Ask the Diver/collector???

alikatoes · #1 06/21/2005, 01:24 AM

Aloha,

Does anybody want to trade info with a Diver? I have collected tropical fish and inverts for a couple years, and I have also been studying fish behaviour (natural habitat/ tanks). The social order that exists between fish/inverts/corals is crazy. I seen all kinds of strange behaviour with all kinds of species that you wouldnt expect to be interacting. I dive a lot and get to see the environment un-touched (till I start collecting), and I know there is a lot of useful info somewhere in there.

As hobbyists what would be of greatest interest, in regards to fish behaviour or habitiat etc.?

greenbean36191 · #2 06/21/2005, 09:23 AM

I'm curious why you don't see more thornback cowfish (Lactoria fornisini) in the hobby. Is there just not much demand or are they hard to find? It seems like their coloration and size would make them a better choice than something like the longhorn cows.

Also, I'm curious if you tend to do more collecting on healthy reefs or unhealthy reefs. IMO the fish didn't seem to mind whether the corals were healthy or not. It just seems like live coral would be an obstacle to collecting.

alikatoes · #3 06/21/2005, 02:07 PM

I see cowfish pretty regularly, not sure of species though. They always die off in holding tanks for some reason, and they are impossible to decompress.

I live on Oahu (main Hawaiian island) and the reefs are in bad shape here. Corals do make it more difficult to catch fish. Some ******* divers will actually break coral head (P. eyodouxi) to get fish out and thats messed up. Most juvi fish find shelter in the coral, especially Porites compressa.

So greenbean, what school do you study marine bio at? I am a bio major at U of Hawaii. What specifically are your academic interests?

greenbean36191 · #4 06/21/2005, 10:01 PM

I'm at Auburn University, hopefully to be at U of Hawai'i in a few years for grad school. My main interest right now is sea slugs. I was actually in Waimanalo about a week ago and collected some sea hares (Stylocheilus longicauda) in Lanikai. I can't wait to get back.

Here are a few questions:
Do you get a list of fish to collect or do you just collect whatever you can find and then try to sell them?
Do you only work for one buyer or do the fish go to whoever offers the best price?
How much would you make off of a common fish like a yellow tang?
How deep do you go on collecting trips?

A couple of personal ones you may not want to answer (I don't want to paint you in a bad light or offend you; I'm just curious):
Do you feel that any of the fish that you collect shouldn't be kept in captivity? I know after seeing Naso and Sailfin tangs in the wild I'm definitely of the opinion that they should be left in the ocean or at least in large public aquaria.
About what persentage of fish you collect do you lose before they go to the buyer?

alikatoes · #5 06/21/2005, 10:22 PM

I dont get a list of fish, but I do have a good idea of what people want. I dive with a couple friends and we sell to each other or our own clients in the US, whichever comes first. I make peanuts of yellow tangs because they are captured off the island of Hawaii by the ton. I live on the Oahu which you likley know is the highest populated island in the chain, thus more reef destruction, thus less yellow tangs... The deepest I dive is 150ish (feet). I am taking classes at UH for higher diver certs. and I am upgrading my gear so I can go deeper.

Now the hard questions... I dont collect any fish that I think do poor in aquaria, unless asked to do so by someone who says they know how to keep them. I have many examples, email me and I will share specifics. Naso's and sailfins are in high demand and as far as I know do ok in quality aquaria. I dont hold fish longer than a week so I get really low (1% usually less) KIA's. Most wholesalers have way way higher KIA's than me, but there scale is larger and they seems to crowd fish more. Not to diss wholesalers, but some bad ones see fish as money and dont care too much. Out of 6 wholesalers I have seen, only 1 large scale dude is really good with quality.

I just got some Hawaiian seahorses in but I dont know there sci. name. I sometimes collect for universities or private research. Your University need a AAUS Scientific diver for research or specimen capture? I can give you a list of species I have caught for other schools. If your back on Oahu look me up and you can dive with us. UH's scientific diver program is interesting, you should check it out.

phil519 · #6 06/22/2005, 06:20 AM

how about humuhumunukunukuapuaaa? (Did I spell that right?)

greenbean36191 · #7 06/22/2005, 02:22 PM

Is there any sort of training or certification before you are allowed to collect commercially or do you just pay your money and get a license?

What sort of reporting, if any, do you have to do on what you take?

alikatoes · #8 06/22/2005, 08:35 PM

No formal training, but its no joke when I say experience with fish behaviour and diving is needed. We must submit monthly catch reports to a state agency.

What about the Humuhumu?

oama · #9 06/28/2005, 06:35 PM

alikatoes
Who's your PI? Ernie or George?

alikatoes · #10 06/29/2005, 03:25 PM

Whats a PI?

oama · #11 06/29/2005, 04:57 PM

Primary Investigator. aka your Professor you are studying under.

alikatoes · #12 06/30/2005, 02:53 AM

I have no PI. I just got into the UH diving and I dont study under any professors yet. I am waiting for a good project to get into, till then I study fish stuff solo. Oama, your from Hawaii right? Did you study here?

oama · #13 07/01/2005, 08:41 PM

I was in the Zoology Dept. for 6 years, Grad School. Worked out at HIMB.

cb747 · #14 07/01/2005, 08:59 PM

I did a search for the Hawaiin seahorse and this is what i found

Hawaiian seahorse, Hippocampus sp.
Little is known about the life history of the rare Hawaiian seahorse. This unique fish is most commonly found on the surface at night over very deep water. It is also frequently found in the stomachs of open-ocean tuna. What is going on here? A pelagic seahorse? By following the Hawaiian seahorse through its entire life cycle, Aquarium researchers hope to unravel this odd mystery.

ChaosReefer · #15 07/02/2005, 11:45 PM

hey, alikatoes, any chance you could do some "private collecting" you know i pay you for some of the stuff you can get?? its for my own personal use not retail, but if i could get some of the hawaiian stuff for cheaper then the lfs that would be great just let me no, thanks.

oh yea, and when you are collecting what do you use? slurp gun? net? and is the liscence for collecting useable anywhere or just in U.S. waters? i do assume you need a padi certification for this

boxfishpooalot · #16 07/03/2005, 06:46 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by alikatoes
I see cowfish pretty regularly, not sure of species though. They always die off in holding tanks for some reason, and they are impossible to decompress.

About this decompression. This comes to me as a shock and totally new. I wonder now what fish are found in shallower waters(less than 40 feet or 13 meters)? This would most likely be more natural to a fish kept in aquaria found in more shallow water. This way there is not much a compression diffence.IMO this could enhance their suvivability in our tanks.

alikatoes · #17 07/05/2005, 06:51 PM

Decompressing fish is proably the most stressful part of capture. There are several ways to minimize damage, but it seems to be species dependent.

I use fence and hand nets. No slurp guns. Permit is good in Hawaii only and you dont need PADI or anything. The state doesnt check that stuff.

Those HWN seahorses are cool. They gave off 17 babies while in my tank.

cb747 · #18 07/05/2005, 06:59 PM

I love seahorses. I have a pair of Reidis that give birth every 13 days. The fry number in the hundreds. One batch that i did count was 547. Dont be surprized if you have more fry tommorow as it sometimes takes them a day or so to give total birth.