got2envy Posted June 9, 2010 Share Posted June 9, 2010 Wow! awesome pix Roger I need to go back to the Keys Link to comment
yardboy Posted June 9, 2010 Share Posted June 9, 2010 Yes, you should go. C'mon girlfriend, It's not nearly as far for you as for us (12 hrs) The Hogfish says Hello. Link to comment
got2envy Posted June 10, 2010 Share Posted June 10, 2010 haha that is a cool pic!! he's like...wait what? Link to comment
johnmaloney Posted June 10, 2010 Share Posted June 10, 2010 brotula is a pretty sweet fish by the way....did I spell it right? Deep water? Did you keep him? out of hh always expect a search there... the best place to get searched though is the marathon public boat ramp. I was once stopped 4 times in one day, by 2 different agencies. "How many lobster??? How many!!???!" No sir, I am collecting seaweed. "Seaweed? What is under neath it?" More seaweed. "Have you been out in the sun all day long?." Apparently. Link to comment
jakeh24 Posted June 10, 2010 Share Posted June 10, 2010 I really want to go to the ocean now. those pictures are awesome. Link to comment
yardboy Posted June 10, 2010 Share Posted June 10, 2010 The reefs we went to were shallow and not what I'd call spectacular but they had a beauty of their own. Collecting there didn't harm the reefs since it didn't involve any hexacorals. No reason to collect anything large and the commonly collected things were so......common that you could be very selective. Fish were Tom's primary focus though we did stop in a place for sally lightfoots and porcelain crabs. Here are some shots of what the typical landscape was like. Fairly flat and shallow but lots and lots to see, for someone used to staring at a small tank window! Link to comment
got2envy Posted June 10, 2010 Share Posted June 10, 2010 Wow wee!!!! leaving for Naples beach tomorrow...staying in a resort all fancy schmancy I will be grindin' my feet in the sand at last! Link to comment
johnmaloney Posted June 12, 2010 Share Posted June 12, 2010 there is also something to be said about laying out in the sun too for sure, have fun got2envy! sea fans are cool, I found out thanks to another member here that they are beginning to offer aquacultured pieces on LA's Divers Den Link to comment
yardboy Posted June 16, 2010 Share Posted June 16, 2010 While visiting Tom in the Keys, he mentioned that the State has a deal to reduce bycatch in lobster and shrimp boats, such that they collect things they'd normally let die and throw over board. Tom goes and buys this bycatch as part of his collector profession. Seahorses, pipefish, other fish are part of his deal with shrimpers. I have a similar deal. One of my wifes co-workers came by and saw my tanks and instantly wanted one. Having no money she found a tank on Criagslist, got a small pump and filled the tank with Bay water. Sand from the bottom and three rocks from the jetties (yes, I explained she'd broken the law) and began to catch fish in the bay to stock the tank. This all took place over a weekend, unbeknownst to me. Of course it inevitably didn't turn out like they expected. One of the fish ate all the rest, but that fish was a surprise to me, since I'd not seen any at the jetties in the years I've been collecting there. As the tank began to crash, she gave it to me. Total Tank Setup to Crash Time- 10 days. Antennarius ocellatus (or radiosus or scaber) - Ocellated (or Singlespot or Splitlure) Frogfish If its the ocellatus it gets to 15", that'd be my luck as the others stay small, but it's considered rare, so I don't know.... Link to comment
johnmaloney Posted June 16, 2010 Share Posted June 16, 2010 nice fish! bycatch is big business, they are trying to curtail it though. the regs on it get stricter .... It has bottomed out the price for seahorses, so I think there is some pressure coming from both the commercial fishery and environmentalists who are generally against trawls. They have special dwarf seahorse trawls, they weigh less and don't run in the ground as much. Shrimpers don't use those though, they are after the pink shrimp and have larger trawls so there isn't many people collecting with marine life backgrounds, wild peps and seahorses are almost exclusively trawled by shrimpers. Link to comment
yardboy Posted June 16, 2010 Share Posted June 16, 2010 I worked on a shrimpboat for several years and I don't recall ever seeing seahorses. Somewhat deeper water, and no grassbeds at shrimping grounds in Mississippi may be the reason? Not sure what I'm going to do with that frogfish. I may see if any of my local mates is interested. I'll probably feed him a few times first to get my jollies. Link to comment
johnmaloney Posted June 16, 2010 Share Posted June 16, 2010 They are in shallow sea grass beds where I have found them. I have collected a few of them, usually while dip netting for smaller shrimp to feed an erectus seahorse. (Really small scale shrimp bycatch ) Seine nets bring in a lot more obviously, and are the more common way to collect them while wading - as long as the net has very small mesh and no stretch that works. Miss. + deepwater = hmm.... Isnt that area pretty rough? They are protected coves and bays type critters. Could also be a range thing, but I would think habitat would also be an issue. Link to comment
yardboy Posted June 16, 2010 Share Posted June 16, 2010 The opacity of the water in the Mississippi Sound is so much higher than your "neck of the woods" that seagrass can't really grow beyond about 5-10 feet. I've seen very little of it, and only off Horn Island where the depth was 2-5 feet. We were shrimping in <100 feet of water, and easily >20 miles offshore. And just mud, mud, mud everywhere. Very little sand even. Good habitat for shrimp, but not so good for seahorses, I guess. A local seahorse breeder gets her brood stock in the Bay system here, where shrimping isn't allowed. She relates to getting shrimps there for feeding also. I've not been in it too much, have to try it out and see. Link to comment
