Background: This December (X-mas day), I will be heading for the Keys with my folks for a few weeks. I wasn't able to go fishing with them this summer, so this trip is kind of a graduation/x-mas gift to me. We will be fishing most of the time, but was wanting to go mucking around a bit while we are there. I was wondering if anyone had any experience in the Keys (with fish that can be freshwater b/c saltwater tank is out of the question for me).
Location: I will be in the middle keys, in the City of Marathon. I know the area well and I have have done a lot of offshore fishing over the years, but wanted to try some to collect a few fish. I have the saltwater/freshwater fishing liscence combo, that I purchase every year, so that is not a problem.
Species: From my understanding, rainwater killifish and sailfin mollies can both be found in the keys (but I am skeptical of what I might find). I have been searching the site and web for keeping these fish and would love to keep a few. Hopefully 5 rainwater killies and 4 sailfin mollies. I also believe that fat sleepers are there too, but I think they will get too big for any tank I have.
Collection: I am not sure how to go about looking for these guys. I have caught numerous pilchers and whatnot in traps and mullet with a cast net in full saltwater, but I want something I can do on my own. Should I try roadside ditches, mangroves? I think there are a few ponds just west of where we stay that gets an occassional slosh of seawater during hightide storms.
My apologies for such a long post.
There is just little to no freshwater there and just wanted to know if anyone had experience.
Thanks everone in advance!
Willie

Andy Borgia lives own that way and he could likely give you some tips. You can get his e-mail address by searching the e-mail list's archives or it may be on the website somewhere. In SC, we catch rainwaters and sailfin mollies in brackish ponds and marsh flats. Both species should be abundant down there.

You should be able to find diamond killies, Adinia xenica. too along with pupfish in shallow pond-like habitats like Dustin mentioned.

Are Jordanella floridae that far down?

Flagfish need freshwater, which is in short supply in the Keys, but I may be wrong.

Thanks for the reponses everyone. Dustin, I might try to email Borgia in the next few weeks. I was hoping the get these guys as tank mates for my Florida flagfish. I don't know if they can be found down there. I have some captive bred ones from my LFS.

You should be able to find diamond killies, Adinia xenica. too along with pupfish in shallow pond-like habitats like Dustin mentioned.

Thanks Fundulus. I will have to look into them (I see butch has a post on them). I looked at Natureserve and I only see rainwaters, sailfins, needlefish, hogchoker and fat sleepers. Hopefully I will find more. Hoepfully I can convince the pops to haul a seine - if not I've always got my trusty dipnet I can drag through some weeds.
I have never collected in kind of environment, so I'm hoping to have some luck.

Edited by UncleWillie, 19 October 2008 - 02:38 PM.

Andy Borgia lives own that way and he could likely give you some tips.

Ditto that - Andy would be the man to hook up with.

I was wondering if anyone had any experience in the Keys (with fish that can be freshwater b/c saltwater tank is out of the question for me).

Just because you want to take home only f/w species does not mean that you should restrict yourself to only looking for f/w species while you're in the Keys.

Take or buy a 10 or 20g tank and a airpump, and you can catch and enjoy salt or brackish-water fish for a few days, before releasing them back where they came from. I have done this on several family beach vacations in Florida. (I claim a waiver to the std. NANFA "Do Not Re-Release" edict due to the fact that such fish are never given a chance to mingle with store-bought fish and their pathogens.)

In the shallow waters you can catch (or enjoy chasing) blennies which have a lot of personality, little jewel-like beau gregories or less colorful damsels, small butterfly fish or possibly angels, filefish, pinfish, small gobies, etc. Pipefish are pretty common in grass beds, and seahorses are possible. Angler fish and eels, small sea robins, wrasses, there's a bunch of stuff you could see/chase if you find an area with some structure.

Beware there's a 10 per day (or something like that) limit on "ornamental fish", which includes most all of the fish above.

Snorkeling is of course also an excellent way of enjoying fish, you do not have be far offshore or on a full-scale reef to have fun doing that.

You're likely to see a bunch of brackish/salt water killies besides the rainwaters too.

If you're driving down and back, do not forget to consider negotiating a fish-stop or two along (or near) the route home. Stream-side picnic lunch stop ... lovely.

Again, thanks for the replies.
I was thinking of bringing my spare 10 gallon w/ filter with me to keeping running so if I do find some killies, mollies, etc I could keep them a few days becuase I don't want to try to go out the day we leave to catch them. Plus, this way I can make sure I have a positive ID on them (killies). I would love stopping along the way to get other species, but we drive all through the night - we are in the car for 12 hours. I have a battery powered aerator, but I am also looking into a small battery powered sponge filter for the trip. I am looking forward to it. I try to snorkle each time we go, but that's near Sombrero reef, I've never thought about doing it in the marshes - sounds pretty good to me - not as deep either. I have used disposable underwater cameras there before, hopefully I can get some decent pics. Of course this is still a few months away.

Sailfin mollies and rain water killies can both easily be adapted to freshwater.
I have a combined colony of both species in one tank [freshwater]. Both breed well in the fresh water. My mollies are in 3rd or 4th generation, my rainwaters are in 2nd generation.
Both originated from fish I collected in saltwater.
One thing that is probably relevent; my tap water water is moderately hard with carbonates and the town water department keeps the pH around 9.00. If your water is soft and/or low pH, you might have to add salt to keep the afore mentioned species in freshwater.

BTW, I highly recommend both species. I love mine.

You get to stay down there for a few weeks? Man, I am SO envious.
Ask around to find a double-jetty in that area called "The Horseshoe." Every square foot of that big fishbowl is filled with amazing stuff to see, day & night.
I don't know about Flagfish, but there are some other pupfishes down that far that you almost never hear about, and maybe you'll see some of those. One has a large number of bright gold spots all over it, and in the pictures I've seen it's pretty spectacular.

I collect and grow macroalgaes, and there are species aplenty down there that I can't seem to find for sale anywhere I look.