Just wondering

[fishboy]

I walked into a all fish shop a few days ago and saw that a medium golden dog faced puffer cost over $300 and the cheapest puffer was $25 (i forget the type). At these prices wouldn't it just be easier(at least for me) to go down to my friends dock and pull one of the many pest northern puffers out of his eel trap, bag it, and put it in a tank about the same size as what you would put a dog face in as they grow about the same size(at least from my knowledge)? I'm not really gonna do this(my parents won't let me do sw till I have a place of my own) but wouldn't it be easier to just get a free hardy fish then a expensive tropical one? I know it would be legal because these aren't really game fish so there's no limits on them. My friend even had some in his sw 125, they were great but their teeth overgrew.

[TheOldSalt]

There are plenty of fish in the sea, and there's certainly no reason why a fish won't be fine for an aquarium just because it didn't come from some far-flung tropical isle. Lots of people keep local species in their tanks, and it's very rewarding. In fact, I'd recommend it highly for many reasons, with cheapness being only one of them.

i keep 4 northern puffers that i caught in one of my sw tanks and they do great.

[redpaulhus]

Ditto what they said !

http://ichthyophilia.com/columns/gc2.html

[amelia]

well, i'm not speaking from SALTWATER experience--i have none, i'll be the first to admit. HOWEVER, i have kept mosquito fish and shiners that were wild caught in tanks and successfully bred the mosquito fish. the most recent batch of shiners i got consisted of about 40 1/4 inch long juviniles. i hate to say that 38 of those died, but the other two have lived about 5 months now with no problems. shiners that i've acquired from wholesalers and such have never lived near as long, and have had horrible health problems, no matter where i get them from. these delicate little fry and turning out to be hardy fish which i feel i can be quite proud of. they're friendly little things, too! wild-caught fish are really quite rewarding. =]

[fishboy]

i catch wild shiners around here, but i get them full size. I throw them back, though they are buetiful fish, i don't have a tank for them. I'm also very tempted to keep a baby pumpkinseed (if i try long enough with a peice of corn and a very small hook i can catch these babies at 1"). In Jersey I use a umbrela net to collent mullet and sometimes i go sieneing with friends but we mostly collect prawn, spearing, jellyfish, crabs, a few mullet, and if we're lucky a baby oster toadfish. I've never kept any of it though.