got2envy Posted June 17, 2010 Share Posted June 17, 2010 Wow! that is an awesome looking frog fish Roger!! Link to comment
yardboy Posted June 17, 2010 Share Posted June 17, 2010 Thanks Maria! He's a master of disguise too. I have him in a 30 gallon sterilite container/frag tank with acrylic and eggcrate frag racks and I have a Koralia nano in the tank that roils the surface. Unless I turn off the Koralia I just can't see him! Initially when Iooked for him I thought he might have jumped out but each time I manage to find him. Hard to imagine him jumping anyway, when I netted him out of the bucket I took his pic in he just rolled over in the net like Jabba the Hut. Hmmm, anyone know of another by that name? Link to comment
johnmaloney Posted June 17, 2010 Share Posted June 17, 2010 The opacity of the water in the Mississippi Sound is so much higher than your "neck of the woods" that seagrass can't really grow beyond about 5-10 feet. I've seen very little of it, and only off Horn Island where the depth was 2-5 feet. We were shrimping in <100 feet of water, and easily >20 miles offshore. And just mud, mud, mud everywhere. Very little sand even. Good habitat for shrimp, but not so good for seahorses, I guess. A local seahorse breeder gets her brood stock in the Bay system here, where shrimping isn't allowed. She relates to getting shrimps there for feeding also. I've not been in it too much, have to try it out and see. hahah...i love that you think i am out hanging out by these cool reefs all the time and pristine florida bay seagrass habitats. You find them in the murk too. Dip netting in bays is fun, you will find all sorts of oddities. Do your stingray shuffle. frabill (sp?) makes a seine net that complies with florida law and while it has never been accused of being a cheater's method of catching fish it is safe for the seahorses and shrimp for feeding b/c it is soft and has little stretch with fine mesh. (fine mesh makes it really slow in the water, get ready to pull ) commonly sold in bait stores. you will be surprised what else lives in the bays.... Better do it while you can, they closed the fishing offshore in your county and they will close inshore too and then it will be too late. One quick tip on seines....they need to be tagged with waterproof laminated contact info that has your name, address and phone. If you lose the net and they find it they need to know where to send the fine, so they check your net if you have one. what happened with the brotula? Link to comment
yardboy Posted June 17, 2010 Share Posted June 17, 2010 I put him in a 14 cube with peps and some rubble. I only see him if I move the rubble around until I flush him out. Not your most flashy tank inhabitant. Maybe later he'll start coming out more when he feels safe. But then heck, I can't even see that frogfish in the tank he's in unless I stop the water flow from roiling the surface! I know what you mean about hurrying. Tar balls are on their way. The yellow flags are out now due to a 500 gallon tank that floated up from the rig that sunk, filled with what appears to be hydraulic oil, which was leaking out. Link to comment
got2envy Posted June 17, 2010 Share Posted June 17, 2010 Jabba is the perfect name hahahaha Link to comment
johnmaloney Posted June 17, 2010 Share Posted June 17, 2010 the brotula is hiding like that? I would make him a cave... in a bare bottom - that would teach him. that is a really cool fish yardboy...more impressive to me than 20 queen angels, despite the flashiness.... Link to comment
got2envy Posted June 17, 2010 Share Posted June 17, 2010 Tar balls are on their way. The yellow flags are out now due to a 500 gallon tank that floated up from the rig that sunk, filled with what appears to be hydraulic oil, which was leaking out. what the...as if u don't have enough going on up there Link to comment
johnmaloney Posted June 17, 2010 Share Posted June 17, 2010 they already hit, i was watching them clean oil off of pensacola the other day Link to comment
yardboy Posted June 17, 2010 Share Posted June 17, 2010 Pensacola's about 2 hours west, and west of there it's even worse. Perdido (home of the Florabama, Maria), Gulf shores, Dauphin Island, Petit Bois, Horn, Ship, Cat, and then the Chandeleurs(the first to really get it) all fouled with oil. Those are my old stomping grounds. From here you head east toward Mexico Beach and Cape San Blas, they'll be getting it after us I guess. Anyone seen this? The more things change........... Link to comment
johnmaloney Posted June 18, 2010 Share Posted June 18, 2010 oh...sorry you are in panama city...sorry i was thinking pensacola. oh yeah that video was pretty damning. Link to comment
johnmaloney Posted June 21, 2010 Share Posted June 21, 2010 what is the news on the brotula? anything it can clean? Link to comment
yardboy Posted June 21, 2010 Share Posted June 21, 2010 I've got the "Keys" tank set up, everyone doing fine, had it isolated but now have it plumbed to my other display and frag tanks. I was just contemplating taking down the quarantine tank with the brotula and putting him in the Keys display. I just hope the same thing doesn't happen to him that happened to my reef goddess. Two weeks in quarantine, two days after introduction to the display I found him half eaten, I don't know by who. Link to comment
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