# Wild Fish



## motica1 (Jul 29, 2009)

Could u incorporate wild fish in a tank with fish bought from a store? Could u even keep wild fish in a tank?


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## onefish2fish (Jul 22, 2008)

alot of saltwater fish come from the wild, the main reason being they wont or have yet to spawn in captivity. 
this can be a tricky question because some states/places of the world protect the wildlife and it also is going to come down to what livestock/compatibility/requirements for its habitat and so forth. 
to answer your question, yes, you can keep wild caught fish in your tank. it is not rare for people to set up bio-tope tanks Biotope - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia that include things found from that area. this is prob. the best way of doing it as you pretty much know the most of things will co-exist nicely. 
now if your thinking of taking a cold water species and mixing it with something from the tropics this wont work as they will live a very short life span. my buddy however is a diver and every year a gulf stream will come up the coast, he has caught a racoon butterfly while diving off the coast of NJ. all the fish in the stream are caught traveling to cold waters which means ultimately their death so if anything he did the little guy a favor, which turned out to be a beautiful specimen. 
it is very important to use a QT tank when receiving a new fish from a store, if collecting from the wild you want to be sure 100% to use a QT with little to no exceptions ( some fish just wont live the QT process ) and some fish that are known to have certain diseases should prob. be treated for them. its also a good idea to check with your local laws on collecting from the wild and what species are protected and cannot be touched.


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## SuperFishFan (Jul 27, 2009)

Motica1,

I'm just gonna touch on what OneFish2Fish wrote.... 
I am experienced in keeping temperate-water aquariums/fish (i.e. cold water tanks) I have done it successfully in the past many years, and I'm currently planning to set another one up (after my $$wedding$$ in December LOL). I live in Los Angeles .. sunny ol' California, and even though the region is hot and shiney and sunny; and the beaches are flocking with vacationers, the fact is that the wildlife off the coast of Southern California live in a Temperate water region(avg. 59*-69* F).... not Tropical. Also know that 99% of the aquarium livestock that you purchase at your LFS are ALL from Tropical water regions (avg. 74*-82*)

Temperate water tanks always incorporate a Chiller unit to keep the water at the proper temp as opposed to a heating sytem in a standard tropical tank. I say all of this because depending on where you live will depend on whether or not you can incorporate wild caught fish from your region, and those fish found in your LFS. (where are you located?) In very few scenarios (such as the one OF2F described) you may find fish that would acclimate to your "tropical tank" (if you live in a temperate water region.... which is most of the U.S. east and west coasts)... Gulf region is a different story as well as the Floridian east coast and possibly the Georgian east coast. Anywhoo, even here in Southern California, when we get the "El Nino" surge (which is a warm water surge up from the Pacific coast of South America), it's not enough to turn temperate water fish/inverts into tropical fish, persay. 

The cool thing that I'm thankful for, is that I live right on the coast of an 8 island achepelago called the Channel Islands (San Clemente Is., Santa Catalina Is.<populated>, San Nicolas Is., Santa Barbara Is., Anacapa Is., San Miguel Is.<military>, Santa Rosa Is., Santa Cruz Is.). The live stock that is available off the coast of So Cal. and these islands, rivals the beauty of many of the Tropical species that you find at your LFS.

If you have a minute goggle "Fish and/or invrtaebrates of the California pacific coast" and see what you can find. Now I'm all amped up to start my Temperate tank!!


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## motica1 (Jul 29, 2009)

I live on the east coast of florida and i've been talking to many fish keepers here in my area and have been told that off the coast in the waters of Bimini, there are tons of royal grammas, jawfish, and queen angels. I have a family friend who builds custom tanks for hotels and rich people who collects coral frags every time he goes diving or snorkeling. So I was going to incoorporate my wild caught and collected specimens with other fish of the same temperature requirements.


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## onefish2fish (Jul 22, 2008)

i believe, but im not sure that collecting coral is illegal without permit or atleast having proper knowledge of how to do it. regardless thats cool about the tanks and fish.


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## Kellsindell (Sep 15, 2008)

You do have to have a fishing license and something different for corals and then a shellfish license for the other things. You should really look into it before you begin collecting.


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