[chicho]

I am new to salt water aquariums. I live on South Padre Island, Texas, literally a 2 minute walk to the ocean. I just recently started a 30 galloon salt water aquarium with the help of an experienced friend. Our tank is awesome. Everything inside the tank was free. We used actual water from the ocean. We took sand from the beach. We found awesome rocks with sea anemis and spounges growing on them. We have rocks with lime green sea grass growing on them. There are 3 live oysters in the tank. We even have a sea urchin. We used snorkeling equipment and caught several gobis, blennies, damsals, one piggy perch, and numerous crabs and snails. The gobis are my favorite because they all have faces and can change color. For a bit we even had an "ink fish" in the tank, but we threw him back in the ocean because he kept eating the sea grass. We also had a mangrel snapper, but he was a bit too big for the tank so we threw him back too.

[avengexthexdead]

thats pretty rad

[jimw369]

Can you post some pics of that? I would love to see it!

[jpmwjm]

Yeah, I would like to see some pics also. I would like to have that option but the nearest beach is about a six hour drive from here.

[carmanimports]

hey ur from the island i live in mcallen i go out to the padre alot

[chicho]

Yeah, I'll post some pictures later today.

[chicho]

Originally Posted by carmanimports

hey ur from the island i live in mcallen i go out to the padre alot

If you're into snorkeling send me a message and I'll show you the best spots. Lately the water has been extremely clear. Do you know where the jetties are? That is the best spot because there are a lot of fish, rocks, caverns to dive into, and green, red, orange, and purple sea grass.

[carmanimports]

the jetties is were i always go so my kid can see the dolpins

[eickhorn]

Hello
Yes

I did the same thing when i lived in Guam in the early 80's

[carmanimports]

some lady came into r store with some seahorses and said they casted a net and cuaght them out at the jetties she also had some sweet anomes but the horse in the gulf thats nuts

[Six-line Wrasse]

Just as a warning: collecting from the ocean without a license in some part of the country is illegal and comes with some pretty hefty fines.

Your idea is awesome and I say "Go for it!" but I just want you to know there are serious repercussions to free-lance scavenging from the ocean.

[carmanimports]

padre is so close to the border of mexico the only thing the law is thinking is mexicans and drugs so i dont think they r going to worry about sea life unless one of the those two things is envolved lol thats just the way the valley is.