55 gallon fuge

[Cuttlefish]

heres one of the one Lookdown i was able to collect..



have to look close but that tiny black thing at the top is a baby SH


gotta head out for some live brine, need to make myself a brine hatchery if these things are gonna have a chance.. will research about SH care but if anyone has advice to give im all ears.

[bcrum51]

did the ea horse just come from no where

[Reeftanker3295]

I catch those fish ALL the time in the hamptons in a dragnet. And did that seahorse just come from no where? Theres alot of pipefish and stuff that i catch and wanted to know how to keep them and what you feed them, im guessing they are the same as seahorses so what do you feed him?

[fihsboy]

brine shrimp. Baby brine.........copepods........amphipods. Anything they can catch. And if your running a seperate system for them.....not attached to your main tank........you can run the water with a little greenwater in it. I ran greenwater in my refuge system. My water always had a green tint.....But I had copepods and brineshrimp growing like weeds. If its connected you have to culture them in a seperate tank or container. If you are in quick need you can buy tigerpods. Or you can hatch them yourselves in about 36-48 hours.

[Reeftanker3295]

Do you need good lighting for a refugium? and does it need Co2 tanks? Also, do you just buy caulerpa and chaeto and stuff and all these creatures come out of it?

[Reeftanker3295]

Also, do you think a small lookdown could be kept in my 29 biocube? I catch alot of them and they are all around 2 inches in length, beautiful fish, just afraid my fish will pick at its fins and stuff

[Cuttlefish]

Originally Posted by bcrum51

did the ea horse just come from no where

lol no homie. Not from no where but from the eel grass from a local ocean inlet. Two of the seahorses I caught were pregnant. I believe its the male that carries the young. Anyway, within hours one of them had released 20-30 babys into the fuge. The other pregnant SH has yet to give birth as his belly is still huge.

I have live brine, articpods and the neighboring fuge section as a copepod/amphipod farm. This will do for the adults I kept. The other 5 went to the LFS, swapped em for another carton of Carib Sea Mud The seahorses wound up being sold before I even left the store.

The babys are another story. I think I'll gather them all up and put them in a separate 5 gallon tank. I'll just do frequent water changes to maintain water quality. Im thinking of putting a sponge filter in there but if nothing else just an air diffuser for water current and 02. I have phytofeast for them, frozen cyclops and reef plankton. Hopefully at some point they will eat that. But I have a feeling im going to have to give them something live.

Anyway I realize this is a reef forum so I wont yack on and on about these things. Of course any advice welcome.

[Cuttlefish]

Originally Posted by Reeftanker3295

Do you need good lighting for a refugium? and does it need Co2 tanks? Also, do you just buy caulerpa and chaeto and stuff and all these creatures come out of it?

I think its hit n miss with the pod seeded cheato and caluerpa. Some will have lots some will have few. But some good live rock should have some of the little critters. The whole trick is to keep them in a predation free zone and they will multiply quickly. Everything loves pods. One day before I put my catch in the right side of the fuge they were everywhere, on the glass on rocks, the sand. Now there are hardly any. So ya, if you have any predators in your fuge, it will make it hard for them to multiply. You dont need great light btw. As far as i can tell, turf algae works the best for keeping a pod farm. Its also seems to be the best algae for nutrient export although it can be more difficult to harvest. So make sure you leave some turf for the pods to graze on.

[fihsboy]

Cuttle where are you located? Thats awesome that you just picked out your own livestock.

[Reeftanker3295]

Anywhere near NY? because i see all of that stuff alot in NY waters around this time of year

[Cuttlefish]

Yep, I live on Long Island. Oak Beach and Shinnecock Inlet are great places to catch aquarium livestock. As you probably know, the gulf stream comes right up the eastern seaboard and dumps many things into long island inlets. Caribbean species get caught in this current as fry and by the time they reach Long Island they are large enough to catch. Basically anything that lives in the caribbean can actually be found around here. Youre actually dong them a favor cuz once November rolls around these things will perish in the cold water.

The Lookdowns may be a local species, native to here. But Ive caught spotfin butterflys, groupers, triggers and once I caught a blue angel - really beautiful fish. My g/f enjoyed herself so much when we collected the seahorses, were planning on another treasure hunt at shinnecock this weekend. We're gonna rent some snorkling gear and do some diving this time. Hopefully we get some tropicals!

[Reeftanker3295]

I go to shinnecock too! My uncle has a house right on the canal and we go dragnetting about 2 miles from the inlet and always get lookdowns, do you think i could put one in my biocube? Ive also caught puffers, and some kind of thin black fish with yellow stripes on his sides, was a very cool looking fish. Maybe ill bring my snorkel gear when i go next weekend and go in the inlet. I heard the currents extremely strong though, how do you swim in it? Also, im thinking about starting a native tank, what kind of fish you think i should put in it? Going to be anywhere from 75 gallons to 150 gallons

[Reeftanker3295]

By the way triggers are pretty common in the inlets and reefs, some people catch them fishing for seabass and stuff with squid, tastes really good

[Cuttlefish]

Originally Posted by Reeftanker3295

I go to shinnecock too! My uncle has a house right on the canal and we go dragnetting about 2 miles from the inlet and always get lookdowns, do you think i could put one in my biocube? Ive also caught puffers, and some kind of thin black fish with yellow stripes on his sides, was a very cool looking fish. Maybe ill bring my snorkel gear when i go next weekend and go in the inlet. I heard the currents extremely strong though, how do you swim in it? Also, im thinking about starting a native tank, what kind of fish you think i should put in it? Going to be anywhere from 75 gallons to 150 gallons

Actually im not sure if a bio cube will be too good for lookdowns. As juveniles I thinks its fine but these things get big and I think they are open water swimmers needing alot of space. Im going to be moving my guy to a bigger tank soon but for now he's fine in the fuge. In fact he's made a friend lol. I think its called a hatchet fish? He seems to have adopted this lookdown as his mama or something, swims side by side him all day long. Here's a pic..



Since youre planning on making a larger local tank (which i think is a great idea and Id love to see pics of it when you stock it), I dont see a problem with putting a juvenile lookdown in the 29gal.

more pics at my photobucket album if anyones interested..
http://s1016.photobucket.com/albums/af290/Siberjay/

[Reeftanker3295]

Yes will deffinetely be a juvenile, and will probably be my first fish in the tank since i cant catch any of the fish im planning on keeping until early spring for maybe a juvenile blackfish then porgies and sebass, seabass. Nice little fish! Do you go snorkling directly in the inlets around the rocky parts and net these little fish? Do you think 68 degrees will be a fine temperature for the native tank even if i wanted to keep lookdowns and things?