Wild collection ideas

[Ilawis]

I've had this idea bouncing around in my head for a long time and just want to see if their is any validity to it. So please don't shoot me out anyone who comments on this thread

As corals in the hobby are limited and pricy (in AU and NZ anyway) I've been thinking it's their any method of sustainability harvesting corals or inverts from the wild?

One idea I have had is once a year at night corals reproduce in a mass spawning
I've never seen this other than on TV so I don't know enough about it to be any kind of expert so that's why I'm asking you guys
Do you think it would be posable to catch this spawn in a net or other device and transport it and put it in a aquarium and then it to seed (there would be no way of knowing what you would get) in the tank
How would you do that? What filtering would you use what do you think you could do to stop it dying in transport?

I'd there any other way that might be OK to do?

Please note I'm asking hyperthetcially here I've been reading the western Australia's fishing laws and it seems that they don't know how to control collection of corals and coral fishes for either commercial or for home setups they don't seem to have a problem with the home setup but can't seem to decipher the 2 types with some people taking entire trailer loads of live rock from the beaches so currently lean on entire ban excepting beach combing

 

[Deadliestviper7]

U could tie lava rock to a string/ line then pull it up after a year or two, u could also have floating pens where u could breed native sea stars, urchins, seaweed, fishes etc for sale to pet trade

 

[Ilawis]

That's a good idea sounds a bit like mussel farming

 

[Pomatomus]

I will collect what is legal, but many of the corals here in Florida are protected. Be careful of local laws. For instance, we can collect and keep certain gorgonians but no hard corals. There is also a daily bag limit. As for selling to stores - be careful as well. Around here you need a commercial collecting permit to legally sell many inverts.

 

[Ilawis]

I think that is roughly how some areas are here but I'm still trying to find out about that

 

[fishfanatic80]

As others have stated check your wildlife fish and game laws before collecting anything. For one you don't want to be fined and for two you don't want to be responsible for hurting a species that's not well off as is. Many corals and fish in the Great Barrier Reef are highly protected for good reason. Collecting coral eggs and such is a bad idea because they've never been bred like that in aquarium, it's impossible outside of nature. Not too mention how long it takes corals to grow. The only way corals reproduce in aquarium is through fragging or budding on its own. I do like the idea of seeding your live rock in the ocean naturally, especially if it's only for your own personal use and not much is being collected and taken out of the water. As a hobbyist I always try to get captive grown corals and buy from other hobbyists. Our hobby unfortunately takes a toll to the wild populations and if your able to buy stuff that isn't coming straight from the ocean your helping the wild populations. Me personally I'd only seed my rock naturally. As far as corals I'd buy frags and depending on fish and game laws collect fish

 

[Ilawis]

Impossible outside of nature? I'd be more leaning toward the never been tried before, it was only a few years ago that people discovered that corals spawn that way which is one of the reasons I'm asking the questions
Does anyone know of anyone or any company or research institution that has ever tried this way?

 

[fishfanatic80]

Impossible outside of nature? I'd be more leaning toward the never been tried before, it was only a few years ago that people discovered that corals spawn that way which is one of the reasons I'm asking the questions
Does anyone know of anyone or any company or research institution that has ever tried this way?

Corals growth rate is extremely slow. People have a hard enough time keeping them alive never mind trying to grow them out from eggs. Fragging corals is much easier then trying to collect eggs that hardly ever drop maybe once a year. Collecting eggs isn't practical at all. Not to mention the water quality needed to maintain them to actually grow into structure. I don't know why anyone would even try it when fragging corals have been so successful. Do you have any experience in reef aquariums?

 

[Ilawis]

No but I live not to far from a fringing reef where your not allowed to take corals, I'm looking at the setup for starting my first marine aquarium and it will be a reef tank and it will also be quite large (little over 600 gal) so looking to keep the costs down without knowing too much about corals in the first place (as in don't know how to frag and they are expensive in the store i don't want to damage the reef so looking for alternatives)

 

[fishfanatic80]

I would suggest you start off smaller to get a feel for it if you haven't done it before, sps frags are trimmings from large colonies or many times accidental breaks. Soft coral frags normally require you to take a razor blade and chop off an ear of a toadstool coral or a finger of a finger coral then your rubberband it to a rock and it attaches itself to the rock. Lps you break off heads from hammers fragspawns or torches but don't try to frag wall hammers and wall frogspawns because they are prone to infection which can lead to the whole coral dying. Lps in my opinion are slow to grow from frags. When dealing with a reef set up its gonna run you a lot of money there's nothing you can do and especially at that size your gonna be spending over 2k in lights alone. I have a 120 and my lighting costs 1k (kessils), protein slimmer for that size tank will probably be a grand. Sump home made will even cost a descent amount at that size. I highly suggest you start off slow get a feel for coral keeping, the salt alone will run you good money too. Reef keeping costs a lot of money and there's nothing you can really do about it even with alternatives. It's the most expensive thing in this hobby. I have 5-6k invested in only 120 gallons. There's also a lot to know about husbandry of each individual coral. Reefing isn't something you dive right into and if you do there won't be much success