Adding bacteria from the sea

[hurtback]

paul,
didnt you say, ( in one of your posts, not sure it was you, there's to many to go back and reread ) that you collected seahorses from here--if you did how long ago?
the only seahorse i ever got was a long time ago, i was probably in my early teens, i was seining down island state park ( i think thats where i was )
but, pipefish---man collected loads of them in shark river.
Thats actually where i do all my collecting---my mother was raised there, she knew all the good spots. But, that was many years ago and that has all changed...

 

[hurtback]

oh, looking at your old images---i have pictures that i took of a starfish eating---it was on the side of the tank, you can see the stomach's sure you know that the starfish's stomach comes out and surrounds whatever its going to eat---i'll have to find them--
i also collected a hermit crab that was the size of a soft ball---it was a monster

 

[Paul B]

Hurtback, that was probably me. I have always collected seahorses. I collected about a dozen last year on the south shore of LI.
I don't have any now but you are correct, for every seahorse you collect you get two dozen pipefish.
I collected this pair, the female is transfering the eggs to the male, this was in my reef years ago. I raised a few batches but they are time consuming.

 

[SurfnTurf]

Oh man I had one of those wide leather watchbands as a kid. I remember a guy in the neighborhood used to wear one of those watchbands around his bicep (that seahorse probably has a bigger brain than that guy did). We used to ask him what time it was and then when he'd flex to read the watch - we'd all die laughing. Thanks for that fish oil advice, I picked up some blackworms on the way home from work and the fish loved them. I collected a couple live mussels down at the beach last month and threw them in - I couldn't believe how easily my larger hermit crab (not huge but he's grown a lot in 3 years)opened up those mussels and gave a feast to himself and the rest of the tank.

 

[hurtback]

I collected a couple live mussels down at the beach last month and threw them in - I couldn't believe how easily my larger hermit crab (not huge but he's grown a lot in 3 years)opened up those mussels and gave a feast to himself and the rest of the tank.

are you sure that mussel was still alive?
i've never witnessed a hermit big enough or strong enough to open up a mussel---i even have a hard enough time opening mussels or clams---and i'm using a knife!!!

 

[SurfnTurf]

I collected a couple live mussels down at the beach last month and threw them in - I couldn't believe how easily my larger hermit crab (not huge but he's grown a lot in 3 years)opened up those mussels and gave a feast to himself and the rest of the tank.

are you sure that mussel was still alive?
i've never witnessed a hermit big enough or strong enough to open up a mussel---i even have a hard enough time opening mussels or clams---and i'm using a knife!!!

I didn't give it an EKG so I'm not sure about anything but we found a bunch of (what I assumed were) live mussels, clams, and crabs all hanging out in a tide pool and i was trying to open a couple of the mussels up myself to show my kids what's inside (I didn't use a knife) and they were impossible for me. I've been fishing and clamming and crabbing since the 60's and think I can tell live from dead but you never know. That being said, i threw the mussels in the tank just to see if they would live and if so, how long, I was shocked to see the hermits make a beeline for them and the big guy start trying to pry one open - I had to leave and didn't actually see who opened the shells (it could have been that the mussels opened up on their own do to my tank but they stayed closed that first hour that I was able to watch them before leaving - we had nothing but empty, opened shells by the next morning (of course our "queer eye" tiger pistol shrimp immediately used the empty shells to renovate the tunnel entrance for his boyfriend, the yellow watchman's, home).

 

[Whitebird1]

No you don't, come back here and get back in this discussion Grin

OK Im back in, been at work, 5 pages since then!!!

 

[Paul B]

I collected a load of seahorses last summer on the south side of Long island. But pipefish outnumber the seahorses about 20 to 1.
I plan to collect a lot more this summer.

 

[SurfnTurf]

ok sorry my last response was off thread topic (I stray mentally a lot) - and possibly misleading (although I did see the larger hermit pry the mussel open about 1/4 inch under its own power, I never saw it open it up fully - sorry again).

I shouldn't really be posting in the Advanced Reefkeeping neighborhood but i can't resist getting some more free advice from the long time experts. In all my years by the ocean I never came across the seahorses locally. Where do you guys find them? Paul B, do you use any additives to supplement NSW?

 

[hurtback]

I collected a load of seahorses last summer on the south side of Long island. But pipefish outnumber the seahorses about 20 to 1.
I plan to collect a lot more this summer.

paul, once i get my seahorse tank up and going, i would really like to find out where you do your collecting---sure would be nice to collect from different areas---

ok sorry my last response was off thread topic (I stray mentally a lot) - and possibly misleading (although I did see the larger hermit pry the mussel open about 1/4 inch under its own power, I never saw it open it up fully - sorry again).

