have been eaten by anemones, but I've seen the sculpin sit right in my anemones many times and not get stung, so I'm thinking that they're probably not the culprit. I haven't gotten around to checking the sump yet, so for now the fish are MIA. Here are my "moonlight" shots; tell me what you think! -Jamie Link to comment
chuckfullservice Posted June 25, 2008 Share Posted June 25, 2008 Great Job! Your tanks are an inspiration !!! Link to comment
clownfish1124 Posted June 25, 2008 Share Posted June 25, 2008 hey what are you using for lighting? t5? Link to comment
Jamie Posted June 25, 2008 Author Share Posted June 25, 2008 thanks guys. Yep, the lighting is 10K T-5's. Jeremai - You'll find out soon enough! But I think pink-and-white and green-and-pink, and maybe brown-and-pink. They left 30 minutes ago and I've already forgotten them! I'm thinking about something different for the top tank. The bottom tank is already pretty green, so I don't think i need to fill the top tank with sea grass. I think It would look amazing with just all the walls carpeted with strawberries, maybe one nice urticina on the bottom, and a couple gorgonians and hydrocorals. Unfortunately, I don't have access to any of those things, but I'm getting SCUBA certified next fall/winter, so hopefully I will be able to get some of this stuff then. -Jamie Link to comment
Jamie Posted July 4, 2008 Author Share Posted July 4, 2008 Well, I'm back at the beach again! There are some really low tides this weekend. Exciting! I already had an excellent tidepooling excursion today. I went to the Barview jetties (mouth of Tilamook bay), which are occasionally in brackish water, but I'd heard that there were gunnels there, so I went and had a look. I was blown away. The diversity of life was far greater than anywhere I've seen in Oregon. Despite the occasionally brackish waters, there were many anemones, including two species I've never seen in Oregon, one I've never seen ever. Anthopleura anemones were, of course, common, but I was surprised to find Metridium senile (plumose anemones) which I have only seen in Washington and Canada, and Diadumene lineata, which is a beautiful and tiny (dime-sized or smaller) green anemone with orange stripes on the column. I didn't take any meridiums, but I was able to peel of a couple A. elegantissima, and a rock with a few Diadumene's on it. Tomorrow I'm going up north to Ecola, where I've heard there are Urchins (I need one for algae control) as well as just generally good tidepooling. Wish me luck! -Jamie Link to comment
jeremai Posted July 4, 2008 Share Posted July 4, 2008 Hey, your good luck is my good luck, so GOOD LUCK! Link to comment
hijiwii Posted July 5, 2008 Share Posted July 5, 2008 The jetties sound incredible, I'll have to try and see them sometime. Link to comment
skylsdale Posted July 6, 2008 Share Posted July 6, 2008 Very nice. A few gunnels would make a really nice addition to the tank...so would a few empty beer bottles, if you want to be biotopically correct (the gunnels would love them, too). A spiny lumpsucker would be nice if you get enough eelgrass growing. Link to comment
Jamie Posted July 7, 2008 Author Share Posted July 7, 2008 It's just been getting better and better! Ecola was as good as the Jetties. I got a couple of beautiful purple Urchins, two Opalescent nudibranchs, a lot of turban snails, a couple sculpins, and a few elegantissimas. I didn't think It could get any better, but the next day I went tidepooling in Manzanita, and found the two fish I have always wanted: an unidentified gunnel or prickleback I have seen there once before, and an unidentified greenling, either a very young, or very small variety. I don't think it's a baby of one of the larger species, because I saw quite a lot of them, and they were all around this size. If it does get big though, I'll can always let it go. Unfortunately, while they were in the bucket waiting to come home, the nudibranchs decided to sample my orange lined anemones (you can't blame them. It's what they eat in the wild, among other things). The nudi's got moved into solitary confinement, and the anemones look like they will recover, so not a big loss. Everything got put in the tank today, and it looks good. My tank had some leaking issues while I was away, but I think I fixed it, so hopefully I won't have to deal with that anymore. Everything looks happy - the fish are exploring, and finding their way into the sump (I'll have to put screen over the overflow), the anemones are open (even the half-eaten ones), the nudibranchs are laying eggs - which I don't really want, but whatever. I think I'll get rid of most of the eggs and just keep a few. the adults are at the size that suggests they are just about at the end of their lives (they don't live long, 8 to 10 months) so it would be nice to have some babies when they go. hijiwii - you should, it's worth it. Just don't fall in! I found the orange lined anemones on the "land" side of the jetty, and the metridiums on the "water" side. Anthopleura's were on both sides, but more on the water side. skylsdale - lol. This is directly from my guide book "Marine Life of the Pcific Northwest" talking about the crescent gunnel: "During summer, this gunnel commonly entwines itself with various seaweeds. In winter, when this shelter is less available, the fish may hide in a discarded bottle with only it's head poking out. We do not advocate 'creating' such a habitat, but many creatures capitalize on such opportinuties." haha A lumpsucker would be cool, but I doubt I could ever find one, even once I can scuba dive. I had an experience with a snailfish (related to lumpsuckers) that was not excellent. It just hid under the rocks all the time, not an excellent pet. Lumpsuckers are very cool, but I doubt you'd see one very often. If I ever see one though, I'll probably take it anyway. (It's like impulse buying, but without the buying! Impulse collecting? hmm) Anyways, I got some okay pics, not amazing because the tank is a little murky from the additions and the lack of surge for a few days, but good enough, and I want you to see my new fish! Gunnel/Prickleback Greenling, or something (sorry, really bad pic) Turban Snails Nassarius fossatus Urchin attempting to hide under a very small rock xantho -Jamie Link to comment
matty0206 Posted July 7, 2008 Share Posted July 7, 2008 Wow! Your tank is awesome! Are you a member on pnwmas as well? Link to comment
Jamie Posted July 7, 2008 Author Share Posted July 7, 2008 Matty - nope, probably should be though. Any people with coldwater tanks over there? I got more pictures! yay! Sculpin better nassarius pic bad nudibranch pic nudi eggs greenling Urchin I already posted this exact pic, but I cleaned off the anemone and took it again, and it looks a little better so I figred, why not post it again? Maybe a photo contest entry? A different (subtidal) species of gooseneck barnacle A well camouflaged gunnel/prickleback -Jamie Link to comment
jeremai Posted July 7, 2008 Share Posted July 7, 2008 Ok, now I want the urchin, lol. Link to comment
Jamie Posted July 8, 2008 Author Share Posted July 8, 2008 Just get me some strawberries and you'll have it! Once it cools off, that is. You can't tell in the picture on foreshores, but the brooding anemones are nice too, and not super expensive. (hint, hint) Link to comment
jeremai Posted July 8, 2008 Share Posted July 8, 2008 Yeah, that was my planned order - brooding anemones, strawberries, and perhaps an Urticina or two. We'll see, I'm still a few months off. Link to comment
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