Damsil in Fresh Ocean Water

[KurtG]

I decided to experiment with my Damsil. I put on my shorty wet suit and
collected water and sand from the local beach. (Water Temp is 65; no
wonder I didn't dive under.) He now had a nice bed of fresh sand
collected in the surf and seawater. Still alive; I'll see if he
collects any diseases from the alleged killer bacteria.

Funny thing is that I met a guy on the beach wondering what I was doing.
He said that I could keep the damsil in a toilet bowl with morton
salt. You just can't kill them, so not much of a test. :-)

--Kurt

[Tristan]

I do hope you warmed up the water at least....;-)What part of Florida
are you in Kurt? Atlantic Side or Gulf, panhandle or keys We used to
keep a tank at the beach house of local stuff we would collect at the
jetty and other places. It was pretty unique. It had all kinds of
critters in it. When we lived on the coast keeping it w asnot a
problem but we had one to mmany hurricanes and now decided to move
inland a peace ways so we are not always having to redo the house. We
still have alot on the coast (actually the bay and only a hop skip
and jump of 1/8 mile from the gulfs waters) so we keep a 35 foot
travel trailer on the lot now which is easy to moveout if a hurricane
comes and we have built a new pier and boat house (one of many through
the years) and now only keep a boat that is trailerable in the boat
house. Its about as big as you can trailer and pull with a 1 ton
piickup without a ot of hassle, so it too can be moved if need be...

Back to that local critter tank. We and our kids and grand kids used
to put all kinds of stuff in it. (75 gal ) but every fall we would
clean it out and turn all the critters loose. The common stars you
find off florida does very well in a tank, and I have some in the
tanks we keep now. Much more hardy than linkia and fromia etc,
although mnot as colorfull. Even more hardy than the typical sand
sifter stars they sell that are flat on top as compared to the rounded
ones in thr GofM. Oh I am only about an hour off the GofM in the pan
handle region. Our property is in (Pensacola / Perdido Bay area)

On Mon, 18 Dec 2006 18:14:10 -0500, KurtG
> wrote:

<<>>
<<>>I decided to experiment with my Damsil. I put on my shorty wet suit and
<<>>collected water and sand from the local beach. (Water Temp is 65; no
<<>>wonder I didn't dive under.) He now had a nice bed of fresh sand
<<>>collected in the surf and seawater. Still alive; I'll see if he
<<>>collects any diseases from the alleged killer bacteria.
<<>>
<<>>Funny thing is that I met a guy on the beach wondering what I was doing.
<<>> He said that I could keep the damsil in a toilet bowl with morton
<<>>salt. You just can't kill them, so not much of a test. :-)
<<>>
<<>>--Kurt



-------
I forgot more about ponds and koi than I'll ever know!

[Tristan]

We have caught quite a few types of damsels off of the Jetties at
Panama City Beach. no reason in the world the damsel will not
survive, as long as it did not get stressed too much with a temp
change etc, but even that is doubtfull as they are darn hardy. We
caught a few that looked like bi color angles which they most
definately were not.

On Mon, 18 Dec 2006 18:14:10 -0500, KurtG
> wrote:

<<>>
<<>>I decided to experiment with my Damsil. I put on my shorty wet suit and
<<>>collected water and sand from the local beach. (Water Temp is 65; no
<<>>wonder I didn't dive under.) He now had a nice bed of fresh sand
<<>>collected in the surf and seawater. Still alive; I'll see if he
<<>>collects any diseases from the alleged killer bacteria.
<<>>
<<>>Funny thing is that I met a guy on the beach wondering what I was doing.
<<>> He said that I could keep the damsil in a toilet bowl with morton
<<>>salt. You just can't kill them, so not much of a test. :-)
<<>>
<<>>--Kurt



-------
I forgot more about ponds and koi than I'll ever know!

[KurtG]

Tristan wrote:
>
> We have caught quite a few types of damsels off of the Jetties at
> Panama City Beach. no reason in the world the damsel will not
> survive, as long as it did not get stressed too much with a temp
> change etc, but even that is doubtfull as they are darn hardy. We
> caught a few that looked like bi color angles which they most
> definately were not.
>

yes, I warmed the water. No death dance AFAIK.

btw, we have something that looks like a lion fish. It often bites when
fishing near the jetty. Mostly black with red tips. Bizarre looking
fish. The state park keeps a several 100 gallon aquarium of local
stuff. I've been meaning to find out where they keep it, and have a look.

--Kurt

[Tristan]

I could have told you what that fish is if you did not ask! ;-)
Man I hate when my mind slips like that. At Ft. Pickens State PArk
they have a setup in a building there that used to be part of the old
Ft. Pickens complex where they have a heap of various live exhibits as
well as a comprehensive display of shells and other stuff that is
common in the northenr end of th GofM Ft. Pickens is at the pass out
of Pensacola....Ft. Pickens is also where they jailed Sitting Bull
(IIRC?) back in the olden days.

I had a small sea robin in the tank here for quite some time as well
as a rock fish...in a tank by itself. Turned rock fish and robin loose
as it was too much of a hassle to feed them once waters in the gulf
cooled off and small bait fish were gone to deeper waters. So when I
could not use a cast net and fill a bait well with food, it was time
to let em go. I did manage to keep lots of bait type fish (pinfish
and grunts etc) alive in a concrete burial vault outside that I setup
just like a outside sal****er setup.


On Mon, 18 Dec 2006 18:50:40 -0500, KurtG
> wrote:

<<>>Tristan wrote:
<<>>>
<<>>> We have caught quite a few types of damsels off of the Jetties at
<<>>> Panama City Beach. no reason in the world the damsel will not
<<>>> survive, as long as it did not get stressed too much with a temp
<<>>> change etc, but even that is doubtfull as they are darn hardy. We
<<>>> caught a few that looked like bi color angles which they most
<<>>> definately were not.
<<>>>
<<>>
<<>>yes, I warmed the water. No death dance AFAIK.
<<>>
<<>>btw, we have something that looks like a lion fish. It often bites when
<<>>fishing near the jetty. Mostly black with red tips. Bizarre looking
<<>>fish. The state park keeps a several 100 gallon aquarium of local
<<>>stuff. I've been meaning to find out where they keep it, and have a look.
<<>>
<<>>--Kurt



-------
I forgot more about ponds and koi than I'll ever know!

[KurtG]

Tristan wrote:
> rock fish...

of course. I knew that, but as they say, memory is the second to go.