Native marines

I will throw up some shots of the native marines that I keep

This is one of the squat lobsters, Galathea strigosa, spends most of its time hiding but comes out to claim some of the food at feeding time

This is a juvenile female lumpsucker Cyclopterus lumpus that I was minding for the Dingle aquarium after it was given to them by one of the fishing boats in Howth.

It is a deadly looking fish as it spends all of its time looking at you.

A bluemouth, Helicolenus dactylopterus currently resident in one of my tanks

stunning,r theese all native to irish waters pal,wot about a gurnard

Fantastic pictures Dec, thanks for sharing.
It's amazing to see that our native fish are as colourful and unusual if not more than many of the tropical marines.
Loads of questions, what size tanks do you keep them in, how do you keep the water chilled and what do you feed these fellas ?
What else do you keep? Is it all native marines.

Great pics.

Let's hear more on these.

ian

super photos. as previous poster please post some details of sizes, chilling etc

Great pics and great fish as above as much info as possible please on your setup

Regards

Man, this is good!
Show us more.

Here is one of the male Connemara Clingfish, Lepadogaster candolii. One of the best species i have kept so far, rarely seen when rockpooling but within a week, the six guys that i have pop out as soon as they see a shadow near the tank.



on the question of tanks, i have currently 4 marine setups, 2x four footers 18" high, a 100l and a four footer x two foot x 18".

The water is collected from Howth around high water, filtered and UV'd and then allow to warm up to the garage temperature before being used as a top up or complete fill. You just have to make sure that the weather hasnt been blowing and there isnt much shite in the water with weed etc.

The filtration in each tank is undergravel with powerheads, a large external and a skimmer.I use an air blower for all the tanks as i have about 16 tanks for axolotls in addition to the marines and native USA minnows and darters.

Temperatures can go as high as 24C but no issues as the rise is gradual. If I see the fish getting stressed then i can move them out of the tank and place in one of the barrels on the floor of the garage as it usually is about 4-6 degrees cooler than at eye level. I also hav a large fan circulating air around the garage from now until september and the doors are open a fair bit during the day

The stock comes from a variety of places, sampling rockpools and bays around the Country from Donegal to Dingle. Crustaceans such as the squat lobsters mainly from the fishermen in Howth, Gilthead bream from the aquarium in Dingle and Lobsters from the pot.

Because Ireland is situated bang in the middle of the cold arctic waters and the warmer waters of the South, we tend to get a great mix of species many of which can withstand a large temperature range as long as the water quality is good.


on the feeding front, the clingfish are mainly fed on frozen bloodworm and octopus or squid daily. at present they are feeding on the larvae of the sand shrimp which are all berried with eggs. The Bluemouth and lobsters get fresh razor clam meat and frozen octopus and squid two or three times a week. the Gilthead bream are mental, you cant keep throwing enough food into them, salmon crumb, shellfish, green crabs etc, they feed like piranhas and tear the food to bits as they frenzy in the tank.

I have been keeping native marines for about 7 years now and lobsters have been the only problem animal as they destroy everything and chop through the cables of the powerheads and inlet pipes for the filters.

no other problems so far and i have kept about 35-40 species now from octopus, squid, deepwater crayfish to the Bluemouth, turbot and other flats to the shannys.

Turbot would be my favourite fish as they are deadly to watch feed and the clingfish.

dunno what else to say except the most important thing for me is the multi probe unit that i have which measures everything from temp, DO and salinity.


I will see if i can dig out some of the other photos over the next few days.

Dec

another shot of the bluemouth

little lobster

female clingfish waiting for a feed

if we have tank heaters,surely somewer out there ther is aquarium coolers which wud help u alot

Superb pictures...thanks for sharing. I scuba dived for many years,and the difference in the fish I saw when I had the lamp with me was amazing from how you see them otherwise.
Lovely sheen on so many fish in the Irish waters. Its great to see a native set up looking so well. Do you find it take a while for them to come out or are they very shy initially?

Gavin

Usually it's about 3 days and a young wild turbot will be grabbing food out of your hand. Blennies take about five minutes and they will bite you whether or not there is food

wow amazing photo i would love to see a dragonet fish .
just wondering it it cost alot to set up a native marine tank as i all found sea scorpion fish at malahide
beach but dont have a salt water tank to keep them.

it costs about the same as a tropical setup but I go oversize with the skimmers and the external canisters so it depends.

Malahide can be great during the summer. I have had about thirteen different species from the beach with turbot and brill from May onwards. the highwater can also produce some fantastic three spined stickleback which are fully armoured and pure silver.

some shannies

a few old shots of a velvet crab, a squat lobster and some small crabs

Fab stuff!! Great Photos!!

H.

Brilliant thread, thanks for sharing. It's really nice to see these underrated native animals in a way which shows their colour and beauty, compared to the fish-market.

Do you study marine life for a living?

Melander

Among many other things to do with the marine, studying and reporting on the unusual fish species is what I like best

Amazing Photos, thanks for sharing them.
Michael

some super photos and great information. Ever try keeping any of the anemonae or other stuff that grows in the rock pools. seen some fab green/purple combinations near Balbriggan and some were exposed at low tide so must be really tough and hardy.

Those cling fish look prehistoric. the big pic looks more like a little lizard or dragon than a fish

Keep the pics and info coming. Take it you have none in the house or you would need a chiller.

I have a few anemones and a plumose, and its cool to see them fighting for space on a rock. Can be a bit difficult to remove them but a handy trick is to place them in water for a short while with is unsuitable and they pop off themselves and look to move off to somewhere healthy.

I keep all the stuff in the garage as the house gets too warm and with thirty tanks I can't afford anymore mental electricity bills. The beach just north of the harbour in the night time can be a great place for collecting a load of flatfish as are the trawlers for a few small spider like crabs.

Some of the first baby cutlets hatching

Great to see that other members keep native marines.
Keep an eye out for some new posts on the subject from West Cork too.

Great stuff thanks for sharing and well done