Caught my first fish for my tank today!!!

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Krish

RF STAFF
Joined
Oct 22, 2004
Messages
25,290
Location
Nassau, Bahamas
Well, I went out today for an hour after the weather cleared
up and caught my first addition to my tank in 3ft of water. I
went out to catch either a French Angel or Queen and caught
the Frenchie! He's doing great swimming around and looks really
healthy. I also, got a few brittle stars, a butterfly fish, and some
small pieces of coral for my cousins nano. Here are a few pictures
of my french angel and my cousins butterfly.My wife is finally
happy that I won't be looking at just water flow anymore(LOL)
I'll probably go out tomorrow to look for the juvenile queen.
I will post some more pictures in a bit of the brittle stars etc.




 
OH that must just suck. I mean dang man, have to get up, go diving, and bring back that awesome fish.
Cool Krish, I dig it man. I had never seen a juvie french, (at least thats what I assume it is)
 
Yeah Steve...He's a juvenile about 4 inches or so and you are right too...I does suck to live in the Bahamas and have to catch your own fish (LOL).
 
That's a way to live. I dig that, too, like Steve said.

I'm trying to think what other cool Atlantic fish species there are. Hmm i'm guessing the black cap basslets live further down.

- Elmo
 
Yea whatever Krish... You want to have any friends around here or not.... J/K

That's a beauty.... And I am just jealous..
 
Listen whatever you guys want you can have...I'm not stingy.
I think it's kinda cool though that I said that was what I
wanted and found it. Here are some pictures of some of
the corals. I have no idea what they are, but I gave them
to him anyway (LOL) And thanks for the replies guys...You are all
good sports!



 
It isn't as easy as it seems

I was trying to catch fish in Hawaii. I had my fence net strung across the reef and I spotted a paticularly beautiful butterflyfish that I just had to have. The fish had other plans. In my bulky SCUBA gear at about thirty feet I proceeded to to try and maneuver the fish into the fence net for capture. The fish would kinda look at me and then duck under the net to the other side. I would then laboriously swim up and over to the other side, at which point the fish would simply swim to the other side and taunt me right in front of my face! This went on for a few laps before I thought of an idea. I scrunched the net up and moved it down into the canal that the fish was using to evade me. I came back after ignoring the situation for a few minutes and spied him on my side of the net I went to nab him and he proceeded to try and duck under the net. He got stuck and started to get flustered at which point I nabbed him. I very gingerly held him in my handnet and because I was trying to be so careful he was able to escape when I tried to put him in my underwater bucket. The fish swam away right back to his original spot and proceeded to taunt me once again! I was determined to have this fish and started the whole procedure all over. I ended up burning an entire tank of air on this one fish.

I admire and have a true respect for the people that bring our treasures to us. I takes a great amount of skill and experience to get enough fish in a days work to pay the bills. The pitiful amount of money they receive for their efforts does not translate to the exorbinant amount we finally pay to have these beauties in our company. To those lucky enough to be near a source I commend you and encourage you to report your captures and the exact location and type of environment they are coming from. Any feeding habits and sources they witness would be a great value to those of us that are land-locked or far from a source.
 
This is the last set of pictures for today. It goes to show you how
good it is to litter in the Bahamas...Makes it real easy to grab yourself
a little bit of coralline. I scraped all of it off of the pieces and added
it to my water. Hopefully it will eventually spread on that backwall
of mine. I really need a little more flow though to brush off the backwall.
The brown slimey stuff which we all hate is growing all across it in
different spots, but no-where else (if you look in the previous pics of
the fish you could see it). I haven't even cleaned my glass yet
so I know it has to be from lack of flow in the back. I may do some form
of spray bar to run across the top or try spinning one of the powerheads
towards it. How they are setup now though, keeps everything
suspended so I don't know if I want to bother with them.

 
I think Krish uses dynamite to stun them. :lol:

I was worried ther for a sec Krish, I thouth you caught dinner too!!
 
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Hey Dan! I never tried catching fish that deep! (LOL) It is much easier to catch them in water you can stand in. Here in the Bahamas, reefs are as shallow as chest deep and you've got lots of rocks, rockwalls and crevices up to knee high where you can find alot of cool stuff. I caught the little guys in 3 feet of water. They were swimming around some rocks and I just coaxed them to a rock which I knew my net would cover. Once the go under the rock and your net is over it, all you have to do is a little poking and they come running out into your nets! It is amazing what you find in shallow waters here...I've even seen mackerals in 5ft of water! My buddy from the LFS who went with me today almost layed on top of a baby stingray today and I pulled him by the fin just in time(LOL) He was a little freaked out (LOL). Also we had about 5 barracudas with the biggest being about 3.5 ft swimming around us. A lot to see and a real joy to do. The water is getting cold now though (LOL) (it's about 80 degrees LOL) Soon I won't be in the water until May unless I get me a wet suit!

As for the environment they were in...Mostly rocky ground with a few sandy patches. Tires here and there, concrete blocks, broken down walls from houses etc. As for marine life...Alot of tangs and surgeon fish, different species of snappers, jacks, conchs in the grassy areas, alot of sargeant majors, beau gregorys, wrasses, 3 different species of butterfly's I saw today (the one I caught, a four eye, and bandit if they are the right names) etc. One thin about the butterfly's here...If you catch them off of the main land, they will usually do good in your aquarium, but if you go over the bridge to Paradise Island and catch some, they will die as they wont eat prepared or flake foods. They have to pick parasites off of the rocks etc. Thanks for you post here Dan
 
that coral looks like Porites.
im jealous i live about an hour from the Atlantic but if i caught fish and put them in my tank they would be all brown
 
Krish - do you have access to any sea fans? My first snorkelling trip ever was in the British Virgin Islands, and I still remember seeing quite a number of sea fans. Sea fans still mean "reef" to me.
 
Thanks guys! As for sea fans, they are everywhere. They are mostly black, purple or yellow (not sure if they come in any other colors than that) I always pick up pretty ones washed up on shore just to look at and then throw them back. I always wondered if I can preserve them in a way if they are already dead, to keep them in my tank without having to care for it. Haven't quite figured it out yet. I hope to go out tomorrow and if I do, I will take my camera and get some shots of the Bahamas and any cool thing I get. I wish my camera could go in the water to take some shots of some reefs. Maybe I'll invest in one soon.
 
Well I went out again today and caught a few more fish.
Nothing for me though even though the other French is
in my tank. He's for my friend. I caught a High Hat, a yellow
tank, a butterfly fish (4 eye which I let go) and we got a
little tube worm like thing. I also added a picture of a
common snail found around here and wondered if any-
one was familiar with it. I would have gotten something else for
my tank, but I want to wait and see if my percs and blue
hippo come this week.





 

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