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Question regarding keeping a redfish in an aquarium

23K views 50 replies 38 participants last post by  gater  
#1 ·
Is it legal. Prolly not but it's worth a shot to ask.
 
#10 ·
I've been curious about the same thing... it would be cool to have a native texas fish aquarium... redfish, trout, flounder, etc...

there has to be a way to get an exemption, there are aquariums all over the place that have game fish in them.
 
#11 ·
I've been curious about the same thing... it would be cool to have a native texas fish aquarium... redfish, trout, flounder, etc...

there has to be a way to get an exemption, there are aquariums all over the place that have game fish in them.
I remember getting a permit (i think) years ago with my dad for a ****. I'm sure you can get one for fish. Buy re-inforced tank though. Just guessing.
 
#24 ·
You can't keep game fish in your aquarium. Reds, trout or flounder. Realistically you'd need HUGE tanks to keep those long term. I'm talking several thousand gallons plus. That being said, you can get a permit to keep game fish. If you have a good reason as deemed so by the gubermint. And proper facilities. And what they'd deem proper facilities would be 100's of thousands of dollars worth of fish tank.

Such as educational, or conservational research or promotion. Think colleges, bass pro cabellas etc.
Propagation, think about stocking a stock tank.

That being said, their are a lot of things you can harvest and drop in your tank, from our gulf coast. We used to go harvest all sort of stuff, blenny's, pepermint shimp, damsels, puffers etc when I had a sw aquarium. And it is a lot of fun.

If you're in houston, MARSH (the local sw aquarium club) makes trips out to galveston, Aransas and stuff to go collect, and they'll show you were to get started...
 
#31 ·
You can't keep game fish in your aquarium. Reds, trout or flounder. Realistically you'd need HUGE tanks to keep those long term. I'm talking several thousand gallons plus. That being said, you can get a permit to keep game fish. If you have a good reason as deemed so by the gubermint. And proper facilities. And what they'd deem proper facilities would be 100's of thousands of dollars worth of fish tank.

Such as educational, or conservational research or promotion. Think colleges, bass pro cabellas etc.
Propagation, think about stocking a stock tank.

That being said, their are a lot of things you can harvest and drop in your tank, from our gulf coast. We used to go harvest all sort of stuff, blenny's, pepermint shimp, damsels, puffers etc when I had a sw aquarium. And it is a lot of fun.

If you're in houston, MARSH (the local sw aquarium club) makes trips out to galveston, Aransas and stuff to go collect, and they'll show you were to get started...
Flounder are not gamefish.
 
#25 ·
Reminds me of 20 or so years ago I had a largemouth bass in an aquarium. I had it for a couple years. Lived off of crickets and gecko's that I'd get off the front porch at night. Man that thing was aggressive and fun to watch. It got too big for the tank and I turned her loose.
 
#27 ·
Back when I had an apartment, I got home from a fishing trip with a bunch of minnows left over and dumped them into my aquarium. After about 2 months, I had only 1 fish left in the whole aquarium. It turned out to be a black bass and had eaten all of the other occupants. My grandmother was fascinated by it, since she had fished her whole life for them up in the lakes around Austin. Shrimp in a saltwater aquarium are pretty kewl too.
 
#29 ·
i have a Chinese friend in Singapore that had a special tank built in his new fab shop for his 5' crocodile. He joking told people he put it out on the shop floor at night as his guard dog.
Just wondering about the reds in a tank. If you can keep one, what requirement is it that says you must kill it. But even a small slot red would take a big tank.
 
#33 ·
I'd just do it. The only thing I can think of as being "wrong" about keeping one of these fish in aquariums is that you probably want a small one and thus would need to illegally keep an undersized fish to put in your tank (unless you can think of some other way to get one in the first place or you want a big one).

As someone else said, once it is in your home, it isn't like a game warden is going to get a search warrant for your house.
 
#34 ·
I'd just do it. The only thing I can think of as being "wrong" about keeping one of these fish in aquariums is that you probably want a small one and thus would need to illegally keep an undersized fish to put in your tank (unless you can think of some other way to get one in the first place or you want a big one).

As someone else said, once it is in your home, it isn't like a game warden is going to get a search warrant for your house.
Game Wardens do not need search warrants. All somebody has to do is tell them and they can come right on in your house.
 
#35 ·
I used to have a saltwater aquarium with lots of fish and invertebrates I collected from the bays and gulf. specimens included Trout, Redfish, Flounder, Pinfish, Killifish, Mud Minnows, Shrimp, Crabs, and one of my favorites was an Oyster Toadfish (dogfish) that I handfed.
 
#39 · (Edited)
I brought a chunck of oyster and also had a few left over shrimp from a fishing trip. I asked my little sister in law if she wanted to feed her lion fish and add the oyster to the rest of her reef.

The lion fish gorged on shrimp and died. The remainder of the life in the tank died from the disease from what I put in it.

I pretty much ruined about $1500 worth of aquarium...

PS) Sorry again lil sis