Aquari fish caught in NY?

[Reef Guy]

Cali reef was telling me about some type of fish that can be caught around NYC during the summer and can be kept in out reef tanks?? anyone knows anything about this?

 

[glipper69]

My father once caught a trigger in Jamaica Bay near his boat in Howard beach queens I think it was a Huma huma trigger but not quite sure. any way it showed up in the later months when the wayter was much warmer. he put it in his fish only tank and it actually turned out to be his longest living and hardiest fish which is not saying much since most of his fish died.

late summer is the key though. I have actually seen a fair amount of tropical fish during my many years on boats.

Good luck,
Frank

 

[jhale]

I'm amazed by this.
do the fish swim up here when it's warm?
how far away are they coming from?
if not how do they live in our cold water?

 

[Reef Guy]

they come in late summer when the water is a little over 70

 

[jhale]

from where? I did not think fish that small swam very far.

 

[ShaunW]

I think that alot of them come from Florida waters.

 

[marrone]

Alot of fish get sweept up here by the jet stream and the warmer water and when the water starts to get colder they slow down and get stuck here. All kinds of butterfly fish, french angel, trigger(special Queen Triggers) are regulally pull from the water in late August. Most are very small in size.

 

[Crakeur lost his password]

butterflies are very common. we get ten to 20 a year in our bait traps. puffers and other assorted goodies are less abundant. We used to get angels all the time.

small as hell which suits me fine.

 

[jhale]

do you keep them, or throw them back?
use them for bait ?

 

[aaron]

where abouts are you finding these fish?
around the beaches in jersey? the Gowanus canal?
There is a similar situation in sydney (the east australian current - for those of you who have seen finding Nemo) i used to stock my tanks in sydney exclusively with fish that have been swept down as fry in the summer time from the barrier reef.
I have been net catching fish for years so if someone can tell me where to go, and could hook me up with a scuba tank, i could easily catch a few for everyone.

 

[House of Laughter]

I have seen pictures from diver friends and that there is a guy who keeps them in a holding tank (somewhere on Bay 8th?) and sells them to the general public - I have seen many pictures of butterflies, angels, even tangs (but wasn't able to make out the names cause pictures were not that clear)

Very interesting concept, but yes, later in the summer, and right there in coney Island and Jamaica Bay

Freaky, but hey, if they can live there, they can live in our tanks without issues I am sure

House

 

[Crakeur lost his password]

We get ours in the hamptons. Usually around the middle to end of august they start appearing and they show up until mid to late September, depending on the water temp.

When we had the 180 in the office we would pop the fish in a bucket with an aerator and bring them to the city.

the butterflies did ok but the various rock wrasses we picked up are invinceable. I think these are mostly local fish that had recently spawned. I think this is the case because we had a few tautogs, a couple of tiny sea bass and a bunch of itty bitty fluke.

 

[zahner]

http://www.manhattanreefs.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=000218

 

[Crakeur lost his password]

and how pathetic is it that I am posting under crakeur2 in that thread? that means I forgot two passwords.

and house never came thru with his alien life form pics.


I'd love to dive in the moriches inlet where I fish. late summer, early fall the waters are filled with big stripers, blue fish, bonito and albacore, tuna, billfish, triggers (we catch them every so often) and my personal favorites - sea turtles and ocean sunfish.

 

[jhale]

crakeur, when you said sunfish were friendly in the old thread what did you mean? are they friendly like a dolphin? I know it's a fish so maybe comparing it to a grouper is better.
I've never seen a sunfish when diving.

 

[Crakeur lost his password]

I don't see them as much as I used to when I was a kid - saw only one in the last 5 years.

They used to swim up to the boat and float in the shade near the hull. I'd lean over and grab a fin (gently) and give em a pet. they never moved or fled, simply hung out next to the boat. Tried feeding them live bait a few times but they never went for it. However, once when I was about 10 I was drifting for fluke on July 4th weekend and I hooked onto one. Didn't know what it was at the time and it took me a good 45 minutes to haul it in. must have been 25 boats drifting along watching me work the beast. Got it up alongside the boat and it laid there as we clipped the hook out.

They're very gentle fish. strange as hell but one of my favorite sightings.

 

[jhale]

they are one of the stranger looking fish.
I don't know much about them.

at the Monterey aquarium, they had a display set up about them,
I can't remember what it said, but I do remember they were funny looking.

It would be great to have a tank to keep reef fish caught locally, too bad I don't have the room.

 

[Crakeur lost his password]

my dad is dying to set up a large outdoor tank right near the dock.

our old office tank (the 180) had one purple tang, one vlamingi tang and about 15 or so local water fish in it. it also had a ton of crabs from the local waters, grass shrimp, hermits, algae etc. we moved in November so the tank was taken down and most of the fish were given away. I'm sure the old man will be itching to get a new tank in the new office once the traps start yielding the interesting fish again.

 

[stingnyc]

LIRA actually has an annual event which they net fish in Suffolk county. The get all sorts of tropical species that come up with the jet stream. It's ok to net them because the will die over the winter.

 

[aaron]

Anyone up for a Manhattan Reefs diving trip to the jetties at Coney island this summer?