Wild?

Now I know that sometimes when buying from a LFS you can get either tank bread or wild caught fish, now I want to know how many of you live in a place and decide to go out and pick up a few wild of your own? Can you even do this act or do you HAVE to have a license to do this? (I'm sure you do in most places but where and what does it take?) How many have you taken? how many of those taken have lived? Is it recommended or is it such a pain it's just better to get it from a store?

My LFS guy likes to talk and in his tales he told stories of him self as a younger lad that he went out and use to pick up his own wild specimens keep them for about a month then release them back to their homes. I'm sure this is stressful but I've heard of others going out picking up a few prized items and keeping them till they die.

Whats your take on this act and have you ever done it? Maybe wanted to do it?

 

he is BSing you IMO. i have had wild-caught SPECIMENS live for 8+ years (an ocellaris clown) and i ACCIDENTALLY killed him

 

bsing in what way? dudes old and experienced. I don't doubt him picking up wilds from an ocean keeping them for a while studying them then returning them he seems like the person to do that.

 

he prolly did use to do that a long time ago, these days though it is illegal in most places to take anything from the ocean even sand from a beach w/o a permit

 

I caught Twin Spot Octopi, in the Back Bay, Newport Beach Ca. 1996-2000. At the time there were no regulations regarding harvesting them.

If you look around on the net you will find people in Australia collecting for their systems, but the legality issues of that is now making it very difficult.

 

I know afew ppl here in my neck of the woods that do it. Once a year some tropical fish migrate up my way for the cooler water and people fish them out.its only like$ 10 for the saltwater fishing license.no collectors license needed as far as I know.

 

When I lived in Florida back in the 1980s, I collected everything from the ocean and even used NSW from the same area. The only thing I purchased was the hardware.

I used to do the same here in MD for FW tanks before DNR imposed minimum-size regulations on most species and banned nets and traps for non-commercial use.

 

Interesting makes sense you cant take as much as people use too, but I just enjoy the stories of collection as it is.