Is it legal?

[Ram_Puppy]

to collect zooplankton/copepods/amphipods out of tide pools on the gulf coast? I have heard it is illegal in many states... also, if it is legal, has anyone done this? and how? obviously some type of fine mesh net is in order....

I was thinking of doing this, and just brining a mass population back up here to culture in a tank with nothing but sand, live rock and algae, I figure if it is left on it's own, any parasites that might get swept up will die of starvation after a month or so?

any thoughts?

[MikeP]

I believe in texas if you have a saltwater license then it's usually ok unless it's like seaturtles or something protected by federal law. California and oregon I know tidepools are totally off limits.

[captexas]

I don't really see how that would be illegal here. I imagine in the states that it is illegal, they fall under a general blanket of protection of saltwater/reef life.

Your best bet is to contact the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. If it is illegal, they would be the ones to bust you for it. They have a local office over near the airport that should have a number in the phonebook. I have a feeling it will not be a problem as others have done collecting trips at the coast for small fish and shrimp.

[AlienAnchovies]

Im going down there monday
i wanted to know when the tide was at its lowest and where i could find tide pools and what not but i havent had any body tell me , i plan on collecting some stuff and bringing it back and giving stuff to maast members. oh and would tangs eat that floating seaweed stuff (coolest thing about that is that its usually loaded with critters)

[StephenA]

Where do you go on the coast to do this?

[samiam_orami]

I love this ....

I've been thinking about going to the coast for ages to collect critters ....
Just never knew when and were to go ....

listening intently .....

[mkengr45]

If you were approached by a game warden in texas, and you told him you were collecting bugs, I HIGHLY doubt he would give you a hard time. He may laugh his ***** off and think you are some king of weirdo, but I dont see you getting in any trouble for collecting bugs. Hope you find some neat stuff and have fun.

Randy

[connie123]

I would be careful to let everything sit for a long time (especially seaweed) before putting it in an established tank. I made that mistake one time. I brought back some beautiful colored seaweed from Port A. and put it in my tank. I ended up with everything having parasites. They were so thick, you could see them crawling all over the glass.

[Ram_Puppy]

definately everything would be quarantined... The main idea, is to get some pods and lete'm breed their little heads off. I was actually planning on keeping them on their own for at least a month, maybe 2, giving time for the nasties to die down. I imagine iwt would be very easy to capture more than I can currently house for any period of time, so if I do bring back more pods than I can handle, anyone want some? right now I have one 10 gallon tank for this purpose, maybe an 8 gallon hex, so it would be maybe a couple days before i would have to thin the population. (I.e. you would need to quarantine your own.) Unless maybe someone else is willing to take a big load and handle them.

(I live at 1604 and bitters in SA.)

[DeletedAccount]

Ram Puppy -

I would take some if you have extra. I have been setting up a pod breeding area. I live at 1604/Bitters, also!

[Ram_Puppy]

where are you? I am in the Marquis at Rogers Ranch apartments, by the Spectrum Club.

[DeletedAccount]

I live in Rgoers Ranch - Crosstimber.

[Ram_Puppy]

neighbor! :)

[Ram_Puppy]

so I am wondering if I need to get a drag type net, or, I saw one online for sale about 50$, it is like a long butterfly net with a bottle on the end for collection. has anyone trie dthie before? what methods did you use?

Also, thanks for the replies, I will call the TP&WL people

[jng3]

did anyone go? what was collected/saved?
thanks

[mharris7]

I was thinking about heading down to the coast in a couple weeks to see what I could collect. Anyone have any suggestions for good places to go?

[ryanrichter]

I have been teaching marine science for about 10 years, and find myself at the coast more than at home (also an avid coast fisherman). The net used with the bottle is a plankton net. It has different mesh sizes corresponding to the diameter of the hole within the mesh for capturing both holoplankton and meroplankton. Anywhere along the road from Aransas Pass to Port Aransas is a good place to capture these organisms. It is off the intracoastal canal, but has plenty of places you can wade in. I would definetly recommend (as mentioned before) quarantining anything from our coast. If you have any specific questions about our coast, let me know.

[ryanrichter]

Oh and if you ever find yourself not being able to get down there, I would be happy to bring you something back.

[R.Allard]

40+ Red for my wall....
i am going this weekend 26th -28th anyone else going this weekend to corpus???
anyone know of a place where i can find hermits or other little (blue,Red) hermits???
Robert

[mharris7]

what are some of the kinds of critters we can collect? I was thinking of specifically trying for peppermint shrimps and various pods to seed my tank with. Do you recommend quarantining these? I also hear we have some cool little blennies. Maybe some macro's....

[Ram_Puppy]

Well, I scrapped my trip, I was hoping to seed my tank with some copepods, but it appears the sand CB pets gave me has more than done the job, it's a veritible explosion. and because of that, I never checked with parks and wildlife on legality.