Annual Tropical fish collecting trip

[Greg Hiller]

Set for August 2nd.

All the details are here:

http://www.bostonreefers.org/forums/showthread.php?p=597163#post597163

 

[Greg Hiller]

Sorry folks, Justin just called me on this. It looks like the weather is going to be too hazardous to go out tomorrow. THE TRIP IS CANCELED FOR TOMORROW. He is willing to try again next weekend, on Saturday again (August 9th, 2008). Same time, same everything else if there is interest.

 

[gobie1313]

Greg did you already go on this trip?? Since i just signed up i missed this one.
Are you still heading down to LI??

 

[Greg Hiller]

I believe the collecting trip occured last weekend.

 

[saiyette]

If I recall correctly, Aquaman Imports (Justin) said he was going to be collecting for the rest of the month and into September. Drop him a PM and see what he says. He is super nice and helpful. We had a blast last weekend and would encourage anyone to try and go.

~Anne

 

[KRod]

What did you get?

My family and I are leaving for a 3 and a half day collecting trip to Long Island tomorrow, and Justin graciously offered to show us his spot on Oak Beach.
Looking forward to it, but am curious to know how everyone made out.

 

[phaedraeos]

I personally got a bunch of local things like some wrasses, a halibut, some shrimp and crabs, and a TON of pipefish. We must have thrown back more than 90% of the pipefish we caught. A lot of other people got seahorses and there were some other neat catches like trumpet fish and a beautiful moonfish. There were a few more unusual catches but I forget the names of the fish.

I also got a slight tan! That's a huge catch for me

 

[Nonmouse]

A lot of other people got seahorses and there were some other neat catches like trumpet fish and a beautiful moonfish. There were a few more unusual catches but I forget the names of the fish.

Cornetfish (blue-spotted), actually He's doing great, aside from having eaten one of the pipefish and one of the wrasses. I'm not having a whole lotta luck training him onto frozen food.

I also got one of the cobia, and a couple of my pipe fish are pregnant...

 

[Greg Hiller]

> and a couple of my pipe fish are pregnant...<

What do the pipefish look like?

 

[Nonmouse]

What do the pipefish look like?

Much like this....

Here's the best pic I've been able to catch of a pregnant male's belly (they're pretty active)

I'm pretty sure that most of the fish I caught are northern pipepfish, Syngnathus fuscus, but I believe a few of them are dusky pipefish, Syngnathus floridae. They're doing well in the coolish-temp (73-75) QT tank I set up for them. They're very playful and inquisitive- they often watch me when I'm near the tank- and they took to frozen food really quickly. I've never been a big fan of seahorses, but these guys are really personable and fun...

 

[Greg Hiller]

Heh, Nonmouse, you are right around the corner in Malden. Let me know when the babies are born. If you can keep collect a decent number of them I'd love to try and raise them.

 

[Nonmouse]

I'll see what I can do. We collected them 8 days ago, and from what I've been able to find, incubation is supposed to be 10 days (Ref. 1) (Ref. 2), So I expect them to pop at any time. It looks like the fry are decent sized- 8-9 mm- so I don't think collecting them should be too hard... (famous last words)

MOFIB has a little bit of info in their pipefish forum, too...

 

[bigdog]

whats the difference between your pipe fish and a dragon pipe fish

 

[Nonmouse]

whats the difference between your pipe fish and a dragon pipe fish

Well, they're a more northerly fish- they range from the Gulf up to Maine. The dragon pipefish is a purely tropical fish. These are also a little smaller and thinner than dragon pipefish, I believe...

 

[KRod]

My family and I have been collecting tropicals for about 6 years now, and we took a collecting trip to Long Island for a few days (just got back last night) and Justin was kind enough to show us his spot and take us seining. It was a great day, and Justin is an awesome guy! We also got plenty of native like the cunner wrasse, pipefish, silversides, etc but a decent amount of tropicals as well. Cornets, spotfin butterflies, a striped burrfish, a lookdown, a jack, and a grouper. We also got a couple seahorses. Took plenty of pics, so I'll post them up later.