I shouldn't really be posting in the Advanced Reefkeeping neighborhood but i can't resist getting some more free advice from the long time experts. In all my years by the ocean I never came across the seahorses locally. Where do you guys find them? Paul B, do you use any additives to supplement NSW?

surfnturf--dont worry bout it--
i'm just surprised that a hermit crab would be strong enough to pry open a mussel--when i had hermits and fiddler crabs in my tank the only time they got to a clam or mussle is when i opened it so they could eat--even when the starfish pryed open the clam, those hermits made there way so they could grab a few pieces
i have'nt come across loads of seahorses, just a few, and i dont remember the name of the place --but pipefish---man, loads of them when i seined in the shark river inlet

 

[Whitebird1]

Dug out the links on Local stuff from 2006 and 2007 They have some good info and also further helpful links. Not Much on the water, but more about collecting.
GregH
http://www.njreefers.org/joomla/index.php?option=com_smf&Itemid=26&topic=1648.msg13742#msg13742
http://www.njreefers.org/joomla/index.php?option=com_smf&Itemid=26&topic=1402.msg11236#msg11236
http://www.njreefers.org/joomla/index.php?option=com_smf&Itemid=26&topic=1458.msg11868#msg11868
http://www.njreefers.org/joomla/index.php?option=com_smf&Itemid=26&topic=1893.msg15948#msg15948
http://www.njreefers.org/joomla/index.php?option=com_smf&Itemid=26&topic=1908.msg16043#msg16043

 

[SurfnTurf]

Dug out the links on Local stuff from 2006 and 2007 They have some good info and also further helpful links. Not Much on the water, but more about collecting.
GregH
http://www.njreefers.org/joomla/index.php?option=com_smf&Itemid=26&topic=1648.msg13742#msg13742
http://www.njreefers.org/joomla/index.php?option=com_smf&Itemid=26&topic=1402.msg11236#msg11236
http://www.njreefers.org/joomla/index.php?option=com_smf&Itemid=26&topic=1458.msg11868#msg11868
http://www.njreefers.org/joomla/index.php?option=com_smf&Itemid=26&topic=1893.msg15948#msg15948
http://www.njreefers.org/joomla/index.php?option=com_smf&Itemid=26&topic=1908.msg16043#msg16043

Wow thanks for that Whitebird1 - fascinating stuff! I wasn't allowed entrance into a couple of those threads but I've been bounced out of clubs before (this time it hurt less). You really do learn new things all the time - I really like the idea of a locally collected FOWLR tank - do you have to keep the water cool in summer?

 

[Paul B]

Yes that was me, I collected them last year on the south side of LI.
Pipefish outnumber seahorses about fifty to one.

 

[hurtback]

Dug out the links on Local stuff from 2006 and 2007 They have some good info and also further helpful links. Not Much on the water, but more about collecting.
GregH

whitebird1---where in shark river did you collect those horses? on the side of shark river where there's houses or the other side---man, i was going there for years when i had my 55 going----now the ich is really gettin to me---gotta start planning for 2 new tanks---
that thread was dated 2006( if i remember correctly ) have you been down there since and collected anything?

 

[hurtback]

Yes that was me, I collected them last year on the south side of LI.
Pipefish outnumber seahorses about fifty to one.

hey paul, i always thought it was easier to maintain a ' real ' salt water tank---i never worried about water changes, testing the water or anything---when the water level got low, i'd brush the salt that collected on top of the tank back in, then add fresh water to the proper level---i stored the collected salt water in plastic 5 gal containers and when i started to run low, thats when it was time to go back down to shark river collect for water and collect more marine life ---it was always so much fun, and so interesting when collecting. You never knew what you would catch in the seining net---
man, brings back memories!!! ;D

 

[Whitebird1]

The good old days, no tests, no rock, no money$, everything lived!
hurtback Ill get back to you
Paul, seems we have a few things in common! Did we talk back in 2006?
GregH

 

[Paul B]

I don't know if we talked back in 2006.

As for seahorses I collected a bunch last year on the south shore of LI

 

[Paul B]

I see I posted that three or four times. I diden't think it was posting for some reason, so ignore all my double posts

 

[hurtback]

As for seahorses I collected a bunch last year on the south shore of LI

do you know what kind?
now, not knowing LI is this place easy to get to, or is it one of your ' secret ' spots (lol)
ya see, now the wife's gonna get pissy with me cause i'm now gonna want to get going on this seahorse tank and my honey do list is'nt gonna get touched!!
oh,well, after 35 years together........she should know me

 

[mnat]

Just caught up on this thread and wow it is a great read. Couple of questions:

They now sell biospira which is basically bacteria that you put in your tank to get it started. If someone was landlocked would you recommend adding that to a tank to keep the bacteria levels up. Here is a quick description of the product.

BIO-Spira, containing several newly discovered patented and patent pending species of the actual nitrifying bacteria found in closed, saltwater aquatic systems is "biological filtration" in a bottle. It literally works overnight to prevent fish loss due to ammonia and nitrite toxicity.

Discovered, isolated and cultured by Marineland Labs, BIO-Spira is the result of 10+ years of molecular biological research to identify and commercially produce the bacteria responsible for nitrification in aquaria. The discovery of BIO-Spira by Dr. Timothy Hovanec, Chief Science Officer of Marineland Labs, and his team has been well-documented and collaborated by other leading scientists around the world.
Over the last 18 months, BIO-Spira has been successfully field tested at public zoos, aquariums and in the aquaculture industry.


Secondly, I think your nutrional recomendations are spot on. You can really see the difference in fish that are fed correctly. When we had an ich outbreak we tried all the chemicals and still lost fish. We changed our diet and started adding garlic and vitamin C to rods reef and have had no problems even though we have added fish without a quarantine. My local LFS sells blackworms so I think it is time to pick a few up.